New Zealand Ocean racing skipper Simon Hull was all smiles when he received a strong wind forecast for Friday’s opening race of the 2012 Telcoinabox Airlie Beach Race Week.

Skipper Simon Hull’s crew of thrill seeking sailors who managed to complete the Double Cone-Armit Island race with a record breaking time in 2011 are confident providing the trade wind gusts in to allow them to power sail the exciting 18.48 m trimaran to a new record’

The time of 1 hour 47 minutes 16 seconds with an average speed of 17.38 knots seems difficult to beat but the Team Vodafone crew believe that records are only made to be broken.

As expected the spectacular hull flying Team Vodafone will need the breeze to blow above 15 knots to have any chance of challenging her impressive record.

Meanwhile the champion Victorian skipper Michael Hiatt has lodged a late entry to contest the Grand Prix IRC class with his high performance Bruce Farr designed sloop Living Doll.

The living Doll crew who hail from the cold Victorian port of Williamstown have previously won at Airlie Beach and their clash with the Geoff Ross skippered New South Wales sloop Yendys is expected to be another highlight to the 10 class International series which starts on Friday and concludes on August 16.

Ian Grant

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Last Updated ( Thursday, 09 August 2012 )