National Trailable Yacht Championship for Airlie Beach Race Week
Yachting Australia, through the National Trailable Yacht and Sports Boat Technical Committee, has confirmed it will stage a National Championship for trailable yachts at the 2016 Airlie Race Week in August. The organising authority, the Whitsunday Sailing Club, has established a new Division in the Notice of Race to facilitate the event.
Entry for Airlie Beach Race Week 2016 is open and John and Kim Clinton were the first enthusiasts to go online, read the Notice of Race and fill in their entry in the Whitsunday Sailing Club’s major sailing event, to be held from 11-18 August.
Speaking from Sydney today, John Clinton, who with his wife Kim owns the famed Beneteau Oceanis 50, Holy Cow! said, “We’re very keen on Airlie Beach Race Week. As soon as we knew entry was open, we were in there.”
Dates set and sponsorship open for 2016 Airlie Beach Race Week
Whitsunday Sailing Club has set the dates for the 27th edition of Airlie Beach Race Week which will be held from 11-18 August, 2016.
The Club’s signature event is located in the heart of Queensland‘s Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and is the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands, and as such, is making a name for itself as one of the world’s premier sailing destinations.
Airlie Beach Race Week 2015 ended on a high note 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 Cafe.
Boss Hog Trophy
The Boss Hog Trophy is presented to the crew that encapsulates the spirit of Race Week, displays sportsmanship and stands above the rest over the course of the regatta, on and off the water.
Airlie Beach Race Week came to a close today in shifty 8-18 knot winds on the Pioneer Bay race track, keeping competitors on their toes again.
IRC Racing 1, IRC Passage and Cruising Division 1 sailed a 24 nautical mile course around the Bay, while the remaining seven divisions sailed 16 miles. Conditions did get testing, especially at the wing mark where gybing under spinnaker was not for the faint hearted.
Airlie Beach Race Week comes to a close today and the wind gods must be feeling kindly, offering up 10 to 15 knot south-easterly winds under sunny skies for a race around Pioneer Bay according to weather forecasts.
“We’ll send IRC Racing 1, IRC Passage and Cruising Division 1 on a 24 nautical mile course around the Bay, while the rest of the fleet will sail a shorter 16 mile course. Racing will start from 10am,” Deputy Race Director Jock Ross said this morning.
Matt Allen pulled off his fourth straight win at Airlie Beach Race Week today to consolidate his lead in in IRC Racing Division 1, after a long day on the water, with racing starting at 9.30am this morning in 20-25 knot winds with big gusts.
Only one more race remains to be sailed at the Whitsunday Sailing Club’s popular annual regatta, and Allen is in an almost unbeatable situation with Ray Roberts’ Farr 55, OneSails Racing, four points in arrears after finishing the maiden again today.
Peter Wilcox well and truly has his mojo back, leading the Multihull Racing class with his Schionninggforce1500 design, ‘Mojo’ at Whitsunday Sailing Club’s Airlie Beach Race Week, heading into the last day of racing tomorrow.
Second place today means a two-point Series lead for Wilcox over nearest competitor, APC Mad Max, a Grainger 10 owned by Tony Considine. Today’s winner, Andrew Stransky (Fantasia), is a further two points behind in third place overall.
A 30 knot gust of breeze out of nowhere resulted in the 10.9 metre multihull, Cool Change, capsizing during Race 6 at Airlie Beach Race Week today, but her owner and all crew members were safe and back on land by lunch time.
Mackay sailor Bob Critchley and his crew were contesting an Island’s course when at around 10.35am, an hour into the race, crew from Belle, a monohull yacht sailing in the same race, reported to the event’s race committee that they had witnessed the 10.9 metre green multihull capsize and would stand by.
