Alfa Romeo unmatched

Ian Grant reports from Hamilton Island Race Week

Neville Crichton’s high performance maxi yacht racing crew overcame a mid-course drama and wild 38 knot squalls to pilot the super maxi to another impressive dual honours win off Hamilton Island today.

The 30m super maxi was untried in regatta racing when she broke the Lindeman Island race record in her maiden race last Saturday and has since mastered a full range of wind and sea conditions to move a step closer to winning the 2005 International Hamilton Island Hahn Premium Race Week title.

However the race win was not achieved with out a scare for the Alfa Romeo crew when her spinnaker halyard jammed in the mast head sheave as she surfed towards the down wind rounding mark at 28 knots.

Prompt action in slashing the halyard free and leaving the spinnaker momentarily flogging in the stiff breeze became a race winning decision for the Alfa Romeo crew as Bob Oatley’s 20m Wild Oats had reached speeds in the high 20 knot range to remain in contact to win the race on handicap.

“We had some real pace on at the time and fortunately the crew reacted quickly to solving the problem which kept Alfa Romeo in the boat race”, tactician Michael Coxon said.

Alfa Romeo was simply far too powerful in the strong winds parting the 3m seas like a hot knife through butter while her canting keel responded to the wind load on her sails. Skipper Crichton had no real need to look over his shoulder or take a bearing fix on his rivals because Alfa Romeo was simply unmatched for speed.

Alfa Romeo completed the 15n/ml race with another super fast 1-14-59 course time eventually finishing 10 minutes 53 seconds clear of Wild Oats with another 5 minutes 18 seconds to Steven David’s Wild Joe.

The halyard slashing mid race drama had little effect on stalling the big sloops charge to her fourth corrected handicap win when she again out paced her 1.738 rating to record a comfortable 1 minute 4 second win over Bob Oatley’s Wild Oats while Irish skipper Gerard O’Rourke expressed his liking to the rugged winds to helm his Mick Cookson 50 Chieftain into third place.

Wild Oats with her consistent 4-11-2-1-1-2-2 score and 23 pts has edged clear on the points table with Wild Joe 24 pts and Stephen Ainsworth’s Loki 29 pts gingerly holding the minor places over the improving Alfa Romeo on 33 pts.

The title battle is far from over with Alfa Romeo favoured to improve her score in the final two races to equal the championship winning performance of Grant Wharington’s Skandia last year.