Around Australia Yacht Race - Full steam ahead

by Ian Thomson on 22 Oct 2016 The second ever Around Australia Yacht Race is set to depart Sydney Harbour on August 5th 2017. With three early entries all dreaming of competing and completing this amazing race, the event is 'Full Steam Ahead'.

A lot of people are worried that this race will not go ahead. Unfortunately this is the legacy that has been left by the last two failed attempts to make this race happen. Those events were organised by the Australia Yacht Club in Western Australia and are a far different event to what we are planning. A lot of people still think that the old organisers are behind this event, however we need to make it 100% clear that this event is being run by Ocean Crusaders and not the past organisers.

Our intention when setting this race up was to organise an event that will allow those that want to achieve this dream, to do just that, achieve a dream that so few will ever achieve. In yachting we have an issue that there is so much 'Talk it up' in and around the clubs, that it is hard to distinguish between the doers and the talkers. Even when I said that I was going to chase the Around Australia Solo record in 2010, the majority of people didn't believe it, even people from my own yacht club would admit they had their doubts.

Let's face it, I had a departure time set at May/June and at the start of the February, I still didn't have a yacht. However on May 5th 2010 I set off and managed to get around the country in 42 days, smashing the record by over 26 days. You achieve these things through hard work and dedication, the same traits I will take into this event.

If you are expecting this race to be of the same status as the Sydney to Hobart or Fastnet races, then you are on the wrong wavelength. This event needs to build over several editions. Even the first Sydney to Hobart was a small affair that very few people even knew about. I don't expect a huge fleet, in fact I will be happy if we have five yachts, but early indications are looking good for a fleet bigger than that. The saying 'from little things, big things grow' is so relevant to us here at Ocean Crusaders.

From my Solo record we launched Ocean Crusaders. Six years later our online education program has been into over 18,000 schools around the world last year and another 15,000 so far this year. It's a major achievement from such a small organisation, but we are growing and achieving things so many thought we never could. This event will surprise a lot of people and I know a lot of people will regret not being a part of it when the yachts set sail on August fifth next year.

Several online media outlets have already committed to running our articles and helping us promote the event. Gill Marine have committed to being the official clothing supplier of the event and we are in discussions with many other potential sponsors. In fact, we are at the point where we are seeking assistance in the media and marketing area and would like to hear from anyone interested in helping us out.

I am a firm believer in chasing you dreams. 'If you dream it, you can do it' is the focus of a book I wrote about my past record. The entire book encourages people to chase your dreams. This event will happen and if you have a dream to sail around our great country, then we are here to help you achieve that. Give us a call or drop us an email and we can talk to you about how to achieve this.

In the near future I will start putting forward a series of articles of hints on how to prepare for this event. You won't find this from any other authority running an event, that's because we are different. We have different goals for our event. They are not financial, they are all about assisting others in achieving something remarkable, something that will change your lives forever.

It doesn't matter what boat you have, what your budget is or how old you, or your boat are, you can sail around Australia in this race.

If you dream it, you can do it.