LIVING DOLL BLOWS THE FLEET AWAY.

Airlie Beach Qld Friday August 14.

Victorian skipper Michael Hiatt steered Living Doll to a runaway win in the opening race of the Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week on a surprisingly calm Whitsunday Passage today.

The Melbourne fashion industry businessman assisted by a crew of talented sailors handed the fleet a light wind sailing lesson completing the 23 nautical mile windward-leeward course in the smart time of 2 hours 58 minutes 33 seconds in a warm sea breeze which hardly peaked 10 knots.

Skipper Michael Hiatt obviously welcomed the opportunity to steer Living Doll in the warm and pleasant tee-shirt and shorts sailing environment when Living Doll set the pace out of a clear wind and water start.

However while Living Doll sailed impressively on the slog against the variable and soft sea breeze to stretch her lead the crew continued to search for the best possible speed in the lighter puffs  to eventually hold a strong grip on the fastest course time when spinnakers were set after clearing the Double Cone Islands.

They were far more keen to set the required speed to outpace their high 1.396 IRC corrected handicap rating while their smaller rivals Scarlet Runner (Robert Date) of Victoria and the 2008 champion Ray Roberts of Sydney steering Evolution Racing settled into a private match race for the minor line and handicap honours.

The Living Doll crew were relentless in all aspects of maintaining unmatched speed allowing the Farr 55 to draw away on the spinnaker run eventually claiming a runaway 10 minute 50 second line honours victory over their Victorian team mate the Robert Date skippered Reichel Pugh 52 Scarlet Runner while their New South Wales rival and defending champion the Ray Roberts skippered Cookson 50 Evolution Racing finished an embarrassing 5 minutes 56 seconds of the pace.

As expected the Living Doll crew were rewarded when they clinched the line and handicap double leaving their rivals to try and find some solution to match this outstanding performance before the popular Royal Yacht Club of Victoria skipper and crew firm a stronger grip on the championship over the weekend.

 Veteran Sunshine Coast skipper Bob Robertson won the Farr 40 class match race steering Cracklin Rosie to a 27 second victory over the improving Night Nurse (Russell McCart) while deputy skipper Ian Thomson steered Eleven to third another 3minutes 46 seconds astern.

Former Australian Sabot and 420 dinghy champion Shane Smith gained the important first race points in the Sports Boats Inshore class championship when he steered his modified Blazer 23 Musto to a comfortable 5 minute 12 second corrected handicap win over the Bowen skipper Jamie Jochheim helming the SB3 Dart Airlie Sails while Mike McLean’s SB3 Dart Wagop claimed third.