Scarlet Runner’s date with Audi Hamilton Island Race Week 17 June 2016 Melbourne yachtsman Rob Date will deliver his latest Scarlet Runner, a boat he says in hindsight he should have done a cost benefit analysis on and taken to the tip when he first spotted the sorry sight, to Audi Hamilton Island Race Week in August to compete for an Australian Yachting Championship title. Named Scarlet Runner 9 because it’s the ninth in his series of boats by that moniker, Date’s Adams 10 Cruising design is one of the championship’s Passage Rating Class entries. This means Date has nominated for the six day series, to be sailed between August 20 and 27, with a single daily passage race winding around the scenic Whitsunday Islands. Across all divisions the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week fleet size currently stands at 164, well above the same time last year, and continues to track towards a bumper year. See the full entry list here. Date came across the modified 1979-built Adams 10 named Sports Car in a corner of Sandringham Yacht Club’s boatyard where it had sat untouched for years. He was overseeing yard organisation and rather than having the hull removed he made the owner a low and ultimately successful offer. “Once he agreed I thought I should have a look at my purchase, as I’d not bothered to do an inspection,” Date said. “All fittings were beyond repair, sails inside, water inside, broken frames and spongy foredeck, two holes where log fittings had been remover or lost… basically a disaster. She was never going to be a class Adams 10; better to dump her and buy a good one. But I didn’t!” The yacht when it was "Sportscar". Image supplied.. The rudder and keel came off, the rig was dismantled and sent away and the hull inspected. The report came back recommending a new rig, sails, frames and half the foredeck replaced, strengthening repairs, a complete fittings refit, hull faired and deck painted. Additional alterations commissioned included moving the chainplates out, side-to-side jib tracks and under deck controls, the idea being to create a more modern non-overlapping sail plan of approximately the same size for a similar handicap rating. “The final result is a fairly modern racing yacht with some weather protection,” Date says. His previous Scarlet Runner, a stunning red Reichel-Pugh TP52, contested all the major Australian events and completed an 18 month world voyage over 2013/14, ticking off many of the great international races and regattas. (See video including some great on board footage from the stormy 2014 Cape Town to Rio Race) On the switch from 52 to 33 feet, from high-end glamour to a lower-key scene Date says, “I will miss the speed and power of big boats; there’s nothing like it. The new Scarlet Runner does miss a little in power to weight… mind you the costs are well down. To buy a boat, do it up and rig it with the best gear for less than the annual running cost of the TP is pleasing. If we get the right pressure and angles at Race Week the new boat will perform beautifully.” Scarlet Runner recently sailing. Image supplied. Based on the skill level of the crew, who are mostly Date’s mates from Essendon High School in the 1960s, the owner has opted for the Passage series and says a heavy wind regatta will be less favourable. The 2015 edition of Audi Hamilton Island Race Week came with the best breeze in years, decent sou’east tradewinds finally returning to the area. Racing in the Passage Rating Class against Scarlet Runner 9 are two more Victorian entries, David Currie’s modified Farr 40 Ponyo and Ross Wilson’s Beneteau First 47.7, Eagle Rock, and from further afield the West Australian Beneteau First 45 Haywire has been nominated. The Australian Yachting Championship spans four classes: Rating, Passage Rating, Racer/Cruiser and Multihull Racing and entries for the championship and the encompassing Audi Hamilton Island Race Week close on August 7. Download the Notice of Race and enter here. All information relating to AHIRW is on the regatta website. Media images can be downloaded here. Twitter : #AHIRW #HamiltonIsland @AusYachtChamps Facebook : /raceweek /hamiltonisland /AusYachtChamps/ Instagram: #AHIRW @HamiltonIsland Further information: Lisa Ratcliff Australian Yachting Championship media e. lisa@occ.net.au m. 0418 428 511 Jane Gordon Australian Sailing Head of Marketing & Comms e. jane.gordon@yachting.org.au m. 0438 605 131 Denny-Lyn Dixon Hamilton Island General Manager Marketing e. ddixon@hamiltonisland.com.au m. 0407 160 771