Airlie Beach Race Week – An attractive event for IRC boats

by Tracey Johnstone on 7 Feb 2014 The 25th Airlie Beach Race Week’s regatta, being held from 8th to 15th August 2014, is shaping up to be an attractive event for IRC boats.

The regatta director, Denis Thompson, has advised that the IRC race course is being reviewed in recognition of the changing nature of the bigger boats that now often make up the IRC divisions. 'All the bigger boats these days have gone quite deep compared to when we originally set the event up. It’s about time we shift things out into the deeper water. '

Matt Allen and his Ichi Ban team will be pleased by this decision. Allen has been a strong supporter of Airlie Beach Race Week for many years. Most recently he has campaigned at Airlie Beach with his Farr 400. But now he has a sleek Carkeek 60 that draws 4.5 metres, rather more keel depth than this previous boat. With this change in boat has come the concern of Allen’s that he will have trouble getting the boat around the traditional windward Mandalay Mark in Pioneer Bay.

Thompson said he became aware of Ichi Ban’s keel depth issue some time ago. 'It will be challenge for us because while the area we normally start in will be deep enough, we will probably go out to sea a little bit further and the Mandalay Mark may have to be set in a different place. Also, the finish line will likely be set in a different place, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Quite often that finish line area is just slightly out of the wind and those boats further out to sea tend to get a better breeze. So by shifting the finish line out to sea a little bit further; one it will be a bit deeper and two, it will be better breeze in a south-easterly, ' Thompson said.

This attention to race planning will no doubt make the IRC boat owners happy including likely entrants, the Ker 46 Patrice III and the GP42 Black Betty, which are two boats Allen would like to line up against in Airlie Race Week’s day race format.

'It would be good to have many grand prix boats as possible. 'It’s a very different type of racing from Hamilton Island. There’s not as much current. It’s more of a different regatta from Hamilton Island than anyone would believe if they hadn’t done either.

'Victoire did the event last year and it would be good to see them there again this year. There are also a couple of TP52s around and it would be good to see them pop up there. There’s obviously Pretty Fly and Terra Firma as well,' Allen said.

Event website: click here