Racing will start from 9.30am at Airlie Beach Race Week today, and with southerly winds of 20-25 knots already pervading the Whitsundays, competitors will have to be on the ball.
Race Director Denis Thompson said while officials will aim to put four windward/leeward races to bed on the Sports Boats course, the remaining classes from the 108 competing boats will contest an arduous race in south-easterly winds of up to 25 knots, in sharp contrast with preceding days, and a welcome relief for many.
Sports Boat fanatic Graham Sherring is the owner/skipper of a Leech 650 he named ‘Stay Tuned’, and that was the message he sent rivals at Airlie Beach Race Week yesterday, when he won Race 5 of the Whitsunday Sailing Club’s regatta.
Matt Allen has continued his winning run at Airlie Beach Race Week, notching up another victory with Ichi Ban in Race 5 of the Whitsunday Sailing Club’s Tropical Festival of Sailing today.
Allen, who is gaining confidence in the TP52 he recently purchased, defeated Zen (Gordon Ketelbey) and OneSails Racing (Ray Roberts), to increase his lead to five points over Roberts’ Farr 55, which he beat by over five minutes on corrected time. Zen is currently holding down third place overall.
No breeze and barely existent winds at Airlie Beach Race Week on Tuesday meant the much anticipated Islands course was abandoned in favour of late starting and shortened windward/leeward and triangle courses, but with better conditions expected today, the Islands course is back on.
Denis Thompson, Race Director for the Whitsunday Sailing Club’s annual event, said the forecast today is for a north-westerly breeze.
On a long and hard light air day for competitors at Airlie Beach Race Week, with a lot of waiting around for breeze, Matt Allen’s Ichi Ban ticked off another win to continue to lead IRC Racing Division 1, while Justin Close’s More Noise continues to lead Division 2.
Racing was delayed for over two hours as officials waited for the breeze to come, leaving competitors to amuse themselves, yet stay mentally alert for when breeze did strike the course area at around 1pm as the sun beat down.
Competitors are in a quandary at Airlie Beach Race Week this morning, as weather models do not agree on wind strength and direction, but the general opinion is that Day 3 will be a light air day at the Whitsunday Sailing Club’s popular event.
Multihull favourite, Shaun Carroll’s Morticia is holding onto her lead at Airlie Beach Race Week and has firmed as odds on favourite to take the title at Whitsunday Sailing Club’s annual regatta.
Skippered by noted sports boat sailor and ocean racer Chris Williams, Morticia, the Lombard 10.5 tri design, played second fiddle to Peter Wilcox’s Schionningg force1500 designed Mojo, today.
In a thriller to the finish of two windward/leeward races at Airlie Beach Race Week today, Matt Allen’s Ichi Ban has taken the lead in IRC Racing Division 1, while Jason Close scored two more bullets with More Noise in Division 2 for a clean lead.
Matt Allen boarded his freshly purchased TP52 for his first race yesterday, after returning from the Transpac Race in the USA last week. It did not take the Yachting Australia president long to come to grips with his latest Ichi Ban.
Competitors aboard the 108 boats contesting Airlie Beach Race Week can expect light south-easterly breezes on the race track today, according to Race Director, Denis Thompson.
The light south-east trades are fading, but we should get a race in,” Thompson said.
“It will be quite testing and we’ll probably see a different set of winners to yesterday,” Thompson said.
While IRC Racing Divisions 1 and 2 will contest up to two windward/leeward races on Pioneer Bay starting from 12pm, all other classes will sail a Passage Race.
Tony Horkings may be the owner of the Southport yacht, Lee-Way, but today 20 year-old 29er skiff sailor, Sophie Lahey, skippered the Northshore 38 design to victory in the IRC Passage division on the opening day of Airlie Beach Race Week.
Horkings has four young sailors aboard from Southport Yacht Club, all at the top of their game in the classes they normally sail in. On Lee-Way, all four are in key positions.
