Arajilla unbeatable in IRC Division 2
>b>Middle Harbour yachtsman Geoff Pearson and his Archambault 35 Arajilla has won IRC division 2 of the 2008 Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week with a race to spare, today notching up a remarkable sixth win in six races at this 19tth annual Whitsunday Coast regatta.
'Arajilla . Neville Wittey on helm, owner Geoff Pearson (winch). Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week Day 5 racing'
Peter Campbell ©
Click Here to view large photo
With the 107 boat fleet lining up for their final race tomorrow, Arajilla is in a strong position to be 'Boss Hog' and win a trophy awarded by Don Algie, who founded the regatta at Airlie Beach 19 years ago when it was called the Hogsbreath Cruising Classic.
Despite being unbeaten in six straight races, helmsman Neville Wittey, the Olympic and international sailor, said the outcome had been the result of sound preparation and hard, tactical sailing. 'Everyone thinks this boat has a terrific rating but have to work hard all the way round the track to sail to that rating,' Wittey said.
'And it was especially hard work today in the long passage race around the Molle Islands,' he added. 'It was a fresh breeze, the joggle was mind-boggling and we were down two crew members...and crew weight is very important. The boys all worked very hard on the long beat to the top island and again on the spinnaker run back to Pioneer Bay.
Arajilla, a German-built Archambault cruiser/racer, was the overall IRC winner of the Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week last year, but this year IRC has been split into two divisions, although the Arajilla crew would have liked to have taken on the bigger boats again.,
'For this regatta we had one new Doyle Fraser paneled carbon headsail and re-cut last year's sails and they proved ideal for the conditions here,' added Wittey as he and owner Geoff Pearson (the Archambault agent in Sydney) celebrated with crew members Tim Olding, Mark Tinworth, Graham Sanderson and David Wood.
'Being one of the smaller boats in IRC Division 2, one of things we keep an eye on is course management,' explained Wittey. 'We find it is important not so sail longer than we have to around the course.we dodge the current where possible, going for the best possible boatspeed, keeping a spinnaker up as long as possible to get around headlands as quickly as possible.
'Our winning margins on corrected time have never been huge, one race we won by just 36 seconds, today it was just over 4 minutes over a long course.'
Arajilla won today's Molle Island Race from the Sydney 38 Zen, skippered by Gordon Ketelbey, also from Middle Harbour Yacht Club, third place going to Geoff Anderson's Outsider from Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron. After six races, Arajilla is on 5 points, with Zen in second place on 10 points and the Sea Quest RP36 Treasure VIII, skippered by 79-year-old Harold Menelaus from Whitsunday Sailing Club in third place on 16 points.
by Peter Campbell 
Turners Beach, TAS
