Audi IRC Series at Audi Victoria Week - Overall
by Di Pearson 26 Jan 2011 07:46 GMT
22-26 January 2011
Hooligan: Six wins from eight races in Audi IRC Series
Marcus Blackmore did not have to sail the final race of the Audi IRC Series today, but the Sydney yachtsman said there was no way his crew would miss the final race – and the TP52 crew came out and won the final race to make it six wins from eight races to claim a 10 point overall victory of the Division A series.
Melbourne yachtsman Michael Hiatt sailed a good last race, finishing second to Hooligan for second place overall with his Farr 55 Living Doll. Stephen Ainsworth’s Loki finished third overall in the Audi Victoria Race Week event.
Blackmore was disappointed in claims that his boat ‘is just a regatta boat.’ “It is a regatta boat, that’s what I bought it for, but even in winds over 20 knots we were winning, so it is more than ‘just a regatta boat’,” he said at Royal Geelong Yacht Club this afternoon.
“It was great to win the final race. I wanted to go out and change the crew around a bit, but Tom (tactician Tom Slingsby) said we should go out to win and the rest of the crew agreed,” Blackmore said.
“He did a great job picking the pin end to start and he picked the breeze pressure right all the way – I don’t know how he does it.”
Usually the line honours leader, Loki struggled in the early stages of the final race. She spent most of her time on the course playing catch-up, before finally taking the lead on the penultimate leg to take line honours, but was down in eighth overall, Ainsworth not putting enough distance between Loki and the rest of the fleet.
Blackmore, who is originally from Queensland, took a big early lead of the three-lap windward/leeward race, with Living Doll and Rob Date’s RP52 Scarlet Runner giving chase.
The Hooligan line honours lead looked insurmountable, but changes occurred throughout the race, with some great duels going on in the shifty breeze that pressured up and down regularly, just to make tacticians jobs even harder. Hooligan, Living Doll and Loki had spectators spellbound as the lead continued to change.
Hooligan’s tactician and three-time Laser world champion, Tom Slingsby, explained: “The shifts were big, I noted one at 35 degrees and the breeze clocked between 6 and12 knots.”
“No side of the course was favoured, it was all about timing; it was an ‘our turn – your turn’ sort of cycle. Whoever got the last shift got the edge.
“I loved this week – this is the best team I’ve ever sailed with. I hope I get to do more with them.”
Hooligan (1 point), Living Doll (2 points) and Loki (3 points) are now the top three on the Class A leaderboard for the fifth running of the Audi IRC Australian Championship. Round 2 of the prestigious Championship is the Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta in March. All three yacht owners have said they will be on the start line.
The Audi IRC Australian Championship is sponsored by Audi and organised by Yachting Australia. All boats will race as individual entries to compete for the title ‘IRC Australian Champion’ and any prizes awarded by Audi.
Wins for Ikon and Executive Decision in Audi IRC Series
Ikon and Executive Decision maintained the status quo of yesterday to respectively win Divisions B and C of the Audi IRC Series at Audi Victoria Week today.
Bruce McCraken’s Ikon (Vic) has been the outstanding Beneteau First 45 in Division B all week, pushing away the threat of three others of the same design. Even though today was his worst race, a seventh, which became his drop race, McCraken and crew sailed a consistently good series.
However, McCraken, who was unavailable for comment on his win afternoon, was kept honest by Paul Buchholz’s DK46, Extasea, which finished second by three points. Darryl Hodgkinson rounded out the top three with his Beneteau First 45, Victoire (NSW).
Buchholz, from Royal Geelong Yacht Club, which hosts Audi Victoria Week each year, was proud of his result and pleased he had stopped the Beneteaus from clean-sweeping the series.
“We had a great regatta,” Buchholz said aboard Extasea after racing today. “We go pretty well in the light (breeze), so we were happy it was light on today, although we only managed a fifth place. We had a nice win yesterday though,” he said of their victory in Race 7.
Extasea had a couple of legends aboard this week; American sailing guru Dave Ullman and the return of Geelong sailmaker Tony Bull. According to Buchholz, both helped lift his crew to the next level at Audi Victoria Week.
Buchholz conceded Ikon was well sailed though. “She was definitely hard to beat and pushed us hard all week, but we’re happy with our result.”
Last night, Grant Botica made an ‘Executive Decision’ to race today’s final Division C race, “because I’d love to win AMS as well as IRC classes,” he said.
Botica and his Adams 10 crew were unbeatable once the final points were tallied, but the Victorian was right to hang on and sail again, as he now goes home with the IRC and AMS trophies for Division C.
Executive Decision had an 11-point victory over Penfold Audi Sport, a new Archambault 31 owned and skippered by David Ellis, who won Division C last year with his 20 year-old BB10, Surprise. The two yachts are from different ends of the spectrum.
Third overall went to Peter Sorensen and his Sydney 36CR The Philosopher’s Club from Sydney. A former skiff and sportsboat champion, ‘Sorro’, the 2008 Audi IRC Australian Championship winner, finished two points behind Ellis’ boat.
Ikon, Extasea and Victoire are now the top three on the Class B leaderboard for the fifth running of the Audi IRC Australian Championship, while Executive Decision, Penfold Audi Sport and The Philosopher’s Club are the top three in Class C.
Round 2 of the prestigious Championship is the Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta in March. All three yacht owners have said they will be on the start line.
The Audi IRC Australian Championship is sponsored by Audi and organised by Yachting Australia. All boats will race as individual entries to compete for the title ‘IRC Australian Champion’ and any prizes awarded by Audi.
Follow Audi Victoria Week on the event website.