Last night Dave Short made history at Hahn Premium Hamilton Island Race Week. Not only did he win the first ever non-spinnaker division of the event, he was also the ultimate winner with the best time in the “Final Challenge” Audi event – winning an Audi A4 Avant.

In his 1989 built Hunter 33, accompanied by two mates and various guest crew each day, Dave Short exemplified how you don’t need to have loads of money to have loads of fun at Hamilton Island. Fulfilling a dream to “go sailing” he bought his cruising yacht in Sydney a year ago and cruised up to Townsville where he now lives on his boat i. He had a dream to compete in the Hahn Premium Hamilton Island Race Week even though he has very little racing experience and enlisted the support of long time friend Dave Parker and business partner Dorich Taylor who helped sponsor his challenge. He even called on his parents in Ballina to bring his spare mainsail up from “the back shed” – so his “support team” hopped in the car and came up too.

The last thing he expected was to win anything, “we just came here for a good time” said Dave. They invited people they met on the island to join them racing each day and with a crew of five they had “lots of laughs” and managed to compete well in each race. Yesterday was the last day of racing and they knew they had a chance of winning the division. Going well towards the first mark, disaster struck when their mainsail tore in two. Without all the extra equipment of the larger yachts (and their spare mainsail back at the dock) these guys had to improvise. Maintaining their speed, three of the crew used a shark hook to punch holes in the mainsail and thread VB cord through to keep the sail together. Their motto was “we are made of steel, we cannot be broken”. They would not give up and their determination and ingenuity gave them the trophy by three seconds ahead of Bryan Hudson in Catalyst.

Winning their division put them in the running to also win the Audi Final Challenge event. Throughout the week sailors have been competing in a challenging driving gymkhana on a course designed by Audi Motorsport Ambassador Brad Jones. Each driver representing a yacht competing in Race Week drove the course and the exercise was timed. The ultimate winner of the A4 Avant was the person who not only won their division, but who also recorded the fastest time on the Final Challenge Course.

Dave Short recorded the fastest time with 21.9 seconds on the track and has now made history by not only winning the newest division of racing at Hamilton Island Race Week but by also being the first person to win an Audi from new 2007 regatta sponsors Audi Australia.

Dave and his crew have many more stories to tell from their eventful week at Hamilton Island and we’re sure they will be laughing and retelling tales for years to come of how the small fish came and stole the show in the year 2006. And we’re guessing, they might be back to defend their title next year if the smile on their faces is anything to go by!