Audi Hamilton Island Race Week confirms 40 metre superyacht

by Rob Mundle on 21 Apr 2011 Audi Hamilton Island Race Week has its first super yacht entry, the 40-metre long Janice of Wyoming. Apart from being the largest entry to date, her nomination highlights the amazing diversity of yachts that will be contesting the regatta this year.

When you check the current entry list, immediately below Janice of Wyoming is Ketchup, Steve England’s tiny Thompson 7 sports boat from Cairns, the smallest entry so far. This fact presents the perfect opportunity to easily compare the long and the short of Audi Hamilton Island Race Week 2011 – and the difference between the pair is quite staggering. Janice of Wyoming is more than four times wider than Ketchup is long, and at 198 tonnes the superyacht is 200 times heavier. The big boat also has near 20 times more sail area.

These two yachts are part of an impressive and growing entry list that is already more than 30 percent up on the number of registrations that had been lodged by this time last year. The list also represents the full spectrum of classes – from non-spinnaker cruising through to IRC Class A Grand Prix racers and Superyachts.

Janice of Wyoming, owned by an American businessman, was designed by prominent English superyacht specialist, Ed Dubois. When launched in 2005 she was considered one of the most stylish yachts of her type, so there were no surprises when she was named winner of the ShowBoats International Superyachts Award, and a finalist in the Boat International World Superyacht Awards. In recent times she has cruised extensively through the South Pacific and is currently based in Auckland.

Following the success of the inaugural Superyacht Division at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week last year, Janice of Wyoming’s captain, Chris Wilson, immediately contacted organisers regarding the yacht being an entry for AHIRW 2011 which will be staged from 19 – 27 August. It is expected that a number of other superyachts cruising in the Pacific will follow Janice of Wyoming’s lead and join her at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week.

While Janice of Wyoming is likely to be sailing with more than 30 guests and crew, the seven-metre long Ketchup will be doing things very differently. Included in Steve England’s crew of five will be his eldest son, 13-year-old Steve. Audi Hamilton Island Race Week is a regatta Steve Snr. has always wanted to contest, and this will be his first chance to do so.

'I’ve been sailing since I was a youngster, but I’ve been out of it for the past 13 years because I’ve got six kids,' Steve said. 'Now it’s time to get back into sailing, so finally I’ll get to do Race Week at Hamilton Island.'
Another two of Steve’s sons, Timothy 11, and Benjamin 9, would usually be racing with him, but school commitments will take priority for them this year. Hamilton Island Race Week

Hamilton Island Race Week’s naming rights sponsor, luxury car maker Audi, is Australia’s largest corporate sponsor of yachting.