Superfoilers take flight in Geelong

THE events keep coming Geelong’s way, with the waterfront hosting a leg of the SuperFoiler Grand Prix over the weekend.

The high-performance racing boats have a considerable amount of carbon fibre in their hulls, sails and foils, giving them a super-light and super-strong structure capable of speeds of more than 40 knots (74kmh).

Geelong is the second of five legs in the new national sailing series, and hometown sailor Glenn Ashby used his familiarity with Corio Bay to help Euroflex make a clean sweep of the event, praising team-mates Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen.

“Hats off to the boys today. I don’t know how many kilometres of rope we would have moved today or how many thousands of times Nathan was pressing on those buttons [on the tiller],” he said.

“I am just stoked for the win and really happy for the boys.”

Euroflex has now extended their unbeaten run to 15 races in a row.

“It was awesome to do it in Geelong. We had a lot of knowledge from Glenny,” Euroflex bowman Iain Jensen said.

“He knows just about everyone down here so it makes the victory even sweeter.”

Strong winds cancelled racing on Saturday but there were five races on Sunday, with Euroflex winning them all.

Pavement and tech2 threatened to end the winning streak, with both machines leading the races for long periods of time before being reigned in.

“We hit 33 knots out there; we were absolutely sending it. It’s just a matter of time before one of these boats finish over the top of Euroflex,” Pavement helmsman Steve Thomas said.

Minister for Tourism and Major Events John Eren officially launched the Geelong leg of the SuperFoiler Grand Prix on Friday.

The six-team series now heads to Queensland’s Gold Coast for nine scheduled races.