The Easter Bunny comes to Port Hinchinbrook

by Martin Cesar on 9 Apr 2006 The Townsville Cruising Yacht Club (TCYC) hosts its third annual Townsville to Port Hinchinbrook Blue Water Classic and Regatta over the Easter long weekend.

The four day event which includes the Blue Water Classic, Port Hinchinbrook Regatta and various social events is sponsored by Port Hinchinbrook Resort and Marina.

The weekend starts at 10.00 am Good Friday off Townsville's Strand with the start of the 95 nautical mile, Townsville to Port Hinchinbrook Blue Water Classic, then continues with presentation for the event on the Saturday night. The Port Hinchinbrook Regatta on the Sunday and Monday consists of an around Goold Island Race (Sunday) and a sprint race and presentation on the Monday all sponsored by Port Hinchinbrook Businesses.

Concerns were held for the event after the devastation of Cyclone Larry but Port Hinchinbrook Resort and Marina Manager Richard Blanchette said, 'You will all be pleased to know that Port Hinchinbrook survived our Category 5 Cyclone visit with virtually no damage. In fact we were back running at 100% within days of Larry passing through. A good test for cyclone TCYC, someone did comment.'

Last years fickle, light winds saw the eventual winning yacht 'Zoe' finish in seventeen and a half hours. Given this years forecasted 8-12 knots south-easterly, the race shall be open to the yacht that can display good crew work and stratagem. Keeping the crew working to maintain boat speed when the sun goes down and deciding on whether to hug the coast of Hinchinbrook Island or go out to sea will all play a major factor in deciding this year’s winner.

The TCYC has several new state of the art yachts, Match Point, Mach 1 and Mumbo that can all be backed as winners, not to mention last years winner Zoe. In the multi-hulls, Time Bandits and Gung-ho will be hard to beat.


The weekend is not just for the racing sailors, we have a large contingent of cruising sailors and there are a variety of social events organised for families of the competitors once up at Port Hinchinbrook. This year the TCYC has booked out the Port Hinchinbrook Resort and a number of the motels in Cardwell. It is a good reflection of the growing popularity of the event, last year we had a total of 175 competitors in all the sailing divisions and you can almost double this with families and friends making their way up to Port Hinchinbrook to participate in the social events over the long weekend.

Yes. the Easter Bunny does visit the event early on Sunday morning.

Townsville Cruising Yacht Club Commodore