Audi Hamilton Island Race Week - 30th edition on the horizon

by Lisa Ratcliff on 17 Aug 2013 First time Audi Hamilton Island Race Week entrants will be sharing starts and stories with pioneers from the inaugural 1984 regatta as thirty years of yachting history is celebrated in the Whitsundays starting tomorrow evening, Saturday 17th, with the official welcome party.

Roughly 31,000 sailors have attended Race Week over 29 years, many making the annual pilgrimage year after year to the world famous Queensland winter sailing destination.

The 30th anniversary edition will bear some resemblance to the inaugural mid-80s regatta, short of the big hair and fluro fashion. Each afternoon at the Tavern drink prices will revert to 1984 levels for happy hour, between 4.30pm-5.30pm on race days - just $2 for XXXX Gold and specially priced Heineken.

Entertainment-wise, quintessential Aussie rock bands will bring back sounds from the glory days including rock legends, The Angels, who will open the musical line-up on Saturday night on the main stage on Front Street. The Jimmy Buffet tribute band will play Tuesday 20th August following the Club Marine Classic long and medium races.

For the largest division from the near 160-strong fleet and the mainstay of the regatta, the cruisers, the camaraderie that has built up over close to three decades will be on display each afternoon post-racing at the free sausage sizzle and dockside party hosted by Hamilton Island’s general managers and department heads on F-arm.

Light ENE winds 8-12 knots are forecast for the early part of the series, the entrée before the main course is served when the SE trade winds are expected to add a little seasoning to a long run of very mild late winter conditions in paradise. Ironically the maximum wind strength of 20 knots is at this stage due on Wednesday’s layday, followed up by easing south east sea breezes.

Hamilton Island CEO Glenn Bourke says mixed conditions are always handy for splitting the fleet. 'Some will get away early in the light air then all the positions could change again when the breeze kicks in.'

Principal Race Officer Denis Thompson and his sizable on-water management team will be keeping an eagle eye on the unfolding competition as 12 divisions tackle a multitude of courses over six days, shaving the laid Audi buoys during the windward/leeward short courses and passage racing around stunning local islands in the Whitsunday group.

Racing will commence this Sunday and will run for six days with Wednesday a layday for all classes to enjoy some of Audi Hamilton Island Race Week’s social offerings. This is a day less than previous years, a timetable adjustment designed to keep bosses happy by limiting the regatta to one working week.

The 30th anniversary fleet ranges in size from 100-foot supermaxi Wild Oats XI through to the local 20-foot SB20 Jump, skippered by island resident and Australian windsurfing champion, Dennis Winstanley. In between are multihulls, charter boats, sportsboats, timber classics, the latest MC38s and four of the original fleet from the maiden regatta.

Peter Briggs’ Hitchhiker is a ‘first fleeter’ who is being honoured this year with a trophy named after the Frers design Briggs had purpose built for the 1981 Admiral’s Cup. The Hitchhiker trophy will be for a state team series within the main pointscore.

In the IRC Racing division, Bob Oatley’s slick Wild Oats XI - nicknamed the ‘Aussie Swiss army knife’ after the installation of a horizontal hydrofoil wing designed to improve forward lift downwind - should cruise through the week unchallenged for line honours. Behind them will be the usual arm wrestle for the handicap spoils with the TP52s Hooligan and Shogun likely to feature.

Swiss businessman Ernesto Bertarelli will add plenty of international glamour when he and America’s Cup crew boss Brad Butterworth take charge of the chartered Wild Oats X.

Audi Hamilton Island Race Week will be officially launched on Saturday night at a function at the yacht club for boat owners and VIPs followed by fireworks over the harbour and a huge street front party for sailors and the island’s guests.

As well as the 30th anniversary of Hamilton Island’s flagship event, this year marks a decade of island ownership by the Oatley Hamilton Island Race Week