Century-plus fleet for Meridien Marinas ABRW
A fleet of 103 boats has entered for the 2008 Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week which opens this coming Friday August 14 and runs through to the following Thursday, August 21.
'Arajilla. 2007 Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week IRC winner'
Sail-World.com/ AUS © Click Here to view large photo
Highlight of the grand-prix racing will centre on the 13-strong IRC fleet comprising top-performing boats from Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, the ACT and New Zealand.
Biggest division will be Cruising with Spinnaker, which has drawn a widely varied fleet of 33 boats from Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and Western Australia.
Twenty boats from Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia will line up for what promises to be spectacular racing in the Sports Boats Division.
Making up the seven divisions will be Performance Racing with 16 entries, Premier Cruising with three boats, Cruising Non-Spinnaker, which also includes a Tasmanian entrant in the 14-strong fleet, and four Dart SB3s in the One Design Division.
The IRC Division will be a clash of 50-footers, headed by Ray Roberts' canting keel Cookson 50, Quantum Racing, from the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia. Quantum Racing blasted away from the fleet in the recent Audi Sydney Gold Coast Race, taking Line and Overall IRC honours.
Two other Cookson 50s are in the exceptionally strong line-up - Michael Hiatt's Living Doll from the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria and Anatole Masfen's Pussy Galore, representing New Zealand's Royal Akaurana Yacht Club. 
In the same big-boat group are Chris Dare's Corby 49 Flirt from Sandringham Yacht Club in Melbourne and another Kiwi entrant, Rob Bassett's Bakewell-White 52 Wired from the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.
While the 50-footers will be fighting for line honours, the IRC handicap results will be wide open, with strong competition to be expected from the smaller boats such as the two Farr 40s, 'Sir Robbo' Robertson's Cracklin Rosie and Meridien CEO Russell McCart's Night Nurse.
Defending the IRC title will be Geoff Pearson's Archambault 35 Arajilla while other highly competitive smaller boats include Graham Jones Beneteau First 45 Bluewater from the Port Douglas Yacht Club, and the two Sydney 38s from Sydney, Zen (Gordon Ketelbey) and Interum (Craig King).
Queensland boats, headed by last year's winner Don Algie's Storm 2, a Warwick 66, dominate the big Cruising with Spinnaker Division. However, Victorians and New South Welshmen have cruised north to take on the locals, including John and Kim Clinton's Beneteau Oceanis 52.3 Holy Cow from the CYCA and Paul Wise's Bavaria 38 Instant Karma from Melbourne's Royal Brighton Yacht Club.
The Sports Boat division has ended up with 20 entries, fewer than expected, with only one boat from Victoria - Sports Boat Association secretary Came Rae with his Thompson 8 Bendigo Private.
However, Pierre Gal has headed north from Coffs Harbour Yacht Club wit his Sports 8 Conquistador, as has Geoff Masters from Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club with his new Melges 24, yet to be named.
The Queensland contingent is particularly strong, including Noel Leigh-Smith's Bethwaite-designed Vivace and last year's winner Guilty Pleasure, Leon Thomas' Thomson 7.
The Sports Division, which includes Melges 24s, Elliott 7s, Thomsopn 8s, Stealth 8s, Elliot 780s and Bethwaite 8s, will be racing under their new handicap system, SMS (Sports Measurement System) which is based on the Victorian AMS handicap system.
For more information on Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week click here
by Peter Campbell 
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Perth, WA
