A record number of yachts (225) participated in the 2008 Audi Hamilton Island Race Week with over 50 Beneteau’s taking part enjoying a wonderful week of sailing. The sailing conditions were excellent all week with the Whitsunday region blessed with sunshine and consistent SSE’erly winds throughout the regatta.

Some notable results:

In the IRC Premier Passage the Beneteau FIRST 45 ‘Blue Water’ smashed the rest of the field winning all but 1 race! Considering it was only the second week of sailing the boat Graham Jones and his team did a wonderful job in preparation and on the race course.

Ray Harris in his brand new FIRST 45 Honeysuckle combined forces with Michael Spies to take out the hotly contested IRC Grand Prix (Div 2). Considering ray and his team sailed the boat twice on Sydney harbour before the first race on Hamilton they not only showed the raw ability of the F45 to win but also nerves of steel to win the last and deciding race by nearly 30minutes. Congratulations to the Honeysuckle team – fantastic sailing!  

After a shaky start to the regatta in the IRC Passage division Matthew Percy and his team on the FIRST 44.7 ‘Alacrity’ finished strongly (with a 1st and 2nd in the last two races) to secure third overall. A deserved result for the team as they have put a big effort into developing the boats rig and sail profile – she is now going like a rocket!

Michael Coleman skippering the Wauquiez Centurion 45 ‘Europa’ placed fifth overall in the Cruising Division 1 – Michael along with his wife and son have spent the last three months on board cruising the East coast due to arrive home in December – so we wish them a safe journey South and congratulations!

Two beautiful Beneteau 57’s tussled it out all week having a fantastic battle around the course on the final days long race with Bob Felton’s ‘Losel’ pipping Hamish Petrie’s ‘Ngak Ngak’ at the post to finish overall 8th and 9th respectively.

John and Kim Clinton sailed their Oceanis 523 ‘Holy Cow’ to a second place overall in Cruising Division 2 after a failed attempt by a competitor to be protest the Holy Cow out in the final race. It was unanimous, the protest was dismissed and the mighty Cow came home with goods to secure a great result. Moooooooooo!

Rob Sceales and his team aboard his Beneteau Oceanis 510 ‘Makaila’ also finished the regatta in style to just miss out on a podium place gaining 4th overall.

The Vicsail Team had a busy week hosting the morning race briefings, after race presentations and of course the Loud Shirt Lunch. The LSL was a great day and plans are already underway for next years event – so stay tuned for further details.

We would particularly like to thank Michael Spies and Nev Witty for their efforts each morning at the briefings, their insight and tips were greatly appreciated.

We would also like to thank the Line 7 team (particularly Pat), Ali with the Raymarine Team, and Chris McSororley from AC Shoes for their generous prizes and assistance to our owners throughout the regatta.

This years Hamilton Island Race Week was widely acknowledged as the best in its history, with the record breaking fleets from Australia and overseas to compete in the 25th Anniversary

We would like to thank-you all for taking part and look forward to seeing you all next year, next years event will be held from the 21st – 29th August 2009.