News & Events

Whatever direction the wind is blowing on Tuesday, August 13, Northerlies will be the flavour of the month for sailors competing in Airlie Beach Race Week.

TP52 racing by any standard is a thrill to watch, particularly when it involves the current top two Australian players in Ichi Ban and Hooligan, with the two heavyweights of yachting returning to Airlie Beach Race Week Festival of Sailing to battle it out for the top spot in IRC Racing again.

When Bill Hopton entered his Swarbrick S99 into the 2019 Airlie Beach Race Week, he wasn’t expecting to be the first local in the Festival of Sailing’s fleet.

Some of the largest and fastest multihulls, both catamarans and trimarans, will descend on Whitsunday Sailing Club’s (WSC) Airlie Beach Race Week Festival of Sailing to compete in the 2019 Australian Multihull Championship, to be held from 8-15 August.

Entries have opened for Airlie Beach Race Week Festival of Sailing 2019, and Ray ‘Hollywood’ Roberts was the first to take advantage, putting his name to paper for the Whitsunday Sailing Club (WSC) hosted Festival of Sailing to be held from 8-15 August.

Whitsunday Sailing Club’s 30th Anniversary Airlie Beach Race Week surpassed expectations – anyone would be hard put to remember better weather at a regatta, accentuated by the variety of winds, courses and the sunny days.

Day 5 of Airlie Beach Race Week Festival of Sailing and conditions during the morning were above and beyond the forecast 15 knots, the wind whipping seas up quickly and crews had to stay on their toes, then winds eased after lunch – another great day in paradise.

Whoever is in charge up there is certainly favouring Whitsunday Sailing Club’s Airlie Beach Race Week, this week, as Race Director Denis Thompson reports, “more trade winds, but lighter than yesterday – probably in the 15 knot range.”

A sports boat limped home under motor after breaking its rudder, while other boats broached in up to 25 knots wind with gusts, their crews finding it difficult to control their rides – all part and parcel of the forecast superb windy conditions that arrived in time for Day 4 of Airlie Beach Race Week Festival of Sailing.