Following Day 4’s lay day, competitors returned to the race track rested on Day 5 of Jeanneau Yachts presented by Mooloolaba Yacht Brokers and 74 Islands Airlie Beach Race Week (ABRW) 2026 and the gauntlets are down with some battle royales ensuing on one of the best days of the regatta so far.
Two Extreme 40s in Multihull Division 0 are going at it hammer and tongs swapping the lead and swapping top place overall. Today it was Joel Berg’s turn in the hot seat, Hooligan (Qld) beating the fancied locals on Ullman Sails (Paul Mitchell) by 14 seconds to take a one point overall lead. Once again, Mike Peberdy’s Irens trimaran, Rare Groove, settled for third place.
“It was a fantastic race,” Berg said. “We got them (Ullman) – and they got us. We got them on the first leg; they got us back. There were lots of tacks from Pioneer Point up to White Rock, Paul (Ullman) led us all the way from Pioneer.
“There was around 10 boat lengths between us most the race and it got down to one boat length at times,” Berg said, finishing: “Great conditions this year. We love coming up here, We love the other Extreme guys. It was a perfect day out and in the end the breeze was magic.”
It’s just as cut throat in Division 1 too where three Queenslanders are battling for no. 1 spot on the podium. Coming into the day, Stuart Cox’s Stealth 12.7, Cut Snake held sway with a one-point advantage to Troy Forrest’s Grainger Raku 48, Mint. Only two points away was Steven Humphris’ Stealth 13.2c, Stealth Mode. And there are a couple of others waiting in the wings.
Graham Catley’s Roger Hill 18.5m, Cat-Ion from New Zealand put a cat among the pigeons, winning the race today from Mint and Stealth Mode. The results mean the top three remain the same. The next two days will be interesting…
Catley described their day: “We got a really good start, then we sailed up the channel to White Rock. The tacticians were sensational and we held onto our lead all the way back to the finish. We had a great day. The boys had the boat going really well. We have a really savage handicap, so we had to win by quite a lot to win and we did that (won by just over 11 minutes).
“For us coming from New Zealand, it was champagne sailing today – an unbelievably beautiful flat sea, blue sky, very scenic. Everyone told me I had to come and do this regatta and now I understand why. I might leave the boat here for 12 months and come back.”
A similar situation has developed in Division 2 between the top two. Will it be Intrigue (Qld), Peter Hackett’s Corsair F28r, or will it be the host club comeback kids on Terry Archer’s Grainger 075, G’Nome. The past two years haven’t been kind to G’Nome, which suffered more than her share of breakages. This year things have gone much better.
Coming into the day, Intrigue led G’Nome by one point in the overall standings. It was eight points to the next boat, Ray Martin’s Beatrix all the way from WA and winner of its division here last year.
Today it was the two locals - G’Nome (by nine minutes) from Darren Simmonds’ Corsair 28r Trojan and then Intrigue. It means G’Nome now leads by one point overall to Intrigue with Trojan displacing Beatrix for third. Where will it all end? Stay tuned.
Don’t Panic (Dave Davenport/Ken Stevenson) the Bethwaite 89er has continued to exert control over Division 1 rivals in the Trailable & Sports Boat class. The West Australians have reeled off four wins in a row – is there anyone who can beat them?
Closest to them, ironically, is the Bethwaite 79er, Vivace (John Rae Gary Smith, Qld). Vivace hasn’t been able to put a dent in Don’t Panic’s score. She is six points away, with seconds and thirds on her scorecard. Mister Magoo, a Thompson 7, finally put in appearance on the podium today, Goggles’ Qld crew taking third to Vivace’s second.
Davenport, who steered Don’t Panic today, said, “It was a magic day. More wind than we thought there would be. Someone jumped the start, I thought it might be us, we went back in case.”
On their near flawless performance so far, Davenport said, “The boat gets up and goes easily. Julian Bethwaite has to be congratulated on for his attention to detail.
“I think we ended up going into the Passage behind Vivace – we don’t seem to get that part right. But then we set up the kite and it was one gybe to the mark - the wind was in our favour.”
Stevenson added, “it was only a short gybe into Bluff, Vivace had to do a longer one.”
Davenport: “We got around the course with no mishaps, so we were happy with that. It was a perfect beat to the end – a great day for the boat.”
“Beautiful conditions,” Stevenson said. “A big thank you to all volunteers. It takes a lot of work to run a regatta like this.”
In Division 2, Dave McKay’s Shaw 650, Black Betty (NSW), claimed the day’s spoils from Jack Buchan’s Melges 24, Two Fifteen (NSW) and Terry Riley’s Viper 640, Fly (Qld).
These leave fourth placed No Mercy, Burke Melia’s Melges 24 (NSW) in the overall lead by two points to Two Fifteen. Conditions have obviously played into the hands of the Melges boats.
McKay was rapt with their win: “We had about 12 knots, but the little boat we have gets up, she loves this breeze. We were doing 14s and15s (knots) on the Little Black Betty,” he said.
“The breeze stayed better than it was supposed to. It was a very nice day out there. We had a good run with Mister Magoo (Goggles). A nice sail and only three hours around the track – we’re happy.”
In Rating Passage Division 1, nobody has been able to put a dent in Ray Roberts’ Team Hollywood’s scoreline of four straight wins. The defending champion of the past two years hasn’t let any grass grow since last year.
A battle is ensuing in Rating Division 2 between Ikon, Bruce McCraken’s Beneteau First 45 and Paul Heyes’ Thompson 920, Road Runner. The latter won the day’s race, but the former holds a two point overall lead. Bring it on!
Despite differing weather models that showed a stable breeze not kicking in on time for the proposed 10am start, the wind gods said, “blow both models,” and came in on time, at the 38th running of Whitsunday Sailing Club’s (WSC) regatta.
The turnaround meant that Principal Race Officer, Kevin Wilson, did not have to put up the AP flag as he originally thought he’d have to do - and the only problems the race officers encountered was two in the Trailable Yachts & Sports Boats starting earlier than the appointed time. They always are a frisky lot, but the two came back smartly and restarted.
Wilson sent the boats on a race through the Molles passage, turning at South Molle Island and returning via other marks of the course to Pioneer Bay, where all races are started.
As a mark of respect, competitors were asked to wear a black armband or a black shirt on the race course today, in remembrance of prominent Australian yachtsman, Gordon Ketelbey, who passed away on 31 July.
Gordon loved racing and did so with much success in in Australia, Asia, the United States and Europe. He competed at ABRW a handful of times, the last in 2024 with his TP52, Zen and just missed the top spot which was decided in Team Hollywood’s favour in the final race.
David Aylward’s My Way crew, sailing IRC Rating Division 2, took flowers out to the course, depositing them into the sea in honour of their friend, Gordon. And yes, it brought tears to the eyes...
Tomorrow marks the penultimate day of racing and is due to resume from 10am, weather permitting.
For full results in all divisions, news, photos and more, head to: www.abrw.com.au
