Day three of Hamilton Island Race Week presented by American Express delivered classic Whitsundays conditions, with strong trade winds, passing rain squalls and plenty of action as more than 1,200 sailors tackled the Nautilus Marine Classic races.
The procession north from Dent Passage quickly became a demanding test of crews and equipment, with fresh breeze, changing visibility and plenty of close racing across the divisions.
Sandy Oatley’s Wild Oats X broke through for its first IRC victory of the week in Rating Division 1, winning by a decisive six-minute margin on corrected time ahead of Mark Spring’s Highly Sprung and Lee Hawksley’s Gusto.
Wild Oats X navigator Alice Tarnawski described the race as one of her most enjoyable days on the water.
“Today was awesome. It was one of the most fun days of sailing I’ve ever had,” Tarnawski said.
“We had a ripping start down Dent Passage, raced all the way up to the rock to the south and then sent it home under spinnaker. It was a wet, windy and wild run, and just so much fun.”
Highly Sprung continued its impressive consistency, taking a third consecutive TPR victory to remain undefeated and retain the overall lead. The team also leads the IRC standings after three races.
In Rating Division 2, Bruce McCraken’s IKON maintained its perfect scorecard with a third consecutive IRC victory, while Team Hollywood also made it three from three under IRC in Super 40+.
Grant Wharington’s Wild Thing 100 claimed its second consecutive win in Hamilton Island Blue to move into the overall lead, one point ahead of Walter Carpenter’s Caol Ila.
There was plenty of movement further down the divisions. Mark Beale’s Bobby’s Girl bounced back to win Hamilton Island Pink, Scott Robertson’s Banter took the honours in Yellow and Derek Minihane’s Impulse won Orange to jump into the overall lead.
Carl Nicholls’ Bonaventure won Hamilton Island Green, although Carbontest.au retains the overall lead after three consistent results.
In the multihulls, Terry Robinson’s Miyu continued its strong form with victory on OMR in Multihull Racing and remains on top of both the OMR and EHC overall standings.
Daniel Seldon’s Quantum won Multihull Black to draw level with The Straycat, while Matthew Caldwell’s Quickstep bounced back from eighth the previous day to win Multihull White.
With the regatta reaching its halfway point, crews now have a lay day before racing resumes. Across the 17 divisions there are still few certainties, setting up a competitive second half of Hamilton Island Race Week through to the final races on Saturday 22 August.
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