Audi Hamilton Island Race Week - Grizzly by name and by nature

by Lisa Ratcliff on 22 Aug 2010 The tiny Adams 10 Grizzly, named after the popular 1970s TV series about the mountaineer and bear tamer, is taking on the might of the IRC Passage 2 division at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week.

The Queensland boat with four escapees from the Victorian winter and one local sailor on board is being chartered for Race Week from the Whitsunday Sailing Club.

Their first outing at Australia’s most decorated offshore regatta for all but the local started unceremoniously yesterday when they misjudged the rip roaring tide and were flagged for being on the wrong side of the line when the gun fired at the start of the Molle Islands Race.

'We didn’t have the right sails on to get back to and restart. We can only improve from here but if we do the same thing again I’ll be hiding somewhere for the rest of the week,' promised trimmer Tom Ely, a member of the Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron at St. Kilda.

The smallest boat in division, Grizzly went from 'stone motherless last' yesterday to a more respectable 10th in today’s scenic round the islands race for all divisions but the Superyachts and IRC Grand Prix division, the latter toughing it out on the windward/leeward course area off the south east corner of Hamilton Island.

The same Grizzly crew contested last week’s Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week, sealing a third place in IRC division 2 thanks to four fourths, one fifth and a second to finish behind Gordon Ketelbey’s Sydney 38 Zen and Howard Piggott’s Beneteau First 40 Flying Cloud which have moved up into division 1 at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week.

Having come straight from Airlie Beach, Grizzly’s bow woman Janet Dean says they are 'well practised on the social side', which will stand them in good stead this week, at least ashore, given the extensive social program complementing the on-water contest.

Tonight crews are in for a treat with special guest Captain Andy Hillstrand hosting the Deadliest Catch dinner at Sails restaurant.

IRC Passage Div 2

PROVISIONAL RESULTS Overall

 

Series Results [IRC Div2] up to Race 2 (Drops = 0)

Place	Ties	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Sers Score	Race 2	Race 1
1		1236	LOCAL HERO	Matthew Owen	CYC	2.0	1.0	1.0
2		6807	AROONA	Harvey Milne	RMYC	4.0	2.0	2.0
3	2R	6777	ONYA	Andrew Hurt	MHYC	7.0	3.0	4.0
4		6935	L'ALTRA DONNA	Andy Kearnan	CYCA	7.0	4.0	3.0
5		6609	AMANTE	Dennis Cooper	CYCA	11.0	6.0	5.0
6		16129	NEAT ENG. WAILEA	Neil Padden	MHYC	13.0	7.0	6.0
7		CALLE007	DOUBLE O SEVEN	Chris Carlile	WSC	15.0	8.0	7.0
8		SM377	BACARDI	Martin Power	SYC	16.0	5.0	11.0
9		6499	SUPERNOVA	David Bates	MYC	17.0	9.0	8.0
10		R134	WYUNA	Dennis Vincent	RPYC	20.0	11.0	9.0
11		S191	GRIZZLY	Chris Jones	RMYS	23.0	10.0	13.0
12	10.0S	142	CROSSBOW	David Cutcliffe	BSC	24.0	14.0F	10.0
13		RQ888	JESSANDRA	Roland Dane	RQYS	24.0	12.0	12.0

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