Straight from the Australasian Etchells Championship, the Etchells one design fleet are preparing to head further north to compete in the 2017 Airlie Beach Race Week. A late inclusion in the regatta, the competitive, 3 or 4 person fleet will add another dimension to the regatta, with racing for the fleet taking place on Pioneer Bay within easy sight of the Airlie Beach shoreline.
Airlie Beach Race Week entries open – Top Gun first in
Online entry is open and the Notice of Race online for Whitsunday Sailing Club’s 2017 Airlie Beach Race Week Festival of Sailing to be held from 10 to 17 August in the beautiful Whitsundays.
No sooner had WSC opened entries on the official race website, than Darren Drew had entered Top Gun, his Crowther 50 catamaran from NSW.
The Notice of Race for the 2017 Airlie Beach Race Week has now been published and is available to download from the website. In addition, the entry system is now live; entries are now invited from suitable boats. Dates for the 2017 Airlie Beach Race Week are 10th - 17th August 2017.
Entrants are reminded that berthing is at a premium at both Abell Point Marina and Port of Airlie during the month of August. It is advisable to book early to avoid disappointment.
The racing format will be a combination of round-the-buoys racing in Pioneer Bay, and passage races in Pioneer Bay and the Whitsunday Passages. Multiple races may be held on some days.
Airlie Beach Race Week came to an end with the official prize giving, held at Whitsunday Sailing Club where special prizes were awarded, including the Boss Hog Trophy.
Presented for the first time in 2002, it is named for Don Algie, founder of Race Week and long-term sponsor with Hogs Breath Café. Algie competed again this year, entering his easily recognisable Van de Stadt 55, Storm.
Jason ‘Goggles’ Ruckert and his Mister Magoo crew from Queensland have decisively won the Trailer Boat Nationals, hosted by Airlie Beach Race Week.
Ruckert sailed against 19 others from Queensland, Victoria and NSW and led the field from the first day when his Thompson 7 crew won the first race at the 27th Airlie Beach Race Week hosted by Whitsunday Sailing Club.
Airlie Beach Race Week started with three unbeatable days of sailing under the sun and then conditions became testing for the remainder of the regatta, with even more dismastings, a boat aground and two crew were taken to hospital after being injured by booms in gusty south-easterly winds.
Although conditions are nothing out of the ordinary, with gusty 15-18 knot winds, some competitors taking part on the final day of Airlie Beach Race Week found themselves in difficulty on the race course today, and race officials have been kept busy monitoring the various situations.
