Wild Oats takes line honours in race four at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week

The pendulum has swung – again. The two RP66s, Wild Oats X and Black Jack, now have two line honours wins each after Bob Oatley's Wild Oats swept to victory by over five minutes on the shortened island race course today. Black Jack was second, just 16 seconds ahead of Michael Hiatt's Farr 55 Living Doll which was sailed superbly to get so close to the bigger boats..

The race started in a steady 8-10 knots of breeze, and the helmsmen were so keen to get racing that a general recall was sounded when multiple boats broke the start. On the next gun, Shogun again broke the line, causing her to have to go around for a third time.

Words were also exchanged between the crews of Carbon Credits and Lahana at the committee boat end of the line as Division 2 got a congested start.

At the first mark Wild Oats X had edged ahead of Black Jack. As they continued a tight reach to the south-west, Oats went left and lifted into the wind, separating by about 400 metres from Black Jack. They were followed round the mark by Limit and Living Doll, with Wot Now, Scarlet Runner II and Wild Joe on their heels.

According to Wild Oats tactician, Iain Murray, the crew work on Wild Oats really clicked today and the big gray boat sailed away with the race, to finish opposite the new Whitsunday Sailing Club after three hours and 26 seconds on the course.

However, on handicap it was Living Doll who took the honours, with a clear victory over Evolution Racing (whom she beat on a count back at Airlie Beach last week) and Shogun, who recovered well from their starting mishap.

The big news of the day was the performance of series leader Scarlet Runner II, which finished last on handicap and fell to third overall behind Evolution Racing and Living Doll. However, just one point separates the top three boats and with more wind expected after the lay day tomorrow, keen racing can be expected on Wednesday. Your mysailing.com.au team will be right there on the course to report all the action for you.

Complete results for Divisions 1 and 2 are:

IRC Div1 results Start : 11:05:00 Around the Islands Race

Series Results [IRC Div1] up to Race 4 (Drops = 0)

IRC Div2 results Start : 11:05:00 Around the Islands Race

Series Results [IRC Div2] up to Race 4 (Drops = 0)

Place	Ties	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	Sers Score	Race 4	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1	2.0S	Q345	ALEGRIA	Rod Jones	14.0	2.0	2.0	9.0	1.0
2		SM46	DEKADENCE	Philip Coombs	14.0	1.0	5.0	2.0	6.0
3		YC400	TWO TRUE EVOLUTION	Andrew Saies	15.0	4.0	1.0	8.0	2.0
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