SeaLink Magnetic Island Race Week - Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.......

by Peter Hackett on 30 Aug 2012 Dear sailor diary,

The trip north this year has been really tough.

First we had to get the boat, my trailable Corsair 27 trimaran, from Brisbane to Airlie Beach for the regatta there.

The overnight along the way was in Clairview camp ground where the little fishing community members walked around us all night wondering what three grown men could be doing inside this folding planeboat thing on the trailer. 

The regatta at Airlie was predictably awesome with big fleet numbers and big breezes this year and regular 20's on the speedo. The new arrangement of the tent was fantastic, only complaint from my crew was the cooler weather in our troppo shirts got our noses runnier than usual....

We cruised for a week in the tri, and then with family on an awesome charter cat Razzle Dazzle which actually sails like a boat! Underwater footage on the GoPro of our snorkelling in Cateran and Butterfly Bay with Manta Rays and Turtles will be edited when we get home, and that part of the trip was complemented by enjoying sitting on moorings like the one inside Daydream watching the entire Hammo fleet sail past. And did I mention that we were surrounded by whales for the whole time?

Then the tow north at 55 knots upwind on the Bruce Highway got us to Townsville for the last leg out here to Magnetic Island, where we expected to feel a little burned out.

Well we aren't.

This place is like sailor's heaven, and getting here a few days early has made us all realise why this regatta is the sleeping giant that is clearly taking on the others. Already the venue, marina, and organisers have got our pulse rates down to single figures, and when I awoke to look out the cabin window of the boat this morning, I exclaimed my favourite word for Magnetic Island. 

Ahhhhhh......

When you sail around the corner and discover another bay.... Ahhhhh (and the nudie beach Ahhhhhh)

When you walk a couple of minutes to absolutely anything you need .... Ahhhhhhh.

And when you surface in the resort edgeless pool to look out at your boat on the dock .... Ahhhhhh.

Apparently we start some more partying today and sailing tomorrow.

Ahhhhhh.