Hamilton Island Race Week Cruising - Muir brothers hope for win

by Lisa Ratcliff on 26 Aug 2011 Hamilton Island Race Week - Cruising news.

The Muir brothers, Hobart based John and younger brother Ross who lives in Brisbane hope to mark their 10th Hamilton Island Race Week with a win in Cruising Division 1 with their chartered Jeanneau 49 called Muir.

The majority Tasmanian and former Tassie crew have had an incident-filled week but thanks to consistency are still leading the pointscore by three points from their sistership, Mathew Barlow’s Saphira.

Muir’s breakages in this week’s fresh winds have included a spinnaker pole, a main boom and two sails. 'Luckily we found some welders at the airport who were able to weld our boom,' said Ross this evening.

The Muir brothers and their crew, who range between 55 and 73, are proving the adage ‘old age and treachery beats youth and enthusiasm every time’. They have finished bridesmaid at Race Week previously but are yet to be named top dog.

With just one event remaining, there is a lot riding on tomorrow’s Molle Islands Race for Audi Hamilton Island Race Week’s 195 entries; Cruising Division 1 and 3 are just two of a number of divisions that will be settled when the last boat crosses the finish line and the race committee shuts up shop for another year.

Tasmanian sailors are well and truly leaving their imprint on results, the Cruising Division 3 scoresheet showing Derek Cragg’s chartered Jeanneau 36 Knee Deep a mere half a point clear of nearest rival, Steve Clarke’s Topaz following today’s island course from a misty start in Dent Passage to Pine Island, White Rock and back to the finish in the Passage with a moderate south easterly breeze.

Cruising Division 1

Place	Ties	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	Sers Score	Race 5	Race 4	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1		1030	MUIR	Ross & John Muir	22.0	11.0	5.0	5.0	1.0	[20.0]
2		8222	SAPHIRA	Mathew Barlow	25.0	[22.0]	1.0	2.0	6.0	16.0
3		KB80	CONDOR	David Molloy	28.0	3.0	16.0	4.0	5.0	[23.0]
4		6702	JOIE DE VIE	Peter Byford	29.0	[18.0]	3.0	10.0	10.0	6.0
5	1.0S	6037	EUREKA 11	Chris Stockdale	31.0	4.0	[23.0]	9.0	17.0	1.0
6		00100	ENCORE	Jim Milledge Tim Lew	31.0	13.0	[21.0]	7.0	4.0	7.0
7		HKG1943	ZEPHYR	Ian Hoyle	32.0	[14.0]	6.0	12.0	11.0	3.0
8		6535	IN THE MOOD	Geoff Little	34.0	[29.0F]	17.0	3.0	2.0	12.0
9	2.0S	7	HAMMER OF QUEENSLAND	Seiichi Yoshikawa	39.0	2.0	18.0	11.0	[19.0]	8.0
10		YC1066	NELLIE MYRA	Trevor Mudge	39.0	8.0	7.0	15.0	[24.0]	9.0
11	1.0S	H6110	SAMSKARA	David Stoopman	40.0	1.0	13.0	[29.0F]	7.0	19.0
12		BOW18	AVANTI	Lindsay Cormie	40.0	16.0	11.0	[29.0S]	3.0	10.0
13		W888	MISTA GYBE	David Redfern	41.0	5.0	19.0	[29.0S]	12.0	5.0
14		SM58	SYMPATICO	Bryan Dorman	42.0	12.0	9.0	[14.0]	8.0	13.0
15		6590	ERESSEA	John Bankart	44.0	[20.0]	15.0	13.0	14.0	2.0
16		5612	ABRACADABRA	James Murchison	45.0	6.0	14.0	21.0	[21.0]	4.0
17		6842	TONIC	Robert Pizzie	47.0	24.0	2.0	1.0	20.0	[24.0]
18		1021	FANTASEA VITESSE	Ian Thomson	50.0	19.0	4.0	[19.0]	13.0	14.0
19		6698	FIREFLY	Dean Gillies	51.0	10.0	8.0	18.0	15.0	[18.0]
20		8913	TIME LORD	Chris Waldron	52.0	9.0	[20.0]	8.0	18.0	17.0
21		SM51	51ST PROJECT	Philip Coombs	55.0	7.0	10.0	17.0	[22.0]	21.0
22		MH169	SPRAYDRIFT	Dean Corbett	57.0	15.0	22.0	[29.0F]	9.0	11.0
23		633	DEHLER MAGIC	Mark Tobin	59.0	[21.0]	12.0	16.0	16.0	15.0
24		MAGNOLIA	MAGNOLIA	Peter Higgins	74.0	23.0	[29.0F]	6.0	23.0	22.0
25		RQ11	SHAMELESS	William Andrews	89.0	17.0	25.0	22.0	25.0	[25.0]
26		BOW17	COOPERS	Craig Watson	99.0	29.0S	24.0	20.0	[29.0F]	26.0
27		1317	KICKATINALONG	Graeme Poole	116.0	29.0S	29.0S	29.0S	29.0S	[29.0S]
27		3303	ZENITH	Scott Beach	116.0	29.0S	29.0S	29.0S	29.0S	[29.0S]

Hamilton Island Race Week website