A sparkling Queensland winter’s day gently opened the starting gate for the 40th Hamilton Island Race Week, presented by AMEX, on-water program.
The Dent Passage starters spent the morning ashore in postponement drinking coffee and chatting and the Eastern starters bobbed around under beautiful sunshine for a couple of hours, as humpback whales played freely nearby. Sailing can be a waiting game - sailors are accustomed to it - it’s one of the reasons they are generally relaxed at all levels of the sport.
Shortened courses accommodated the later start times, a light NNW - ESE breeze in Dent Passage off Hamilton Island Yacht Club enough to get Rating, Super 40, Hamilton Island Blue and Multihull Racing divisions underway.
Ron Epstein’s JPK1180 Bacchanal nabbed a first race win in Rating division 2 with his mixed team sailing for the Corinthian Yacht Club of San Francisco California and the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia.
“Half our crew are Californians who hadn’t seen the boat until two days ago,” Epstein said.
“Our goal is to have a blast and sail well. We’ve started the week off the right way points-wise; the good news is there’s a lot we can do better. This is an incredible place to sail. There was a moment today when my main trimmer Shane took the wheel, to make sure I looked around.”
Andrew McInnes owns one of three trailer yachts transported to the Whitsundays from Ballina on the NSW North Coast.
The crew of McInnes’ Seascape 25se Alfina took the racing delay out at Eastern in their stride, practicing and even grabbing a snooze before racking up for a start around 1.30pm.
“It was a good shakedown race,” McInnes said. “We had new people in the boat, so the light breeze was great for us,” the owner said.
The Palm Beach Motor Yachts Trans-Tasman 49er Exhibition Series also commenced today as part of the 40th anniversary Race Week. Thirteen Olympic skiffs pitted Australia and New Zealand against one another over three races, with three more tomorrow and Tuesday August 19 and a final double points race.
Photos supplied
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