What a Speedy Affair the 2014 King Island Race
Looking at the weather during the week the models provided by the Bureau of Meteorology were always saying that a reaching race was on the cards but how much wind was never agreed by the models. All the fleet were hoping for wind aft of the beam for a speedy trip to King Island.
All yachts had an easy sail down the Bay and the lucky ones who were able to leave early were tucked up in Queenscliff and well rested after a nice meal at the pub. The rest of the fleet had reaching conditions down the Bay. The race start was delayed to allow four ships to enter the Bay. This did not turn out well as the ships were delayed so the fleet had to dodge three ships that were in the rip as the fleet started (the committee will be meeting with the Port Authority to resolve this issue for the future).
The Race started in an east to south easterly wind of 16 to 18 knots so most yachts had their number three headsails and some with one reef in. The start, other than the ships, was uneventful with the crew settling down to a wet night. For those of you who are not sailors a reaching race means all crew on the rail to keep the boat at maximum speed, constant trimming to keep the boat flat and being showered by waves every few seconds. Even Robin on Yoko said it was an uncomfortable race.
The crews had to dig deep during the night with cold conditions and water everywhere and if your wet weather gear was not up to scratch you were soon wet and cold. For those susceptible to seasickness these were idea conditions "NOT". Fortunately due to the late start the fleet only had to endure five hours of darkness and as the sun came up conditions improved, but the constant spray was wearing. The fleet followed the rhumb line to King Island except for Escapade who decided on moving well to the West.
The boats pressed hard to King Island but the order of the fleet was determined by size, so those who sailed the best would be on the money for handicap honours.
Primitive Cool was maintaining record pace but for those who have sailed many races the last 15 miles of a race are always the hardest, but they managed to keep up the pace and break the record by 17 minutes. The Race Director had any easy day with the boats finishing in quick succession with the first boat in at 12:20 and the last boat at 18:40.
The party at King Island was a bit quiet as most of the crews had stayed up all night and so after a steak sandwich or two washed down with their favourite tipple, sleep was the next order of the day.
The prize giving was moved forward to 8:30pm on Saturday night as the crews wanted to leave early to miss the northerlies on the way home.
Congratulations to all the crews who participated in the race and especially to Ian Lewis on Blue Chip and Brian Yarnell on Mika for completing their first ocean race after a few false starts. I hope that you have caught the Ocean Racing bug.
Primitive Cool had a very successful race winning Line Honours, IRC and Performance with Seaduction winning AMS and Streetcar winning the double handed prize
Look below each yachts picture for their results
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Primitive Cool Crew Matt Fahey, Alistair Holmes, John Wemyss, David Sudano, Tim Bardon, Thor Cembala, Tony Duckmanton, Peter Stewart, Simon Dryden, Ash Taylor, Jeff Whiteside, Martin Corcoran, Todd Pedler, John Newbold(Skipper), Gavin Douglas Results Line Honours,1st IRC, 1st PHS |
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XLR8 Crew Dan Clarke, James Russell, Matt Butterworth, Tom Peterson, Allan Gontar, Gregor Scarlett, James Chambers, John Warnock, Matiu Te Hau, Ray Shaw(Skipper), Sandra Robson Results 2nd Line Honours, 6th IRC, 3rd PHS |
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Hartbreaker Crew Gordon Buchan(Skipper), James MacDonald, Jeremy Dixon, Marc Morris, Paul Whybird, Antony Walton, Guy Forsyth, Andrew Delahunt, Marcus Wappet, Anthony Marchesani, Tegwen Nankervis, Gaby Carr, Gary Mink Results 3rd Line Honours 9th PHS, 8th AMS |
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Extasea Crew Catherine Brown, Damian Charlton, Andrew Clark, Euan Patterson, Jane Flowers, Michael Spencer, Paul Buchholz(Skipper), Paul Smedley, Simon Boyd, Simon Hunter, Tim Holzer, Bryan Kennett Results 4th Line Honours,9th AMS, 5th IRC |
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Adventure Safety Jem Crew Ben Hanna, David Keyes-Tilley, Jeff Dusting(Skipper), Jeremy Larkin, Kim Walker, Peter Fecht, Warren King, Steve Cody, Peter Hallihan, Sergei Jook Results 5th Line Honours, 10th IRC, 12 AMS, 13 PHS |
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Cartouche Crew Irmantas Domarkas, Brian Smith, Cameron Thorley, Damon Fahey, Mark Gledhill, Nick Fahey, Steven Fahey(Skipper), Lucas Couper, Brian Trenfield Results 6th Line Honours, 4th IRC, 14th PHS |
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Bandit Crew Ashley Trebilcock(Skipper), Briana Lyne, Chris Webster, Leith Hore, Mitch Batson, Nigel Fellowes-freem, Robert Buchanan, Adam Manders, C Baker, Tony Moore Results 7th Line Honours,3rd IRC, 6th AMS |
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Addiction Crew Ian Lyall, Peter Davison, Richard McGarvie(Skipper), Tom Glass, Jurgen Pfeiffer, Barry Wilson, Luke Davidson, mostyn kau, Catherine Jones, David Gordon Results 8th Line Honours, 3rd AMS, 6th PHS |
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Audacious Crew Mark Seager, Philipa Lamb, Sean Hogan, Tracey Baldwin, Susan Bumstead, Greg Brunt, Greg Clinnick(Skipper), Jordan Sunkel-Lozell, Julie McKay Results 9th Line Honours, 10th AMS, 8th IRC |
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Mika Crew Brian Yarnall(Skipper), Bruce MCKechnie, Joseph Wetzels, Matthew Bird, Andrew King, Ciaran Mara, Rod Langham, Samuel Sutton Results 10th Line Honours, 7th PHS |
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Yoko Crew Ryan McGraw, Joanne Morley, Maureen Dickins, Patricia Anne Peart, Peter Nagorski, Robin Hewitt(Skipper), Terry Barridge, Wilhelm Nienhaus, Morris Burgess, Owen Church Results 11th Line Honours, 4th PHS |
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Wild Side Crew Peter Watt, Stuart Moseley, Graeme Arthur, Thomas Vaughan, Sarah McCully, Craig Pope, Martin Vaughan(Skipper) Results 12 Line Honours, 7th IRC, 10th PHS |
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StreetCar Crew Aidan Geysen, Jeremy Walton Results 13th Line Honours, 2nd AMS, 1st Double Handed, 2nd PHS |
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Alien Crew Alex Campbell, Andrew Vincent, Justin Brenan(Skipper), Mark Drobitko, Michael Noy, Clive Dawes, Per Bengtzen Results 14th Line Honours,9th IRC, 11th PHS |
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Seduction Crew Ross Kenner, Trevor Neate, Marcus Tehan, Jason Davis, Nicolee Woods, Richard Nichols(skipper), Roslyn Winter Results 15th Line Honours, 2nd IRC, 1st AMS, 5th PHS |
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Blue Chip Crew Bodin Campbell, Ian Lewis(Skipper), Michael Hanel, Mike Boerema, Douglas White, Derek Leggo, Geoff Phillips, Evan Lewis Results 16th Line Honours, 11th IRC, 17th PHS |
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Hush Crew Peter Chalkley(Skipper), Stuart Kelaher, David Richardson, Dennis Jeffries, David Taylor, G Middleton, Greg Tobin Results 17th Line Honours, 4th AMS, 8th PHS |
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Escapade Crew Robert Bradley(Skipper), Aimee Bradley, Brian Abbott, Murray Erwin Result 18th Line Honours, 11th AMS, 16th PHS |
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Magic Crew Andrew Cowcher, Bob Beresford, David Richardson, Graham Furness(Skipper), Robert Eason, Ray Newton, Andrew Mitchell, Chris Thomson Results 19th Line Honours, 12th PHS |
