Peter White's First Light has stormed into the IRC lead in Rating Division 1 with back-to-back victories on the penultimate day of Hamilton Island Race Week, setting up a tight showdown with Sandy Oatley's Wild Oats X on the final day.
The late charge from First Light overturned what had been a tight battle at the top of the five-boat division the five-boat TP52 division lineup, with White's crew now holding a narrow advantage over Wild Oats X, which recorded a second and third to sit on 11 points. Mark Spring's Highly Sprung, which had been undefeated in TPR through day three Highly Sprung's undefeated TPR run, remains in the hunt for overall IRC honours in third on 13 points, with Robert Kelly's Virago climbing to fourth after finishing third and second.
The TPR scoring system tells a different story, with Highly Sprung's second place strengthening its series lead to six points after the first discard, four clear of Gusto. Virago's race win moves it to third on 11 points.
In Rating Division 2, Bruce McCracken's Ikon continues its dominant campaign, extending its perfect scorecard to six consecutive IRC victories Ikon's perfect scorecard from day one. With the discard applied, Ikon leads on the minimum possible five points, with David Hamilton's Seeking Alpha second on 12 and Paul Arns and Geoff Bishop's Obsession third on 14.
The Super 40+ division produced three different winners across its scoring systems. Raymond Roberts' Team Hollywood maintained its perfect IRC scorecard with a fifth consecutive win, giving it a commanding four-point lead after the discard. Under SFR, Ari Abrahams' Fargo took the race win to tie Team Hollywood on nine points, though Fargo holds second on countback. Sam Haynes' Celestial won under ORC AP to lead those standings on four points.
Hamilton Island Blue has seen a dramatic shift at the top. Walter Carpenter's Caol Ila finished third today to move into the overall lead on 17 points, while Grant Wharington's Wild Thing 100, which had held the lead after back-to-back wins earlier in the week, slumped to 10th and dropped to second overall, one point adrift. Ben Davidson's Sea Fever placed second to climb to third on countback from David Beck's Journey, with both boats locked on 27 points. Ryan Hardy's Delta Lady claimed the race win.
The Multihull Racing division remains contested across two rating systems. Under OMR, Troy Forrest's Mint won ahead of Terry Robinson's Miyu, though Miyu retains the OMR series lead on seven points. Under EHC, Stuart Cox's Cut Snake claimed a second consecutive win, but Mint has moved into the overall lead on 17 points.
Hamilton Island Pink is set for a Geelong showdown on the final day, with Jennifer and Brenton Carnell's Phoenix49 leading on 24 points, just one ahead of John Whitbread's Kerb and two clear of Cam Rae's Crusader. Phoenix49 and Crusader both hail from the Victorian port city, with Phoenix49 co-skipper Jennifer Carnell describing the week as "windy, crazy and awesome" and highlighting the development of young crew members Evie Macdonald and Grace Hooper, now 20 and 21, who have sailed with the team for several years.
Elsewhere, John Foster's Xscape has opened a seven-point lead in Hamilton Island Yellow, Mark Tobin's C'est La Vie has moved to the top of Hamilton Island Orange, and Neil Young's Carbontest.au holds a slender 1.5-point advantage over Gary Davison's Solaire in Hamilton Island Green with the top three separated by just three points.
The 41st Hamilton Island Race Week concludes with final racing on Saturday.
