Could it possibly get better at 74 Islands Distillery Airlie Beach Race Week?

by Di Pearson/ABRW media 9 Aug 00:32 PDT 7-14 August 2025

Another warm and sunny day in paradise and competitors set sail on Day 2 of Distillery Airlie Beach Race Week conditions were perfect as race officials worked hard to finish racing before a building breeze, forecast to hit the course areas between 3 and 4pm, hit the fleet and no doubt out to cause damage.

All classes and divisions started on Pioneer Bay and division dependent, took routes to either Denman or North Molle islands and everyone took in Hannah Point.

IRC Rating Passage division was first off this morning at 10am on a course of approximately 29 nautical miles. Ray Roberts (Team Hollywood, NSW) made short work of it again, with a 17 minute win over David Currie's modified Farr 40, Ponyo. Annika and Ian Thomson's TP52, Ocean Crusader's J-Bird filled out the top three. Team Hollywood, a Botin 40, leads the series after two days and Ocean Crusaders trails her by three points.

Those in Multihull Racing sailed the same course as the IRC boats and followed the latter's start. Yesterday's Division 1 victor, Stuart Cox's Stealth 12.7 Cut Snake (Qld), won again today with Paul Mitchell's Extreme 40, Ullman Sails, in second by a mere 34 seconds!

A pleased Cox said, "We just go fast, as fast as we can and do our best."

Of the conditions on their course area, Queenslander explained, "We were seeing 14-15 knots, but round some of the bottom marks it was 27 and gusting over 30. It was a great day and everyone had a good time. Best of all, we didn't break anything. Last year we blew up a couple of spinnakers but we've worked hard on getting things sorted and it's all come together.

Cox added, "If you could turn the wind down to 10-12 knots tomorrow, that would suit me fine!"

Impressive across a range of classes from sports boats to offshore racers, Paul Heyes came out on top in Performance Racing today with the McConaghy 38, BlackJack 38, formerly owned by Peter Harburg.

Sailing for the host club, Whitsunday Sailing Club, Heyes beat Grant Pocklington's Anarchy (NSW) to the punch by one minute 30 seconds after the handicaps were applied.

Heyes said, "We had a really good start, we were first boat off the start and that helped us to dictate against the fleet a little bit. We had a close call at top mark, so did a penalty turn just in case.

"We sailed the boat pretty well, learnt a bit and stayed on the right side of the tide and got our downwind angles correct."

This after breaking the spinnaker halyard yesterday before the start, dropping BlackJack 38 down to 14th. "So, we decided to go and get a good result today," he said of their enjoying conditions that started out at 10 knots and built all day to around 25 knots.

"A beautiful breeze and sea state nice all day," Heyes confirmed.

"Anarchy beat us across the line and we were matching Heartbreaker (Tasmanian Hughie Lewis recently bought the yacht), but they suffered some heartbreak with a spinnaker issue or something (and finished fourth)."

Heyes has a good make up of crew: "My son Zac (who sails with him at regattas and offshore on boats such as Wild Thing). I have locals too, Dale Mitchell who's running the middle of the boat and Brett Scott on trim. Brenton Carnell from Geelong is also with me. We learn a lot from each other and our different modes," he ended.

The VX One one-design sports boats joined the fleet today and revelled in the ideal conditions on the course. Both the VX Ones and Weta 4.4 trimarans raced on Pioneer Bay. The former class put three races to bed, with the Robert Douglass skippered Dollop (NSW) taking bullets in the first two races and Sam Allen's Double Black (Qld) winning Race 3, so Dollop leads.

Racing resumes tomorrow and the weather forecast looks perfect for another day of solid breeze and sunshine. We are in Paradise, after all...

The Ronstan free coffee cart was enjoyed by many this morning. It is back tomorrow from 7am to 11am outside the main entrance to Whitsunday Sailing Club where you can try out an Orbit winch.

Tonight's music on the lawn at Whitsunday Sailing Club comes from the famous Mason Rack Band, past winners of the Live Act of the Year. Food stalls, a beverage bar and the eclectic mix of sailors and their friends help create a great atmosphere at the Club.

For full results in all classes and divisions at 74 Islands Distillery Airlie Beach Race Week, please visit: www.abrw.com.au.