The 39th Edition of Hamilton Island Race Week has marked an increase in female representation in key roles on boats, from skippers to navigators and plenty of female crew out on the water.
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Rhumb Runna competing in the Trailable Yacht Division, features an all female crew of Hamilton Island locals who have elected to not have one person as skipper but instead share the role between them.
Female skippers have been steering their teams to victory this week with Bella Breeze, co-skippered by Wendy Harrison and Marie Conboy coming first on Thursday in the Non-Spinnaker Division and the team on Magic Miles, skippered by Sharon Ferris-Choat, are currently in first place overall in the Hamilton Island Blue Division with a two point lead.
“We are here with Ocean Sailing Expeditions,” said Sharon Ferris-Choat. “We’ve got people that have never sailed before, and we’ve got people who are doing their eleventh expedition with us. We are just taking it one Island at a time,” she laughed.
“It’s just awesome,” she exclaimed on the leading position in their division. “We have a really cool bunch of people, and we are just sailing clean, keeping the basics on track, and that has put us in the top spot. ”
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When asked about the quality and quantity of women in the fleet she quickly answered, “we’ve got two other girls on our boat. I had a look through the entry list on the way here, and I was thinking that is a bit of a shame with only a few other female skippers, but there are definitely many other girls scattered amongst the crews. We just need more women owners, if we can get other women owners, and sailors like myself and Adrienne [Cahalan] to do some coaching and get others up to speed, we are in!” she finished.
Accomplished sailor Stacey Jackson is competing as part of Mark Richards’ Wild Oats X crew and Alice Parker is also onboard as navigator. Wild Oats X has been a highly discussed boat throughout the week as they battle it out with Alive, skippered by Duncan Hine, in Rating Division 1. Alive has Adrienne Cahalan as their navigator, a sailor who has a wealth of experience from around the world races, to dinghies and offshores.
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The penultimate day of Hamilton Island Race Week saw a drop in wind, and in a somewhat unsurprising outcome for this stage of the week, especially following a challenging day on the water, there are protests across multiple divisions with the potential to change results from today as well as significantly impact overall standings in their divisions.
In Rating Division 1 there was a tactical battle between Wild Oats X, skippered by Mark Richards, and Alive, skippered by Duncan Hine, which saw Wild Oats X prevail by one minute and nine seconds across the line. It wasn’t enough to take the IRC win though, with Alive taking first place and consolidating their position at the top of the IRC standings.
Rating Division 2 saw Marcus Blackmore’s Hooligan take a dominant win by 28 minutes on IRC. The three place win over David Doherty’s Matador brings Hooligan to within two points on IRC overall heading into the final race.
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In Rating Division 3, ToyBox2, skippered by Ian Box, secured a three minute win on IRC in race six, putting them in second place on the overall IRC standings on a countback, equal on points with Garth Riley’s Wazza Red Boat. Ikon, skippered by Bruce McCraken, took second place, securing the overall win.
In the Super 40’s, Team Hollywood, skippered by Ray Roberts, continued their perfect regatta with a first on IRC, giving them an unassailable lead on the overall IRC standings. A mixed day’s results for the division saw movement in the middle of the IRC table, but barring major changes the top now looks set.
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Kukukerchu, skippered by David Ross, remains in first place on the overall leaderboard in the Cape 31 National Championship after a second in today’s race behind Julian Newton’s Game On31, who maintain third place overall behind B4 – Celestial, skippered by Sam Haynes.
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The Hamilton Island Multihull Black Division has Jeff Dodd’s Zero and Craig Molloy’s Avalanche tied on points, with Zero ahead on a countback, ending the sixth day of racing on 16 points after first and second placings today respectively.
Tao, skippered by Mick Hodgkins, is well placed to take the win in the Hamilton Island Multihull White Division, as second place became a three way tie between Ian Ford’s Second Wind, Kevin Lord’s Vivacious and Ralph Norton’s St Arnou who sit at 32 points, a whole 16 points behind the leader.
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Gin & Tonic, skippered by Mitch White, has slipped to third spot after coming tenth in today’s race, moving them down to third overall in Hamilton Island Blue. Magic Miles, skippered by Sharon Ferris-Choat now sits in first place, two points ahead of Walter Carpenter’s Caol Ila coming second.
Shane McKay’s Kerazy and Wayne Millar’s Zoe are tied in Hamilton Island Fluro Yellow, with Kerazy ahead on a countback. Both sit on 36 points with third placed Calibre 12, skippered by Richard Williams sitting 13 points behind. With 23 boats in the division the results are far from settled going into the final day.
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The consistent trading of places in the Hamilton Island Orange Division leaves it all to play for in the final race tomorrow with only three points separating the top three places. Currently Rampallion, skippered by Geoff Adams, sits in the top spot with just three points separating Andrew McConaghy’s Dragonfly and Peter Barry’s Shearwater.
Tim Lewis’ Charm Offensive’s brief time at the top of the Hamilton Island Pink Division leaderboard ended today after Banter, co-skippered by Scott Robertson and Stephen Jurd, managed to put themselves back into first place after their win today.
The Trailable Yachts Division has only two points separating the top three with Gordon Smye’s Keep On Running moving up to first place. Former leader Masquerade, skippered by Tom Vujasinovic, is now on even points with Paul Hawkins’ 5 O’Clock Somewhere.
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Remco Pen’s Bigger Day Out holds onto the Non-Spinnaker Division title with Namadgi 3, skippered by Garth Price, and Catcha Star, skippered by Jim Holroyd, currently positioned in second and third.
With the results far from decided, the final day of Hamilton Island Race Week 2024 is sure to be hotly contested. The Dent and Eastern Passage course areas are going to be lively as another great edition comes to a close tomorrow with the most wind of the week forecast to close out the final day.
