We’d rather be sailing in the Whitsundays

by Ian Grant on 3 Oct 2011 The warm tropical sailing wonderland of the Whitsunday Islands has continued to become ‘the retirement village’ for many of the World’s past generation racing yachts.

It is not uncommon to see the major race winning maxi’s like Matador, Condor, Ragamuffin, Hammer of Queensland, Merit and British Defender still actively sailing to Whitehaven Beach with a happy crew of international tourists on board.

They have certainly found a new lease of life in their famed sailing history as they set sail to showcase the pristine aquatic environment of the Whitsunday Islands to those who have never seen water so blue, sand so pure or Norfolk Pines so green.

This fleet have continued provide the opportunity to showcase the Whitsunday Islands to the World of tourism and thankfully have not been left to spend time at the mooring growing barnacles.

The Volvo Globe 60 Stratco Merit jointly owned by Leo Rodriguez and Ian Bishop placed the Whitsunday region and Queensland Tourism onto the world stage when the crew hoisted their spinnaker during the 2010 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race.

A special message 'We’d rather be sailing in the Whitsundays' told the story about her dedicated crew of warm water sailors as they prepared for another test of character and seamanship to master another cold water crossing of the storm torment Bass Strait.

There are a number of special stories surrounding the sailing history of the past generation racing yachts which now call Airlie Beach their home port.

Sure they have seen their best days of racing in some of the world’s most searching weather systems including those experienced in The North Sea, Tasman Sea and along the ice-berg flow in The Great Southern Ocean.

Last month Stratco Merit continued to express her speed with a class line honours win in The Great Whitsunday Fun Race on Pioneer Bay while the former Royal Papua Yacht Club Admirals Cup sloop Surefoot showed she can still compete winning the Performance Handicap Silver Medal during the Airlie Beach Race Week in August.

Owner skipper Rod Sawyer naturally has a personal ‘love affair’ with the 28 year old Peter Norlin designed Surefoot which besides winning her share of races on Pioneer Bay has the distinction of recording a top three Brisbane to Gladstone corrected handicap place in her famed log book.

Surefoot is still regarded among one of the hardest to beat in the Whitsunday Sailing Club point score races and a recent upgrade in the sail wardrobe has significantly improved her boat speed.

'It would be nice to have some more spare cash to replace a number of race weary sails but I’m happy with our results' Rod Sawyer said.