Off and racing

With 253 yachts out on the water across 14 divisions, it was a busy and very colourful start to this year’s AHIRW, and although the weather was a mixed bag, it was smiles all round across the first two days of racing.

Good breeze on the first day was a fair counterpoint for some rain, most crews happy to live with the wet conditions as long as there was plenty of wind to keep things interesting.

With a very strong presence in the multihull class as well as yachts across divisions from trailer sailors right up to the big guns, there was no shortage of variety on the water, and different approaches to the regatta. Without a doubt though, the presence of the country’s most famous and successful supermaxi, the Oatley family’s Wild Oats XI, was a sight to behold. With Seng Huang Lee’s Scallywag (formerly Syd Fischer’s Ragamuffin 100) also taking part in the regatta despite withdrawing from the earlier Sydney to Gold Coast race, spectators have already enjoyed some spectacular racing between the big two.

Competing in the Rating Racing Division A, these two have captured much of the attention, with Scallywag leading Wild Oats XI from the gun in race 2 of the series and maintaining the lead over two laps of a windward/leeward course to cross the line first in a falling breeze. 

Unfortunately for them though, both skipper David Witt and Scallywag were recorded as retired after finishing with one less crew than they started with. Not quite as drastic as that may sound, the crew member lost overboard was recovered safe and sound, as Witt explained post race:

“Kim Pascoe our on board reporter was filming to leeward when we gybed; the sheet picked her up and threw her over,” Witt explained. “It was the last mark of the last run and you have to finish with the amount of people you start with. We knew there was a rib right there to pick her up.”

“We’ve never really been able to test the boat against Wild Oats XI, so when we rang the owner after the race he was very happy. After all, in what other event apart from the Hobart do you get two 100-footers boat-on-boat?”

“For us it’s all about ‘Oats’. They are a long way ahead of us in terms of preparation and crew work, so the biggest thing we can get out of this week is to spend as much time as we can next to them, and hopefully beat them a couple more times,” 

Also impressive is Karl Kwok’s Team Beau Geste, which was dominant in last year’s AHIRW.

Beau Geste recorded a first-up win on handicap in Division A against a strong fleet that includes the likes of Ichi Ban, Secret Mens Business, Patrice and Concubine.

“It’s going to be very tight at the top this year and you’d need to be a good few points clear of your rivals in the coming days before you could start to feel comfortable”, said Team Beau Geste’s skipper Gavin Brady after the victory.

The multihulls also provided plenty of excitement, although for some it was hard to keep up with the action once some of the yachts got moving. Simon Hull’s Frank Racing was just too quick for even the media boats to keep up with once she was up and running on her foils. Hitting speeds of more than 25 knots, Frank Racing finished almost 15 minutes ahead of competitors George Owen’s APC Mad Max and Chris Williams aptly all black Morticia to win her division.

Racing conditions on Day 3 before a Lay Day on Wednesday.