Volunteers key to Race Week success

by Peter Campbell on 21 Aug 2008
Excellent race management has been the keynote to the success of the 19th annual Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Regatta sailed on Pioneer Bay and around some of islands of the picturesque Whitsunday Coast of Farr North Queensland this past week.

While maintaining its concept title as the Tropical Shirt Regatta, this year’s event has seen sponsors Meridien Marinas raise the bar with onshore facilities for competitors and their families. Competitors have responded with a record fleet of 109 boats and the highest standard of racing in years.

While organised by a professional team headed by Race Week Director Denis Thomson and Principal Race Officer Tony Denham, the success of racing each day has depended so much on the willing time contributed by a team of volunteers.

Many are members of the local Whitsunday Sailing Club happy to give away sailing to man the committee boat and mark laying boats so essential to good courses in sometimes tricky sailing conditions and sometime boisterous weather.

Race Week ended today for the 800 or so sailors on 107 boats from all States and Territories of Australia with the lightest breezes of the week, after five days of sailing in sometimes boisterous breezes and fast-running tides.

Courses have ranged from long triangles and windward/leewards on Pioneer Bay to passage races through the spectacular islands of the Whitsunday Group, the same waters through which James Cook and his bark Endeavour cruised on his voyage of exploration in 1770 – naming many of the islands, passages and bays along this tropical coast of Far North Queensland.

Whilst Cook had to rely on flag signals, modern communications are a keynote of Race Week race management, with the Principal Race Officer advising changes of course by radio to competitors and race results being sent ashore through the Telstra Next G mobile network.

Raced Week also boasts one of the most efficient and informative websites, with race results updated by the time most boats are back in their marina berths, along with news releases and action photos of the on-the-water action.

The many favourable comments from competitors as they pass by the Race Centre at Abel Point vindicate the efforts of the volunteers who have often put in a 12 hour day to plan courses, adjust handicaps, amend sailing instructions, and check results, apart from their many hours on the water.

Other volunteers spend time each day setting up the competitors’ marquee, the always packed area for after racing drinks, entertainment and this evening’s prizegiving.

‘Meridien Marinas, as sponsors, have strongly supported Race Week this year, lifting the bench mark as far as the standard of the venue is concerned,' Deputy Race Director Ryan Durman said today. ‘This is important to complement the wonderful natural facilities Airlie Beach, Pioneer Bay and the Whitsunday’s have to offer for great regatta racing.

‘This year we have seen a fleet of grand prix 50-footers in the IRC division 1 as good as you would find anywhere in the world, with boats coming from Victoria, Sydney and New Zealand,’ he added.

‘At the same time the regatta retains the fun atmosphere and provides great competition for the locals and others who have cruised north to enjoy sailing in the sun.’

‘There is also a great sense of camaraderie among officials and competitors, as can be seen as the sailors relax aboard their yachts after racing before adjourning to the marquee ashore,’ Durman added.

Doug Talty, the volunteer chairman of the protest committee, has been coming to Airlie Beach for the past eight years. ‘It has run smoothly and efficiently and mercifully there have been few protests…in itself a tribute to good race management on the water,’ the welllknown member of Sydney’s Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club added.

‘It’s a fine regatta that does not take itself too seriously, but provides a wonderful venue for competitive yacht racing,’ Talty added.

Race Director Denis Thompson and the sponsors are already planning for another wonderful Meridien Marinas Race Week in 2009.







While maintaining its name as the Tropical Shirt Regatta, this year’s event has seen sponsors Meridien Marinas raise the bar with onshore facilities for competitors and their families. Competitors have responded with a record fleet of 109 boats and the highest standard of racing in years.

While organised by a professional team headed by Race Week Director Denis Thomson and Principal Race Officer Tony Denham, the success of racing each day has depended so much on the willing time contributed by a team of volunteers.

Many are members of the local Whitsunday Sailing Club happy to give away sailing to man the committee boat and mark laying boats so essential to good courses in sometimes tricky sailing conditions and sometime boisterous weather.

Race Week ended today for the 800 or so sailors on 107 boats from all States and Territories of Australia with the lightest breezes of the week, after five days of sailing in sometimes boisterous breezes and fast-running tides.

Courses have ranged from long triangles and windward/leewards on Pioneer Bay to passage races through the spectacular islands of the Whitsunday Group, the same waters through which James Cook and his bark Endeavour cruised on his voyage of exploration in 1770 – naming many of the islands, passages and bays along this tropical coast of Far North Queensland.

Whilst Cook had to rely on flag signals, modern communications are a keynote of Race Week race management, with the Principal Race Officer advising changes of course by radio to competitors and race results being sent ashore through the Telstra Next G mobile network.

Raced Week also boasts one of the most efficient and informative websites, with race results updated by the time most boats are back in their marina berths, along with news releases and action photos of the on-the-water action.

The many favourable comments from competitors as they pass by the Race Centre at Abel Point vindicate the efforts of the volunteers who have often put in a 12 hour day to plan courses, adjust handicaps, amend sailing instructions, and check results, apart from their many hours on the water.

Other volunteers spend time each day setting up the competitors’ marquee, the always packed area for after racing drinks, entertainment and this evening’s prizegiving.

‘Meridien Marinas, as sponsors, have strongly supported Race Week this year, lifting the bench mark as far as the standard of the venue is concerned,' Deputy Race Director Ryan Durman said today. ‘This is important to complement the wonderful natural facilities Airlie Beach, Pioneer Bay and the Whitsunday’s have to offer for great regatta racing.

‘This year we have seen a fleet of grand prix 50-footers in the IRC division 1 as good as you would find anywhere in the world, with boats coming from Victoria, Sydney and New Zealand,’ he added.

‘At the same time the regatta retains the fun atmosphere and provides great competition for the locals and others who have cruised north to enjoy sailing in the sun.’

‘There is also a great sense of camaraderie among officials and competitors, as can be seen as the sailors relax aboard their yachts after racing before adjourning to the marquee ashore,’ Durman added.

Doug Talty, the volunteer chairman of the protest committee, has been coming to Airlie Beach for the past eight years. ‘It has run smoothly and efficiently and mercifully there have been few protests…in itself a tribute to good race management on the water,’ the welllknown member of Sydney’s Royal Prince Edward Yacht Club added.

‘It’s a fine regatta that does not take itself too seriously, but provides a wonderful venue for competitive yacht racing,’ Talty added.

Race Director Denis Thompson and the sponsors are already planning for another wonderful Meridien Marinas Race Week in 2009.