Super boat flexes its muscles

TEAM Euroflex proved why it’s regarded as the Winx of the SuperFoiler Grand Prix, claiming a hat-trick of wins at Geelong yesterday.

In similar fashion to the super mare’s three-peat of Cox Plates, the boat in blue cruised to victory in the opening two races, flexing its muscle as the team to beat.

But, not dissimilar to last year’s Moonee Valley feature — where Humidor gave Chris Waller’s star a mighty scare — Glenn Ashby’s crew had to overcome the fight of the series so far to nail Team Record Point on the line in the third and final race of the day to keep its unbeaten record intact.

Record Point, skipped by world No.1 match racer Phil Robertson, headed towards the finish line with a comfortable lead, but ran out of gas late as Euroflex stormed to a thrilling two-second victory.

“It was actually pretty painful to be honest, we just didn’t have enough heat in the oven at the end of that race,” Robertson said.

“We had the wheels up and keel ripping, but we overcooked the lay a bit and had to make one more jibe and sort of went light into it.

“Painful finish to be drifting so close to a win, but we’re coming for them and I think the blue boat will go down soon.” Ashby lauded Robertson for his team’s effort.

“That last finish was super tight … Phil and the boys did a great job of that last lap,” he said.

“I feel almost a bit sorry for them to pip them on the line, right at the end, but we actually pulled off a really nice jibe and managed to just sneak through by a boat-length at the end.”

The champion Kiwi sailor found a silver lining in the day, however, after his team left Adelaide in equal-last place on the six-team table.

They will go into today’s racing on the back of two seconds and a third yesterday, with a sail of confidence behind them.

It was a horror day for Team Tech2, however, with skipper Luke Parkinson finding himself in the water in race one.

“We were neck and neck with the Team Pavement guys and, foil jibe, the boat took off from under my feet and out the back I went,” Parkinson said.

“We had moments of brilliance and some tough finishes where the whole fleet sailed past us, so quite frustrating.

“I think us and Euroflex are the guys foil jibing the most, so we’ve just got to get back onto actual racing now and sailing fast up-wind.”

Competition runs across the weekend on Corio Bay.

Racing starts from 2pm today.