It’s been a week of ups and downs for the sailors competing in Audi Hamilton Island Race Week with light winds at the beginning of the event, and strong gusty conditions to end it.

Emerging atop the podium with a near perfect score (only dropping a third place in the final race) was the gorgeous TP52 ‘Team Beau Geste’ from the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club. Sailing to victory over the event favourite ‘Wild Oats IX’ and ‘Alive’. Interestingly the TP52’s in the IRC Division 1 were strangely lacking in 2014, after two strong years with plenty of entrants, this year saw only one, Team Beau Geste which of course won.

In a growing category, was the performance multihull class. This year saw seven entrants with first place going to the incredible ‘Chill Pill’. A cruiser/racer stretching a whopping 51 feet, still manages to house 10 beds, a complete kitchen/galley and two showers. Remember this is a catamaran! Second place winner ‘Bulletproof’ is of a similar design, although a little smaller at 14m (and currently for sale!).

The performance fleet saw an epic battle between a Beneteau 40 and Volvo 60, in the end the ‘Benny’ won it, “Peter Lehmann Breakthrough” came a tied first, but won based on the final race against rivals Spirit of the Maid. Although significantly larger, and on paper faster than the Benetau 40, Spirit of the Maid didn’t have enough time to get away from the smaller board in the quick racing that dominated the latter half of the series.

Back in the cruising divisions, Div 1 had a massive fleet of 33 yachts competing for the title. A Bavaria 45, ‘Three C’s’ skippered by Charles Cupit sailed compeititvely all week, winning by a healthy margin over ‘Four Bells’. Division 2 was nail biting until the final race, with near-new ‘L'ESPRIT’ (she’s only 3 months old!) winning by one point after the series. Our event favorite ‘Moonshine’ unfortunately didn’t perform in the light winds earlier in the series, after placing second in the first race, their high hopes were dashed after a disappointing series, eventually landing themselves in fourteenth place.

It was labeled one of the best in history, and you can be sure the sailors will once gain descend on Hamilton Island for Race week in 2015. Until then, check out the full list of Hamilton Island Race Week results here!

 

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