Bavaria and Salona – Racing a Cruiser

by John Curnow on 28 Aug 2010 North South Yachting has been supporting their 14 vessels at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week with a full service team. Bob Mulkearns has been going to Hamilton Island for 20 years. Whilst the majority of the vessels from Bavaria and Salona are in the cruising divisions, Bob is quick to point out that ‘Racing a cruising boat, is as much fun as anything else.'

Bavaria make over 3,000 boats per annum and Salona, from Croatia, have applied some fairly avante guarde building techniques to their designs.

‘What were trying to do by supporting firstly the Sydney boat show and then here, is just much fun can you have in Queensland with your new cruiser. It's just a fantastic place to come for cruising boats to race. I'd like to see the event get more entries from Asia. We're part of Australasia and it would be good to get extra people down', said Bob.

Both of them are great points. This event is always well supported by vessels from South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania, which are the same sort of distances from the Whitsundays as are parts of Asia. One vessel to make the journey from down South is Jonathon Altson's Bavaria 50 from Melbourne, Grand Cru2. The big voyage would seem to have been worth it, as they are in third place in Division Two.

Now there are also two boats at Hamilton Island that departed as part of the great Northern migration, just as soon as their duties at the Sydney Boat Show had been completed. Robert Pizzie's flagship Bavaria Cruiser 55, ‘Tonic' and Bill Hili's Salona 44, C'est la vie, both arrived in the country, got prepared, shown to their new owners and then went straight to Darling Harbour to be displayed to an eager boating public.

In talking with Robert Pizzie, I got to ask if the name, Tonic, was as more to do with sailing and life or cocktail hour aboard. ‘It's a bit of both, but probably more the latter. The name of the tender is Gin, so it's a little bit of gin, with a whole lot of tonic.'

When Robert put his order in last year, he was looking to upgrade from his Bavaria 43 to either the 45 or the 55, as he's done. At the same time, a good friend of his, Rob Miotti, was diagnosed with a brain tumour and Robert saw that life is to be enjoyed, so made the plunge and went with the 55. In a wonderful story, that very same friend, Rob Miotti, arrived at Hamilton Island on Sunday with a good prognosis from the medicos. Then on the lay day, Tuesday 24th, he and his family went out on Tonic for a wonderful, sunny jaunt.

‘I had just the one test sail and then Tonic went in to the Sydney Boat Show. Straight after that, it was off Mooloolaba. ‘The two fridges are functioning marvellously, under extreme testing conditions, I tell you', said Robert. ‘Seriously though, there's a really nice response to the helm, she's a delightful, easy and pleasurable boat to sail with both her furling main and heady - a really nice cruising boat. Racing is fine. I took the 43 on the Sydney to Brisbane journey, five times. Three times up and two down. The 43 was called, Midlife, by the way.'

On last Friday evening, they had their crew meeting at four and gone through their tactics and looked at the tides. ‘We'll be in the Sailing Office to get the briefing in the morning. It is really the best form of relaxing. At the helm, it's all about steering, waves and the trim of sails. It simply takes you away. With this vessel, we get to go in absolute comfort and I get to enjoy reaching a nice anchorage.'

Similarly, Bill Hili's Salona44, C'est la vie, arrived in Australia one week before the boat show too. Bill is of Maltese origins and his boat is built in Croatia, so there's a very strong Mediterranean connection with the whole project. The Maltese have a proud seafaring tradition and Salona have made it possible for Bill to charter a Salona in order to do the 2011 Rolex Middle Sea Race.

Before that, Salona have provided a vessel for Bill and his family on the delightful Dalmatian Coast, as a thank you for being the first in Australia with his particular model of boat.

2011 looks to be a very big year for Bill and his family. ‘I've got a list and the 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart is on it. We do as much sailing as is possible and every second weekend or so do an offshore race as part of our preparations.'

I had a Bavaria Cruiser and was looking for something a bit more down the performance cruiser line than that. I liked the Salona because it was very strong compared to others on the market', said Bill. Bill delivered C'est la vie from Mooloolaba to Hamilton Island himself. On Day One at Hamilton Island with his very new boat, he was rewarded with a third in Division One.

‘I like the way this boat performs and goes in the puffs. With the Salona, there were some great reviews that got me interested. It's also about the way its made, with the infused hull and stainless mounts - all at a good price', Bill commented.

What Bill is reflecting upon is that the new Salona 44, at around 9.5 tonne, is nearly a tonne lighter than her predecessor, the 45. She maintains a healthy sized rig and keel configuration, with what the factory refer to as ‘The Inox Mount', which is integrated into the hull lay up and directly connects the keel and shrouds.

All that, combined with a fantastic selection of interior trim and construction methods to personalise your craft.

Now that five races are down in Cruising, Division One, Bill and the crew of C'est la vie, are in third. ‘It's a great, fun regatta', said Bill. ‘I'm really happy with it all and the crew are excellent. We're working well together, which is just fantastic, especially so when you consider just how new the boat is. I'm also really happy to be a bit lighter than the opposition in the softer breezes.

On Thursday we were fourth over the line and yet tenth on result. Today we've grabbed a seventh. For sure I'd like to get a place, who doesn't? Our chances are looking pretty good, so far. We'll just keep at it.'

As a further element, Bob's cousin, John, who is based in Darwin, has his Bavaria 38 Match, called Game Set, at Hamilton Island this year. All of which further shows just how national this great regatta has become.

One vessel that was just not ready to get to Audi Hamilton Island Race Week this year was the new Bavaria Cruiser 45, Curlew Escape. She's so named after her owner's two sons, Curtis and Lewis. Greg Luck bought by this product of Farr Yacht Design and BMW DesignworksUSA, when she was still just a set of drawings, in October last year. ‘The commissioning process took a little longer than we would have liked, once we got delivery, so we could simply not get Audi Hamilton Island Race Week. You can charter her for next year's event, however', said Greg.

‘In the meantime she'll be used for enjoyment, sail training with Southern Cross yachting and luxury charter. I've found her to be a good compromise - a cruiser-racer that keeps up with racer-cruisers. We have the Wednesday Afternoon Gentleman Sailing here in Brisbane and recently we were twelfth out of 65 starters.

Pretty good for a 12 tonne vessel with Oak everywhere, cream leather lounges, four cabins, three ensuites, a 4.5m beam and a ten person cockpit!'

Ultimately, that really says a lot about these two great brands. You can get a lot of versatility in your specification to meet your exact requirements, yet still maintain the level of performance you require. So if you do intend to race your cruiser, you really do need to speak with North South Yachting about either a Bavaria or a Salona.