Skandia wins again

Grant Wharington's maxi secured Hahn Premium Race Week coastal race

Grant Wharington’s Skandia crew overcame a conservative start and a spinnaker handling error to win the Hahn Premium Race Week 85 n/ml Coral Sea classic in the warm sun drenched Whitsunday Islands shortly before dusk .

Skandia outright winner of the 23 n/ml South Molle/ Daydream Island race on Saturday showed they were keen to dictate the race strategy again when they engaged their equally impressive New Zealand rival Konica/Minolta (Stewart Thwaites) in a pre-start duel threading a path through the spectator fleet.

Wharington won the spectacular duel but not the start when Sandy Oatley’s defending champion Another Duchess cleverly steered by Michael Coxon stole the decisive clear wind break.

But the Another Duchess crew who sailed smart was soon engulfed in the wind shadow cast by the large sails of Skandia as she powered past.

However the Skandia crew who are normally reliable with their sail handling applied ‘the air brake’ stalling the yacht with a sloppy spinnaker drop allowing both Another Duchess and Konica/Minolta to share the lead when the sails were tensioned for the 22 n/ml windward beat to Coppersmith Rock.

Skandia now fitted with a daggerboard forward of the keel expressed unmatched speed sailing into the 8-12 knot variable south east breeze to hold an 8.82 knot average and a race win in hand when she rounded Coppersmith Rock .

They continued to sail impressively on 56 n/ml tide assisted spinnaker run firming a stronger grip on the line honours while Konica/Minolta and Bob Oatley’s new canting keeler followed Skandia’s wake to control the minor places ahead of Another Duchess, Aftershock (Colin O’Neil) and Ichi Ban (Matt Allen).

The light winds held the record breaking race leader Skandia to a slow time when the big maxi rounded Dolphin Point, Hayman Island, shortly after 4pm finally taking line honours just after 5pm beating her New Zealand rival by 3 minutes 13 seconds after 9 hours 7 minutes of racing with Wild Oats taking third place 36 minutes later.