Congratulations to Michael Hiatt and his crew on winning Div 1 of Audi IRC series onboard his recently launched Farr IRC55
‘Living Doll’.

Michael Hiatt and his Living Doll crew had nerves of steel today, making a comeback to steal the Audi IRC Division 1 series from under the nose of Graeme Wood and his Wot Now crew – the two finished second and third respectively in Race 6 to finish the series on tied points, Hiatt coming out on top with one more win in his score to settle the series.

The final windward leeward race was put to bed this afternoon after a delayed start due to lack of breeze, but a nice 10-12 knot sea breeze filled in on Corio Bay just before midday, allowing racing to get underway. Going up the first beat, tactician Ross Lloyd took Living Doll (Vic) hard right and Wot Now (NSW) rounded the first mark well ahead of Hiatt and crew. However, by the time the yachts came up the work the second time, Hiatt, a Melbourne businessman, had a big lead over Wot Now and her crew could only look on as the Farr 55 kept up the momentum to score second place overall, Wot Now finishing third to seal the deal.

 Hiatt was thrilled. Having had a couple of teething problems with his yacht, which forced him to cancel competing in the Rolex Sydney Hobart, everything came together in Geelong.“We over rode Lloydy (tactician Ross Lloyd) on that first beat and Wot Now rounded in front of us, but we gybed inside them and caught up a bit of time on them on that first downwind leg. After that we picked them up bit by bit. We picked the shifts right – someone up there was looking after us.

C50 Calipso owned by Piero Paniccia showed its true pace during the 2008 Adriatic Cup in Venice, Italy.

See a full list of results here ...

Cookson 50 Calipso 4 of Piero Paniccia took Class 0 first place in the Barcolana Triestine Regatta 2007 that saw 1831 competitors on the start line.

Second across the line came Mucillagine Rosa of Renzo Sandrin, third Moonshine of Edoardo Ziccarelli.

More information available from www.barcolana.it

Article: Sail World - www.sail-world.com
Lead up to Race 1: Quantum Racing which has the same tactical team of skipper Ray Roberts mainsheet Jamie Wilmot and World title winning tactician Steve McConaghy aboard will start as the favourite based on their win in 2006.

However the Quantum Racing team will be forced to retain a consistent all angle sailing speed to protect their winning chances not only against Beau Geste but also be aware that former Sydney-Hobart race winner Bob Steel has the crew on Quest who have the hard racing experience to force the championship battle into a three boat match race.

RACE 1: At the top mark Quantum Racing, sailing in canting keel configuration with a canard lifting her upwind rather than with centre locked keel as she has done in some recent regattas, was controlling Quest as the two leaders came in on port tack. Quantum Racing slid around the mark with Quest a length astern.

Alan Brierty’s Limit came in on port tack also, but swung too wide and Michael Hiatt’s Cookson 50 Living Doll shot through inside her.
Quantum Racing extended slightly as she crossed towards Armit Island.

The breeze was continuing to build to 18’s.

Quantum Racing finished first overall in IRC ahead of Quest, with Beau Geste third ahead of Living Doll and Geoff Pearson’s Archambault 35 Arajilla in fifth place.