Four racing days into Hamilton Island Race Week 2026, five boats are separated by one point in the top rating division, two crews remain unbeaten under IRC, and the Kiwis have had a bit of everything.
Four racing days down, two to go, and there is very little separating the quickest boats at Hamilton Island Race Week 2026.
In Rating Division 1, almost nothing separates the top five. First Light and Wild Oats X are tied on 17 points. Highly Sprung, Gusto and Virago are all on 18.
Elsewhere, the numbers look very different. Bruce McCraken's Ikon has won all five IRC races in Rating Division 2 sitting 8 points ahead of the division's second team Seeking Alpha. Raymond Roberts' Team Hollywood has done the same across four Super40 races.
For the Kiwi crews, it has been more complicated. Vixen Racing came back from Wednesday's lay day with a win. CAT+ION suffered a costly retirement, while V5 has yet to find the form it showed at Airlie Beach.
There is still plenty to play for.
A proper Whitsundays welcome
Sunday's opening race gave the fleet little time to settle in. Fresh trade winds pushed into the 20 to 25 knot range, with stronger gusts and a short sea adding to the workload.
Rating Division 1 was competitive from the start. Mark Spring's Highly Sprung recovered from a poor start to win on IRC. Gusto finished second and Virago third.
Grant Wharington's Wild Thing 100 was meanwhile stretching its legs in Hamilton Island Blue. Four races later, the 100 footer is doing more than collecting line honours. It leads the division on EHC handicap with finishes of fourth, first, first and second. That puts Wild Thing 100 on eight points, six ahead of Caol Ila.
At the other end of the size range, the Trailable Yachts were getting bounced around in the same conditions. The family crew aboard +GST took the first handicap win. That result has proved important. Four races later, +GST remains tied for the division lead.
The contenders emerge
Monday brought the second race and another shuffle at the front of Rating Division 1. This time First Light won. Highly Sprung backed up its opening victory with second, while Gusto finished third.
Wild Oats X had a much worse afternoon. A retirement gave Sandy Oatley's crew nine points and an early hole to climb out of, which they started on Tuesday.
The Nautilus Marine Classic brought more strong trades, rain squalls and changing visibility before the fleet headed into Wednesday's scheduled lay day. Wild Oats X won Rating Division 1 IRC, ahead of Highly Sprung and Gusto. That victory put the boat firmly back into the series.
One division over, Ikon was grabbing attention. It started with a win in the first Rating Division 2 IRC race. Then the second. Then the third. Thursday brought two more races and two more wins. Five races, five bullets and five points. Seeking Alpha is second on 13, with Obsession third on 14. Nobody in Rating Division 2 has yet found a way past Ikon on corrected time.
Hamilton Island Race Week 2026 gets seriously tight
After Wednesday's lay day, Thursday began with one of Race Week's less serious traditions. The Prix d'Elegance brought crews onto the water competing for Best Presented Yacht and Best Themed Yacht. A great time was had by all the crews. Now we're waiting for Saturday's presentation evening to hear who won this.
Then the costumes went away and the racing started. Most divisions headed around White Rock. Rating Divisions 1 and 2 stayed in the Eastern starting area for two windward leeward races.
By the end of them, Rating Division 1 was almost impossibly close. First Light leads with 17 points. Its five results are ninth, first, fourth, second and first. Wild Oats X are ones to watch; they're currently also sitting on 17 after fourth, a retirement, first, first and second.
One point behind are three boats, Highly Sprung, Gusto, and Virago, all on 18. The interesting bit is how differently they have got there. First Light, Wild Oats X and Highly Sprung have all won races, but each also has an ugly number on its scorecard. Gusto hasn't won a race. It hasn't needed to. Consistency with a second, third, third, fourth and sixth have kept Lee Hawksley's crew right in it. Robert Kelly's Virago has been steadier again, with third, fourth, fifth, third and third. No discards are reflected in the standings through Thursday.
Team Hollywood hasn't missed yet
The Super40 fleet is producing a very different contest. Raymond Roberts' Team Hollywood has four IRC wins from four starts. FOMO sits second on nine points, with Celestial third on 15.
Look at the same racing under ORC AP and the order changes. There, Celestial leads on six points. Black Sparrow is second on nine and Team Hollywood third on ten.
Under SFR, Black Sparrow sits on top.
Elsewhere, there is barely any room between the front runners. Stratacare Racing Bluebottle and Xscape are tied on 20 points in Hamilton Island Yellow.
In the Trailable Yachts, +GST and Charter World Yachting Holidays are both on 21. Resin Up and Maximum Limit are only two points behind.
Quantum has an equally slim advantage in Hamilton Island Black, leading The Straycat by eight points to nine.
There are some long Friday and Saturday afternoons ahead.
Vixen Racing fires back
Of the Kiwi boats, Vixen Racing had the best Thursday. Sharon Ferris Choat's crew went into the lay day with finishes of sixth, eighth and 12th in Hamilton Island Pink. Then they won Thursday's race, jumping to sixth overall on 27 points. Phoenix49 leads the division on 13.
For the Vixen Racing programme, which has put plenty of emphasis on developing young sailors, it was a useful result at the right time.
Graham Catley's CAT+ION had a much less enjoyable return from the lay day. The Royal Akarana Yacht Club multihull started Race Week with an OMR win. Third and second followed. Then came Thursday's retirement.
The Kiwi boat has slipped to third overall on 16 points. Miyu leads on five, Mint has 12, while Rare Groove is level with CAT+ION on 16. There is time to recover, but the retirement has made the job harder.
Brian Petersen and the V5 crew are also looking for a change of fortune. The Kiwi TP52 came to Hamilton Island after finishing fourth at Airlie Beach Race Week. Hamilton Island has been much tougher. Its Rating Division 1 results read seventh, seventh, retirement, sixth and eighth. That leaves V5 eighth on 37 points. The boat has pace. The problem is that Rating Division 1 currently has five crews producing very good weeks.
Two days to sort it out
Hamilton Island Race Week is now 41 editions old, but the basic appeal hasn't changed much. Big boats, small boats, serious race programmes and family crews all get thrown onto the Whitsundays together.
This week the weather has made them work for it. And after four racing days, a few crews have managed to take control.
Ikon hasn't lost an IRC race. Neither has Team Hollywood. Wild Thing 100 is leading its division on handicap as well as being the biggest and quickest boat in the group.
For the Kiwis, Vixen Racing has finally landed a win, while CAT+ION and V5 have work ahead.
Then there is Rating Division 1. Now that is one to watch. Friday and Saturday should be fun.
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