Due su due per l'Alfa Romeo 2 di sir Neville...

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The world's newest super maxi yacht, New Zealander Neville Crichton's Alfa Romeo, today made a stunning race debut in equally stunning sailing conditions - the opening race of the Hahn Premium Race Week at Hamilton Island in the tropical Whitsunday Islands of Far North Queensland.

New Zealand super maxi Alfa Romeo, launched in Sydney only four weeks ago, swept away from the fleet which included several smaller, but proven grand prix racing yachts. To the surprise of owner/skipper Crichton, she was also declared handicap winner of the IRC division.

Hoisting her massive 805 square metre spinnaker the 98-footer accelerated away from the fleet, akin to what motoring enthusiasts would expect from a land-born Alfa Romeo, quickly hitting 15.5 knots in the 13 knot sea breeze.

At the same time, her nearest opposition, the already internationally proven 66-footer Wild Oats was dropping astern, along with the rest of the 28 boat fleet.

Alfa Romeo is a Reichel/Pugh design, built totally of carbon fibre in Sydney by McConaghy Boats, featuring a canting keel and twin rudders fore and aft of the keel. Jim Pugh from the US design office was aboard the yacht for today's 30 nautical mile Lindeman Island Race.

"It was a fantastic way to start our campaign by taking out the double," a delighted Crichton told a press conference back at Hamilton Island Harbour. "We have had little time to optimize the boat to its rating, so it was quite a surprise to hear that we have also won on handicap."

Crichton steered Alfa Romeo around the 30 mile course in just under two hours and on corrected time won convincingly from three other Reichel/Pugh designs - Stephen Ainsworth's newly launched 66-footer Loki, Steven David's 60-footer Wild Joe and Bob Oatley's 66-footer Wild Oats.

Around the course, the silver-hulled 30-metre super maxi beat Wild Oats by 18 minutes, quickly taking the lead in the 10-13 knot breeze after a conservative start to her maiden race.

"We are really using this regatta as a training event, getting used to complex systems and trying out various configurations," Crichton added, referring to the canting keel, hydraulic winch systems and twin rudders. "We did have a few problems with the computer systems, but that was after the race but otherwise everything went extremely well.

"Upwind we logged up to 11.7 knots in the 10-13 knot breeze and flat water and reached 15.5 knots off the winds.

"We were certainly sailing right up to the numbers and pointing higher than Wild Oats which she was in line astern but clear of our wind and she is a proven boat with an excellent crew," Crichton added. "The new boat is good but we still be learning to sail her at her best two months hence."

Good although Alfa Romeo is, Crichton does not believe this makes her the natural favourite for this year's Rolex Sydney to Hobart Race in December, with the new Wild Oats, a 30-metre Reichel/Pugh design currently being built in Sydney for Bob Oatley, the owner of Hamilton Island Resort.

"I don't think we really know how good she is really is until we line up against Bob Oatley's new Wild Oats in December in the lead-up to the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race," Crichton concluded.

'ALFA ROMEO' TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Owner/skipper: Neville Crichton

Club: Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron

Sail No: NZL 80

Designers: Reichel/Pugh, USA

Builders: McConaghy Boats, Sydney, Australia

Construction: Hull - carbon fibre composite. Keel - steel;

Rudders and Mast - carbon fibre; Sails - 3DL carbon/mylar

Mast: Southern Spars, Auckland, New Zealand

Winches, deck gear: Harken Winches

Sails: North Sails, Sydney, Australia

LOA: 30.0 metres

Beam: 5.2 metres

Draft: 5.2 metres

Mast: 44 metres (42.2 metres above deck)

Sail area: Mainsail: 314 square metres

#1 genoa: 208 square metres

#1 Asymmetric spinnaker: 805 square metres

Weight: 25.5 tonnes

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The Edward Island Race, the second event in the Hamilton Island Hahn Premium Race Week, has provided New Zealand super maxi 'Alfa Romeo' her second line honours win when skipper Neville Crichton completely outsailed the rest of the fleet in the IRC division yesterday (Sunday 21 August 2005).

The light winds - 0 to 9 knots and two "parking lots" for the newly launched super maxi - favoured the small grand prix boats and Alfa Romeo could not repeat her magical maiden race of the previous day when she won line and IRC handicap honours and set a course record.

However, it gave the boat an excellent work-out in light winds and the crew seven hours of opportunity to try sail combinations and work on the highly sophisticated technology of the canting keel, steering and hydraulic winch systems as they sailed through the majestic Whitsundays Islands of Far North Queensland.

Alfa Romeo sailed the course, shortened from 59 nautical miles to 56 miles because of the light winds, in 7 hours 03 minutes and 29 seconds, finishing just on 29 minutes ahead of nearest rival, Bob Oatley's 20.1metre Wild Oats. Third to finish among a long spread fleet was Steven David's Wild Joe, a further 10 minutes astern.

On corrected time, with seven boats finished, provisional first place in the IRC division went the newly launched Loki, Stephen Ainsworth's 66-footer. Like Alfa Romeo a Reichel/Pugh design but without a canting keel, Loki was placed first ahead of Wild Joe (Steven David) and Vanguard, Richard Cawse's Lyons/Cawse designed 66-footer, but at that stage nearly 20 boats still had to finish in the IRC division.

"It was a good sail in light winds and gave us plenty of time to test sail combinations and the boat's systems, but we were 'parked' twice for at least 15 minutes each time," sailing master/tactician Michael Coxon said after the long race. "About halfway to Coppersmith Rock we stopped and Wild Oats almost came alongside; we pulled away again but again ran out of breeze near Pentecost Island."

Coxon said the long race had been "a good day's sailing in light winds∑.we have the rig tuned∑we are very happy with the rig and sails," a view supported by experienced yachting journalists who watched the big, slender boat power away through the Dent Passage and on the wind towards Coppersmith. The North 3DL sails looked perfect.

The light south-easterly breeze ranged from 0 knots at the time of scheduled start to 9 knots at the best, and many boats were not expected to finish until late in the evening, despite the shortened course.

Of the 56 nautical miles course, only a quarter of the distance (on the way to Coppersmith Rock) was on the wind. "The rest was VMG running and main and jib reaching," Coxon added.

With the Dent Passage glass-like, except for the fast flooding adverse tide, as the time neared for the 0800 scheduled start of the 59 nautical mile Edward Island long race, Principal Race Offshore John Graham, hoisted the postponement flag.

Forty-five minutes later, as a light sou'easterly filled in, he asked Middle Harbour Yacht Club Commodore to sail his boat, Toy Box, on a trial run north under spinnaker against the tide. After some stops and starts in the 3 knot tide and little wind, Toy Box's performance convinced the PRO that the fleet could sail clear of the Dent Island Passage in reasonable time, with the race finally starting at 0935 in 6 knots of breeze.

Neville Crichton, at the helm of Alfa Romeo, made a perfectly judged start, gybing on to port at the gun, with the crew immediately dropping the jib and hoisting the Code 3 headsail for the downwind leg through the Dent Island Passage. On the one nautical mile leg to the first mark at the northern end of the Passage, the big silver super maxi opened up a lead of two minutes over Bob Oatley's Wild Oats, followed just over two minutes later by the Irish entry, Gerald O'Rourke's Cookson 50, Chieftain. Close astern came Ginger, Loki, Wild Joe and Vanguard.

Several boats went aground as they sailed in close to Dent Island, including Cougar, Inner Circle and Gomez while the Victorian boat Shogun was squeezed on to the second rounding mark off Dent Island and forced to carry out a 720 degree penalty turn, losing many minutes in the light breeze.

By then, Alfa Romeo was almost out of sight, powering to windward in then 8 knot south-easterly breeze towards Coppersmith Rock, the first of several natural island/rock rounding marks on this picturesque course.

Today is a lay day, with the 205 boat fleet set to sail a short offshore race on tomorrow (Tuesday 23 August 2005), with the seven race series ending on Saturday 27 August.