End of Barefoot Bar and Whitehaven party

THE MOB SCENE in the street outside the Barefoot Bar gave way to ... well, another slightly more refined mob scene inside and outside the trendy year-old Yacht Club at the extreme end of harbourside's Front Street during the 15th XXXX/Ansett Hamilton Island Race Week.

The Barefoot Bar has been closed, for good probably. Notorious and infamous it may have been, but I will miss it for its dimly-lit, cosy interior and, most of all, for its collection of interesting and seedy characters from the Whitsundays boating scene resting "on the beach", as well as the sailors from all parts of Australia and across the Tasman visiting for the regatta.

But places and people move on. The Barefoot was much too small for the Race Week crowd which spilled into the street, creating an horrific obstacle for tourist visitors to Front Street restaurants and shops.

The Yacht Club, at the western extremity of Front St, is a much better gathering place and provides also an efficient and comfortable home for the race organisers, jury and media who formerly worked out of portable huts.

In the same way that the informal social focus moved from the Barefoot to the more refined Yacht Club, the regatta this year moved on: more intense with only one lay day instead of two and cancellation of another Race Week institution, the Whitehaven Beach party.

Again, some regretted those moves. On the lay day, many yachts cruised to Whitehaven for their own informal picnics. The harbour-side activities including short-course Laser and model-yacht racing were not heavily patronised. Some Race Week veterans felt the eight-race series (for all but cruising division which sailed six races) was a bit too intense and that the bodies needed another day of rest and recuperation.

Getting right the mix of racing and fun, the continuing theme of this regatta, will never be easy. But certainly the Hamilton Island Yacht Club and the Hamilton Island resort have shown their full commitment to listen to the wishes of the competitors.

The resort's support is stronger than ever before. It has sponsored the regatta for 15 years. It also sponsors George Snow's line-honours winner Brindabella from Sydney. Its chief execuctive officer Wayne Kirkpatrick, his wife, and other executives rode aboard George Snow's line honours winner Brindabella in some of the races.

Kirkpatrick says: "When we first got involved in early 1996, there were rumours that Race Week was dead and going to be discontinued. We have proven them wrong. Race Week won the recent Queensland tourism award for the best event or festival.

"We have spent $29 million upgrading the resort over the last two years including $1.4 million on the yacht club. Results are encouraging. Room occupancy is up 10 per cent."

It was full for Race Week. The resort's prices and facilities are tailored for families and many of the sailors took the wives and kids.

The changes for this year were made following a survey of skippers in the 1997 event which had a good, 63 per cent, response rate. They included also adding two new divisions, CHS and trailable multihulls and well-separated courses for the two-a-day short races - one for IMS and CHS; the other for performance handicap, sports boats and trailable multihulls - to avoid congestion at marks between boats from different fleets and reduce the hanging about time between races waiting for late finishers.

The regatta drew a record 144 entries and an eventual starting fleet of 135. All divisions were well supported except the trail-able multis which had only five starters. One of the no-shows was the Sydney Farr 50 Morning Mist III, jointly owned by Peter Sorensen, Julie Hodder and Stan Zemanek, which hit a "bombie" at eight and a-half knots and damaged the hull structure around the keel, on passage from Hayman Island where she won the performance handicap division of the Big Boat series.

Race management was good and the formerly contentious issue of course construction for the International Measurement System handicapping unquestioned by competitors with independent monitoring of wind speed, direction and current from a cruiser accompanying the fleet. Again, Brookes and Gatehouse Australia provided the equipment for Mainstay Marine's Andrew MacPhail aboard the cruiser. This year, differential GPS, now available in the Whitsundays with a new station at Mackay, gave even greater leg-length accuracy, down to three metres maximum. MacPhail said: "It is also helping with accuracy of current readings. The numbers are considerably more accurate than last year."

George Snow, the Sydney owner/skipper of the line-honours winner Brindabella, expressed the general feeling of the competitors: "It's a good race track, a great regatta. The race management has improved immensely, and the island has improved immensely. They are asking us all the time how to make it better."

Some notable overseas sailors at the regatta who vowed to come back were US Olympic medalist Dave Ullman, Hong Kong sailmaker Neil Pryde and New Zealand America's Cup helmsman Chris Dickson.

Ullman, who sails offshore these days, steered Queenslander Bob Robertson's NSX36 The Last Picasso which carried some experimental Ullman moulded sails. He said: "It was great. What a beautiful place! Good boats. The quality of sailing was really good. An incredible setting. I will definitely put it on the calendar for next year and bring my wife."

Winds over the six days of racing ranged from a drifter opening race, of 22n miles around Lindeman Island in variable winds under eight knots, to 20-28 knots with gusts over 30 for the dramatic, concluding South Molle and Daydream Island Trophy race of 24n miles.

There was a good mix of results between bigger and smaller, older and newer boats from various ports.

Rob Kothe's well-sailed, five-year-old Reichel/Pugh 44 Sword of Orion won the strongly contested IMS division, from Ron Jones' new Sydney 40 Sledgehammer without having to sail the last race.

All other divisions were open going into the last race. Melbourne veteran Lou Abrahams' Bashford/Howison 41 Challenge Again won the CHS division on a tie-breaking count- back of placings from another BH41, Wayne Millar's B-52 from Townsville.

Martin James' Team Jaguar Infinity III, steering by Soling class Olympian Matt Hayes, won the last race to take the performance handicap class by two points from Laurie Needham's Ross 40 API Karnevil from Port Moresby.

The Cavalier 35 Celestial 2, skippered by Ian Box from Sydney, won the cruising division, contested by the biggest fleet, 47 boats, many of them from the local charter-boat fleets, hired by serious southern racers. A new Thompson 7.5m, Mustard Cutter skippered by David Turton from Mooloolaba won the sports boats division and the F24 Nothing Too Serious (Mick Ray), from the Queensland Gold Coast won the trailable multihulls.

Gliding was Rob Kothe's major recreation until he took up sailing five years ago. Before he bought Sword of Orion six months ago from Melbourne sailor David Gotze, he owned for six months Canon Copiers, the Farr 40 formerly known as Witchcraft II and won IMS division C in the 1997 Telstra Sydney to Hobart race.

On delivery to the Whitsundays for the Hayman Island Big Boat series and Race Week, Sword of Orion snapped her rudder blade. She sailed both regattas with her original, shorter, fatter blade which, Kothe believes, made her slower downwind.

Joining his crew, from the Cruising YC of Australia, for the regattas were Jamie MacPhail and Ron Jacobs from the Australian Nelson/Marek agent, PBS Marketing, as helmsman and tactician and Andrew Parkes from Fraser Sails, Sydney, as trimmer. Jacobs optimised the boat for David Gotze's Southern Cross Cup campaign last summer.

Apart from one miscalculation, which put them across the line early for a re-round in race five, they always started well. Then, the Reichel/Pugh 44 was able to sail in a clear-air slot between the biggest boats in the division, Brindabella and Charles Curran's Sydney 60 Sydney and the pack of very competitive and invariably closely-bunched 40- and 41-footers.

MacPhail has steered three previous Race Week winners -Locomotion (1992), Mad Men Across the Water (1994) and Quest (1995). Jacobs was also aboard Quest for the 1995 win, has sailed the regatta on many other occasions and certainly knows his way around the Whitsunday racecourses.

Kothe is a serious and enthusiastic campaigner who promises that in the coming season Sword of Orion will sail in the CYCA Bluewater series, which includes the Sydney-Hobart; Bruce and Walsh and Telstra series; even club twilight races. "We will campaign it in everything available out there," he says. "We have a big crew to rotate through the boat so we will push it hard.

"We will be putting in a new rudder and we will get new off-shore sails for Hobart. We are spending the money that needs to be spent."

Sword of Orion scored well in the moderate to fresh races: first and second in short-course races two and three sailed in 16-18 knots, another win in the 83n mile Coral Sea race in 16-18 knot average and a second in race eight, a 30n-miler around various islands.

Kothe said the moderate to fresh conditions suited the boat. "She's a very kind boat, great to sail and obviously still has the potential to win. I'm enjoying it. We had brand new Fraser D4 sails, a good club crew and then we had MacPhail, Jacobs and Parkesy. We made good tactical deci¬sions; got out of jail a few times."

First of the new Sydney 40 one designs, Sledgehammer owned by Ron Jones of Sydney, had a mixed regatta. Her second overall was a good result, considering she had yet to be fully IMS-optimised. She was fast downwind, looked fast upwind in the lighter winds, but at times appeared to struggle in the stronger stuff. She was steered by lain Murray from the Murray, Burns and Dovell team which designed the boat, had America's Cup navigator/tactician Grant Simmer aboard and was well sailed by a strong, young crew.

She scored one win, in the first of two short-course races sailed in 8-12 knots and placed second in the other on the one day. Then, against the impression that she is a light-air boat, she was third in the windiest race of the regatta, the last one.

That race was won on IMS corrected time by the biggest boat in the fleet, Brindabella from the Murray 41 Terra Firma (Stewart Niemann, Vic) by 3min 8sec with another 39sec to Sledgehammer.

On the bumpy wind-against-tide 12n mile beat - almost a one-leg lay from North Molle to the finish in Dent Passage with the 20-22 knot wind tending south - Sledgehammer was able to out-point Terra Firma, the Murray 41 which won the 1995 Sydney-Hobart and finish seven seconds ahead of her over the line.

Industrial Quest (Kevin Miller), the Nelson/Marek 43 that won the Hayman Island Big Boat series, was third, another three points behind, after a consistent regatta, ahead of Terra Firma which, steered by Jamie Wilmot, won a race but was inconsistent.

Fifth and winner of one of the short-course races was the Mumm 36 Thiess Process Engineering jointly skippered by her Gold Coast owner Bill Wild and the Hong Kong sailmaker Neil Pryde.

Atara, the Lyons 43 strongly campaigned by Roger Hickman's crew, was sixth. A broken runner in the last race was a setback to her overall chances. She got going again after lowering the main and sending a crewman aloft with a 14mm Vectran line replacement but finished 13th.

The 1996 Race Week winner No Fearr, a Cookson 12m on charter to Aucklander David Nathan with Chris Dickson calling the tactics, won the first race and was third in the Coral Sea race but was inconsistent and placed seventh.

Brindabella was eighth after taking line honours in all races except the first when she was trapped by a calm and the Elliott 16m Bartercard, skippered by her Auckland owner Ron Brittain, got the gun.

The Jutson 75 won the last two races (of 30n miles and 23n miles) on corrected time and, in the absence of any other maxis at the regatta, appeared to be sailing well with her rebuilt carbon-fibre mast.

The top third is the tip of the old mast, broken in March, but reinforced. The bottom two-thirds is new and substantially stronger. Sailmaker Bob Fraser who steered Brindabella said the mast was 145kg heavier but could be a plus as it is easier to control, especially laterally.

George Snow said he was very happy with the new mast. "It's a lot stiffer. The sails set up better and we get a second a mile rating improvement."

He said that the north, south tidal flows of the Whitsundays, with the courses also roughly aligned south/north, in turn favoured the little boats and the big boats. "We ended up well down in the long race, even though we broke the record, because of the tide and the way they constructed the course.

"But when we are in the same waters as the little boats, we are very happy with our boat speed and the handicap thing."

Two new trophies were awarded to the big boats - more than 50ft overall or with a time allowance below 150 seconds per mile - in the performance handicap division. The line honours prize went to the Lavranos 76 Marchioness, owned by a Sydney syndicate and skippered by John Messenger; the handicap prize to Team Jaguar Infinity III.

The big boats in performance handicap division had some spectacular racing and did well, split from the winner Team Jaguar only by the Ross 40 API Karnevil. Marchioness was third, Charles St Clair Brown's Davidson 65 Antaeus, from Auckland, was fourth and Fudge aka Future Shock on charter to Anton Starling of Sydney from Peter Hansen of Melbourne, was fifth. Each of them won a race on corrected time. Stan Edwards' Frers 61 Margaret Rintoul V was sixth.

The new division for Channel Handicap yachts was a success, with 18 starters and a mix of designs and sizes at the head of the scoreboard. The Swan 44 Loki, by splitting the BH4 1 s in the last race, gave the countback winning edge to Challenge Again.

Lou Abrahams said his Challenge Again was quicker upwind on the rough-water beat home from North Molle under a new number three headsail. "We had a great race. We did everything right and had a boat that was fast."

Abrahams is pushing to have an IMS division in this year's Sydney-Hobart race. He believes it would bring another 15 to 20 boats into the fleet.

Designs by New Zealander Steve Thompson finished in the first three placings in the Sport Yachts division. Thompson crewed aboard the winner, Mustard Cutter, a Thompson 7.5m, along with owner/skipper David Turton of Mooloolaba YC, his younger brother Andrew who built the boat in the family garage of strip-planked cedar, New Zealand sailmaker Phil Houghton and Mark Matthews.

Mustard Cutter was launched in May and had sailed only in a few Queensland trailer-yacht events. David Turton said: "We have been refining the boat a little bit and have got it going upwind in pressure now. It's a great little boat to sail; a lot of fun off the wind."

Thompson said the concept for the 7.5 was a development of his 650 design which won the 1997 New Zealand championship and become popular over there. "It's a boat that can be amateur built and easily built; it's very low-tech construction. We devel¬oped it to fit into the Australian racing scene."

Second was a brand new Thompson 8, built by Lightning Yachts on the Gold Coast for keen Victorian trailer-yacht campaigner David Eickmeyer who sailed it for the first time the day before the regatta. "We have a bit to go," Eickmeyer said. "This is my fourth boat and the best."

Third was Shock Treatment, a Lightning 7 also designed by Thompson, jointly skippered by Bob Coventon and Larry Gray of Lightning Yachts.

The most obvious distinction of the newest Thompson boats is a mainsail with less-pronounced roach than in other designs. "It's really an attempt to get the boats going in all conditions," Thompson says. "What's really important is getting them going fast upwind. I feel that if they are fast upwind and light enough, they will go downwind okay."

The 22n mile race around Lindeman Island and return, which this year opened the regatta, started in a 5-7 knot south easterly with the tide flooding south and halted in drift off Brush Island - a rounding mark in the channel between Lindeman and Shaw Islands.

Brindabella wiped off a long lead when she hit the calm. Sydney overtook her and then sailed into oblivion, out into the Whitsunday Passage, hoping for a re-assertive south-easterly. Sword of Orion took the race lead by heading up into the developing patches of light north-easterly sea breeze.

She was followed by Industrial Quest, No Fearr and Atara which exploited the north-easter by sailing between Lindeman and Seaforth islands.

Races two and three, over l0n mile windward return courses. were sailed the following day in perfect, fair, 16-18 knot southeast trades.

The 83n mile Coral Sea race started in another classic 16-18 knot sou-easter which peaked at 20 knots on the 20n mile beat to Coppersmith Rock, eased to 12-14 knots on the reach to to the east of the islands and on the return leg from Dolphin Point at the northern extremity of Hayman Island to the finish.

Brindabella shaved 9min 46min off the record she set for the course in 1995. But adverse tide on the reach to Edward Island and half-way along the next reaching leg to Hayman held her up. She placed second-last on IMS.

Sword of Orion won, getting a good early break by working two major wind shifts in the Whitsunday Passage on the beat to Coppersmith Rock.

Races five and six, another two 10n milers over windward and return courses, were sailed in a sou'easter which faded from 10-12 knots in race one to 8-10 knots for race two. Sledgehammer won race one, capitalising on a good start by sailing a fast and clever first run. She finished second in race two to Terra Firma. The smaller boats dominated the results through the wind shifting left 30 degrees during the last beat, allowing them to lay the windward mark on one leg and return with spinnaker poles on the headstay.

The big yachts had their turn in race seven, a 30-miler, in a rain-squall affected breeze which shifted left 40 degrees halfway up the nine-mile beat to Baynham Island. The most easterly boats - Brindabella, Sword of Orion, Sydney and Industrial Quest - gained most from the shift and tilled the IMS placings in that order. Fading breeze towards the end of the race gave the smaller boats no handicap chances.

The 24n mile South Molle/Daydream race, which concluded the regatta, was the most dramatic of all. Gusts of more than 30 knots swept Dent Passage just after the starts. Racing was can¬celled for the sports yachts and trailable multihull divisions.

Brindabella blew out her 1.5/.75oz reaching spinnaker. The jockey pole broke soon after it was set, the sheet had to be eased to save spinnaker pole hard against the forestay, the kite flapped and its middle blew to bits. No Fearr blew out a spinnaker, Ivan Wheen's Murray 41 Zoe broke a spinnaker pole as most of the IMS fleet wiped out in broaches.

The performance handicap start five minutes later was equally spectacular as Craig Ellis' Inglis/Murray 50 Wild Thing broached, dipping spreaders in the water and Fudge dug her bow in and rolled around it.

Marchioness hit 20.8 knots in a 30-32 knot rain squall on the spinnaker reach across the Passage towards South Molle.

Brindabella, under a 1.5oz spinnaker, sailed the reach with mostly speeds of 16 and 17 knots: touching 18.8. On the return leg, under code 4 headsail and full main, slightly sprung, she sailed at 10.5s and 11 s.

Bob Fraser dives in

SYDNEY SAILMAKER Bob Fraser is a quietly-spoken, conservative character. Well that's what you may think but after long races and at big regattas he can show a dare-devil streak.

I remember him telling me a few years ago about a Sydney-Southport race being so boring, he dashed off to the bungee jump near Southport Yacht Club to get the adrenalin going again.

At this year's Hamilton Island Race Week, he may have been feeling the same way about a picnic outing for families and friends aboard George Snow's maxi Brindabella on the lay day.

After lunch at anchor off a sparkling sandy beach, it was swimming time. Fraser astonished the younger blokes in the crew by climbing to the second set of spreaders, just 15.5 metres above the water, and diving off.

The crew awarded him eight for the dive but only four for the entry. Fraser hit the water awkwardly, hurt his back and had to forgo a dinner commitment that night to spend a session with the island's masseuse.

When his wife Susie called, the masseuse voiced concern about the risk involved in the flight of the Fraser. Susie, philosophicaly, just said: "You can't stop these older blokes thinking they are still boys."

Cockatoos

The cockatoos are nature's ornaments at Hamilton Island. There seem to be hundreds of them and I never tire from watching them fly and play. They've mastered a Fraser-type dive off the Reef View hotel balconies but have got the last bit right. They step off, drop like a stone for several metres, then spread their wings and soar gracefully away.

Many house guests, however, quickly discover that they are not as cute as they look. Their bite can shred a finger. Leave the balcony door open and they can go for items in your room.

Ask Richard Bennett, the great Tasmanian photographer. He was at Hamilton, shooting his trademark sailing pictures with wonderful seascape and landscape backgrounds.

Richard uses big-format cameras. He neglected to close his balcony door when he went out one day. On his return he found a cockatoo ripping into the bright yellow pack of Kodak 120 film he had shot the day before.

The cockatoo tugged the film out of its container and ruined it. About $3000 dollars in lost photo orders, Richard reckons. Well, that's what he said.