Hamo Race Week 2011 Team Windcraft
on board the Hanse 540e luxury racing yacht
Audi Hamilton Island Race Week Summary after Day 4
Hanse 540e'One O Nine' is leading the Performance Racing Yacht Division 2 overall point-score with an impressive performance today of 2nd over the line to a Farr 40 which had a great downwind start at times recording speeds of 19+ knots under kite in 25 - 30 knots of wind.
The team on 'One O Nine' were extremely happy with a top speed performance of 15.1 knots recorded on the 20 mile downwind leg flying a 1.5oz asymmetrical kite!
The steering was shared between the elated owner Rob Salteri and Peter Hrones of Team Windcraft.
Alastair Murray from Ronstan also enjoyed the helm on the run down to Double Cone Island.
The competitive sister-ship Hanse 540e 'Pandora' had an enjoyable ride down but were really missing their kite, which was blown out yesterday in race 3.
They did well to recover ground on the long upwind return back to Dent Passage and even after two days with no spinnaker is now coming 4th overall.
The owners of both boats are having a lot of fun with great match yacht racing both up and down wind and we are all amazed at the boats we are beating a number of performance boats not just on handicap but also over the line...
... designs like Beneteau FIRST 40's, and 44.7, J133, Mummery 45, Radford 12, Simonis Voogd 42 just to name a few.
Today is a layday and the sailmakers have been busy all-day doing repairs and also a few masts and booms have been broken although all the Hanses have stood up to the test in the high winds over the last 2 days.
Other Hanse results
The Hanse 400e 'Eresseae' with John Bankart is currently 8th out of 28 boats in Yacht Cruising Division 1.
And the Hanse 400 'Solutions' with Stephen Dadour is 13th out of 39 boats after 3 races in Cruising Division 2.
Here's the teams from 'Pandora' and 'One O Nine' - do you recognise the silverware in the photo on the right?
It's the real America's cup - great to see it on Australian soil!
Hamo 2011 Day 1
Audi Hamilton Island Race Week is a fabulous annual event.
Racing yachts surrounded by Queensland's Whitsunday Islands in gorgeous weather is pretty hard to beat.
So far this year the winds have been perfect for yacht racing - with around an 18-20 knot brisk SE trade wind powering the boats along.
Three Hanse 540e's are competing.
Team Windcraft's MD Peter Hrones is on the Hanse 540e 'One O Nine' - this photo shows Rod Salteri her owner and skipper on the helm.
Ric Hawkins our technical sailing advisor sailing advisor is on 'Pandora' another silver Hanse 540e.
Pandora and One O Nine are battling it out in Performance Division 2 while Hans Petersson is in the Cruising non spinnaker division on the third Hanse 540e Maulie Maulie.
The first day of racing saw a very aggressive start by One O Nine pushing Dave Stewart on Pandora out with a small love tap!
Since this happened was right in front of the start line it's all in this official race week video - check it out at around 5:30 minutes in...
The great conditions gave the luxury yachts a boat speed of 11.6 knots under the kite.
Peter Hrones is happy to report that One O Nine beat Pandora and are now 2 up!
One O Nine came 4th over the line and 3rd on handicap today and Pandora came 4th on handicap and around 7th over the line.
We're sure you'll agree the Hanse 540e's look awesome.
New for 2011 the Hanse 545 is the next generation of Hanse 54 footer.
