by Niclas Westling
Being a cruiser that also sometimes do racing, I signed up with my normal MHYC racing boat, Wailea - a Beneteau First 40.7, to do my first Hamilton Island Race week this year. Our boat was entered in the competitive (IRC) Rating division 2, with boats sized 35-45 ft. The skipper, Neil Padden, recently celebrated his 80th birthday and was excited to get another Hammo race week done.
One of our regulars, David Keddie, did organise the on-water delivery of Wailea from Sydney (quite a few of the race boats did the delivery by road transport), and the boat was temporarily set up for almost cruising standard with running hot/cold water, anchor in the anchor locker, cushions etc. Susanna and I joined the delivery to/from Mackay to Hamilton Island.
The racing
The race courses at Hamilton are quite different from the normal regattas we do on Wailea, with over 40 different passage races for the committee to choose from, and only announced in the morning before each race day. See example of one of the courses in the picture above. We only had one day of Windward/Leeward racing.
The week started off with fairly windy SE conditions, varying between 20-30 knots (and a few gusts above 30). The racing committee did a good job in minimising wind over tide conditions, but we still had a few upwind legs with a very choppy sea state. The end of the week was done in more moderate winds around 10-15 knots.
The currents in the Whitsundays are very strong and we had up to 3 knots impacting us at times (it can get even worse), and we did lack the local knowledge how best to handle it, however, a premium subscription of PredictWind was used to get a picture of how the currents moved around the Islands.
There were plenty of whales on the course and we were on constant lookout to make sure we didn't hit any. There were a couple of near misses that scared us a bit, but I think the whales are aware we're around and we're not sailing at 15kn+ speeds so I guess they have time to avoid us.
The Wailea crew is experienced and did an awesome job on manoeuvres all through the week, however, the First 40.7 is maybe not particularly well designed for the choppy sea state (it's known as "the Beach ball") and also not specifically designed to rate well in IRC. All in all we had a lot of fun though and learned some new tricks.
Onshore
The race week also offers a lot of entertainment and activities onshore, with live music every evening, a lay day with a beach party organised, and a sailing parade "Prix the Elegance" to view for the spectators. Super professional organisation and logistics. We particularly enjoyed the final evening with "Furnace and the Fundamentals" putting on a great show.
Rob Aldis kindly hosted a drinks evening for all the MHYC crew.
Future
The future of the Hammo race week seems a little uncertain after the new owners of the Island has taken over from the Oatley family. We hope the sailing tradition will live on even under the new ownership.
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