Five straight for Arajilla at Airlie Beach
'Arajilla IRC 2 leader - Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week Day 4 racing'
Ian Grant ©
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Sydney 2000 Soling class Olympian Neville Wittey admitted to experiencing a few hairy moments after he steered Geoff Pearson's Sydney sloop Arajilla to her fifth consecutive win in the Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week today.
Arajilla, the defending Boss Hog Trophy and IRC champion which is contesting the IRC Division 2 this year, was pressed into a spectacular 'chinese gybe' off Grimston Point when she was totally overpowered during a wild 30 knot south-easterly gust.
'The peak gusts had some real grunt and we simply got smacked, at one stage Arajilla was on a course towards the rocky ledge on Grimston Point,' Wittey said.
However, the Archambault 35's crew managed a swift recovery and continued to chase the class line honours leaders Zen (Gordon Ketelbey) and Secret Mens Business (Robert Curtis).
'She is a sound little boat and we did much better on the long beat back from Gumbrell Island and Olden Island...'she is exceptionally good to windward,' Wittey added.
Arajilla clawed back the bigger boats' lead to win by a comfortable 5 minutes and 6 seconds on corrected time, a margin that surprised even owner Geoff Pearson from Middle Harbour Yacht Club.
After enjoying a surfing spinnaker ride north from Pioneer Bay, the crews in IRC Division 2 faced the physical torment of slogging against a building breeze, plus a fast flowing northerly current and a white crested 2 metre seaway.
Zen continued to sail conservatively when she led the fleet into Pioneer Bay while Secret Mens Business purposely covered third-placed Arajilla as they slogged across a windy and corrugated course to the finish line off Airlie Beach.
Skipper Ketelbey and the Sydney 38 Zen crew proved to be the heavy wind sailing masters when they took line honours by 1 minute 20 seconds from Secret Mens Business.
Despite being being temperarily swamped by a big wave nearing the finish line, the lower handicap rated Arajilla survived a bruising race in a brute breeze to fill third place and retain her perfect 1-1-1-1-1 correctged time.
With two days of racing remaining in the 2008 Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week, Arajilla is the only unbeaten boat in the fleet of 107 boats.
by Ian Grant 
