Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week fleet likely to break record

3:20 AM Mon 3 Aug 2009 GMT

'SB3 start line' Andrea Francolini / Skandia Click Here to view large photo

The Tropical T-shirt Regatta, the 20th annual Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week, is just a week or so away.

Regatta Director Denis Thompson expects the overall fleet numbers to be similar to those of 2007 with a top class Grand Prix fleet and a record Sports Boat fleet, and with an impressive number of Performance Racers, IRC Cruisers and Cruising entrants.

This year Race Week activities will be starting on Thursday August 13th and run until Thursday August 20th.

'Having seven classes of yachts including cruisers, trailerable sports boats and IRC Racing Yachts, competing simultaneously but over different courses, allows us to support a diversity of sailing styles as well as levels of expertise,' said Regatta Director Denis Thompson.

'While there is a racing category for everyone, Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week also traditionally hosts the Australia's largest regatta of high performance, trailerable sports boats.'

Airlie Beach Race Week is being hosted at Meriden Marinas Abel Point marina located on Shingley Drive, Airlie Beach which over the past year has seen significant improvements to increase the marina's capacity and facilities.

This year's Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week will be raced in seven main categories.

They are:

. IRC Racing Class for the top class racing vessels
. IRC Cruising Class for modern, fast cruising yachts
. Performance Racing Class which bases handicaps on the known performance of a vessel
. Sports Boat Class for lightweight trailerable, with big sail areas yachts
. Cruising Class for all types of cruising yachts with spinnakers
. Non-Spinnaker Class for cruising yachts without spinnakers
. One-Design Class (like SB3's)

Entries close this coming Friday aftenoon August 7th. The southern fleets are heading north. A lot of the Audi Sydney to Gold Coast fleet and the Brisbane to Keppel fleet have already entered the Airlie Beach event and more of these yachts are expected to complete their paperwork this week, along with more Whitsunday locals who are still to enter.

In the IRC Racing Class a few weeks ago it seemed that Michael Hiatt's Farr 55 Living Doll would start favourite, likely to battle Ray Robert's Cookson 50 Evolution Racing for the top spot, but now the field is wide open.

Rob Hanna's fixed keel Cookson 50 Shogun and Rob Date's brand new Reichel Pugh 52 Scarlet Runner will be strong contenders. Shogun has won before at this event and Scarlet Runner impressed with a divsional win in the Gold Coast Race.

Scarlet Runner - Audi Sydney Gold Coast Race - Crosbie Lorimer Click Here to view large photo

The 40 footers could easily spoil the party with Russell McCart's Night Nurse, Ian Thompson's E11even and Bob 'Robbo' Robertson's Cracklin Rosie, currently duelling in the Brisbane to Keppel Race.

The Sports Boat fleet numbers are looking like they will set a new record. Approaching 30 across a number of divisions, this could possibly be the biggest Sports Boat fleet in Australia.

Thompson explains the popularity of this racing class at the Airlie Beach event. 'The Whitsundays provide some of the best winter sailing for sports boats anywhere in the world. We have a strong following amongst the bigger sports boats, these Cat 5 (Special Regs) rated boats, can sail the bigger courses around the Islands and now we have a growing 'inshore fleet', including a separate SB3 fleet.'

The trade winds are all ready in says Thompson. 'Its tropical shirt weather in the Whitsundays and the 'Southerners' are looking forward to some great sailing.'

With entries closing in five days, now is the time for skippers to enter online at www.airliebeachraceweek.com.au