News & Events

Kerrie Driver is among the off-the-beach F18 multihull sailors competing at the Whitsunday Sailing Club’s 34th Airlie Beach Race Week this week and all of the class knows who the Sydneysider is.

Australian Olympian Mara Stransky is among the record numbers taking part in the Whitsunday Sailing Club’s 34th Airlie Beach Race Week (ABRW), which started off Airlie Beach in the Whitsunday Islands on Friday.

On Day 2 of Airlie Beach Race Week (ABRW), competitors in the record fleet of 178 boats were initially held ashore, as organisers Whitsunday Sailing Club (WSC) monitored a very light and variable breeze, but eventually all headed out to Pioneer Bay and waited and waited, until there was no choice but to abandon racing for the day at around 1pm.

A record fleet of 185 plus entries in 2022, surpassing the all-time record of 133 boats at Airlie Beach Race Week (ABRW) in 2016 will enjoy their first major regatta of the northern regattas season when the start gun fires in the Whitsunday Islands from 11 to 18 August.u

Families that sail together stay together – just ask those whose enthusiasm for sailing has rubbed off on the younger generation and other family members at Airlie Beach Race Week (ABRW) – among them is Geoff Dews, whose family have joined him for a special celebration.

As part of the 34th Airlie Beach Race Week, Whitsunday Sailing Club will also be hosting the Queensland Trailable Yacht & Sports Boat championship. Conducted in accordance with Australian Sailing’s Australian Class Based Handicap (CBH) Rating System for Trailable Yachts and Sports Boats, the event will be open to complying boats holding a current CBH or who fully complies with relevant class rules.

The lure of sailing on the warm waters of the Whitsunday islands in August, not to mention the competition from Australia-wide, has owners and crews once again feeling the pull of Airlie Beach Race Week (ABRW) and all it offers away from cold winters in their respective interstate homes.

More than 100 entries across a variety of classes have so far been received for the 34th running of Airlie Beach Race Week (ABRW), to be hosted by Whitsunday Sailing Club (WSC) in the Whitsunday Islands from 11 to 18 August, 2022.

We are receiving reports that it is difficult to secure berthing for boats at this year’s Airlie Beach Race Week. Both Port of Airlie and Coral Sea Marinas are advising enquiries that they do not have berths available, and are putting boats on waiting lists. They won’t be releasing any berths until much closer to race week other than cancelations.