Whitsundays sailing

The great Seawind family holiday

"We've arrived in Airlie Beach and we're waiting for ya buddy," a familiar Californian accent chuckles down the phone line, "I bet you didn't think we would make it... did ya?" the chuckle gets louder.

I have just received a phone call from Terry Wepsic who has flown in from Huntington Beach, California, with wife Carmy to join the second biannual Seawind Whitsunday Rally, as part of the 2008 Seawind Cruising Club Series.

After meeting Terry and Carmy last year at the Annapolis Sail Boat Show, one of the world's largest dedicated sailing boat shows located on America's sailing heartland, the Chesapeake Bay, I recalled telling tales of racing a fleet of Seawinds around the Whitsunday Islands a couple of years ago and suggested they hire a Seawind for the 2008 event and join us.

Lo and behold, eight months later they boarded their charter Seawind 1160 Lady L with their other buddies, Chuck and Jan in anticipation of some good sailing weather, tropical island cruising and Aussie hospitality.

After months of planning, preparation and a little island dreaming, the Seawind Whitsunday Rally was ready to get underway with a flotilla of 17 Seawinds arriving at the Whitsunday Rent A Yacht base in Shute Harbour for a week of racing and partying that will take the fleet all the way around the Whitsunday group, visiting a worthy handful of the 74 islands on offer.

Shute Harbour was a great starting point this year with Whitsunday Rent A Yacht hosting a fantastic "Meet the Fleet" BBQ on their new jetty overlooking this picturesque bay. With a purpose-built service jetty, slipway and office building, this charter company has excellent facilities to look after their 35-boat fleet, nine of which are Seawinds.

The party allowed the 80 crewmembers, many of which had never met, a chance to relax over a cold beer. After meeting a few more competitors, the evening also highlighted the fact that it's not only the Californians that have travelled to get here.

The Alexander family have flown in from NZ and chartered a Seawind 1000, while Murray and Faye Rowe and crew arrived late after flying in from Perth to charter a Seawind 1160.

The fleet consists of boats that have sailed from many locations along the east coast stretching as far south as Sydney and a handful of local boats.

SHUTE HARBOUR TO LONG ISLAND
Race one sounded like a great plan on paper, but after setting a start line for 17 Seawinds between two more Seawind 1000s there was a quick realisation that the start buoys were somewhat camouflaged.

So this set the tone for the strict rules that had now been put in place - there are no strict rules, apart from the race organiser's word being final and any formal protest accompanied with a $5000 donation to sailors with disabilities.

The first race had it all... a beat to windward in 25kts up Whitsunday Passage, strong favourable tides which then turned into strong unfavourable tides when reaching down the Long Island sound where the wind also dropped dramatically.

The end result being that the fleet ended up being very close which made racing exciting.

Onshore, the Hawaiian party erupted in the sand bar on the beach overlooking the bay which was now chock-a-block full of catamarans. Tomorrow's surprise change to the sailing instructions was announced... it was Ladies day on the helm.

LONG ISLAND TO HAMILTON ISLAND
The dinghies were positioned side by side for race two. One from each boat, nudged onto the sandy beach at Club Croc with 17 fierce all-male crewmembers, nominated by each of their female skippers.

Sweat beaded from their foreheads as their toes dug into the sand with the goal in sight... their boat with a woman at the helm. Then it was time. At 11am the 17 crew members leaped from the sandy starting blocks and sprinted to their dinghies.

Though some were faster on foot, others were faster by dinghy. I was first off the beach and into my dinghy, however, I was left cursing after the outboard stopped only metres off the beach with a fleet of wild dinghies roaring toward me... then past me. It was only race two and a serious case of dinghy sabotage had been committed... where was this week heading?

Once aboard our Seawind 1160 Sirocco, it was clear we were at the back of the fleet as they passed around Denham Island en route to Hamilton Island. With much toing-and-froing we managed to improve our position to fourth with enough time for a warm shower and a sundowner before a three-course dinner and trivia night at Romano's Italian Restaurant in Hamilton Island Marina.

HAMILTON ISLAND TO SHAW ISLAND
So far the forecast of 25kts from the southeast for race three had eventuated and beating to windward all the way down to Shaw Island was likely to be a good test on the fleet.

It certainly didn't dampen anyone's enthusiasm, though, as the entire fleet beat into a choppy sea with close to 30kts over the deck for most of the race. This is where cats really come into their own. Yes, there was a little greenwater over the front deck here and there, and yes we probably should have had a reef in, yet doing close to 9kts to windward much of the way while eating lunch and sitting back on the targa seats made sailing in this stuff way too comfortable.

On this day I was joined by Jim and Di Bosgra who sailed with me for the rest of the week. Jim had recently ordered a Seawind 1000XL after overcoming a difficult battle with leukemia and had decided he wanted to take to the sea again and enjoy the cruising life once more.

With both Jim and Di on the helm we sailed quickly to Burning Point in only a couple of hours and finished a close third.

What a magic spot. This is among the best anchorages in the whole Whitsunday group. A solid, silty bottom meant there was no chance of drifting on anchor and the beach was a beautiful fine coral shell grit and far enough away from civilisation that we had the entire place to ourselves.

The crew met onshore for the next major event for the week. Blind Man's Dinghy race where each crew must include a blindfolded male rower with a female navigator guiding each dinghy from the shore, around the buoy (located some 50m off the beach) and back again.

With the remaining crew onshore in hysterics, the participants bumped and bounced their way around the course, with Virginia and Chris Benning of Seawind 1160 Sea Dragon taking the prize. Sea Dragon is their third Seawind catamaran, all of which have been charter boats.

Happy Hour continued until sunset and we returned to Sirocco to enjoy a beautiful home-cooked meal onboard, with a nice glass of red.

SHAW ISLAND TO WHITEHAVEN BEACH
An early rise for some but not others. Based on previous results, race four opened with a staggered handicap start with those who had consistently performed well now facing a hard fight from the back of the fleet.

The race took the fleet on a comfortable reach downhill to Whitsunday Island and after crossing the finish line we sailed through the strong tidal flow of Solway Passage into the surreal anchorage to the south of Whitehaven Beach.

This is truly a stunning location and deserves to be recognised as one of the best beaches in the world. The silica sand truly is spectacularly white and fine enough to polish jewelry, while the waters are an inviting turquoise colour that tempts all in for a swim.

Whitsunday Private Yacht Charters were the day's host and put on an amazing BBQ spread with beach volleyball, cricket and the much anticipated Flipped Out Relay.

After the BBQ was done, beer dry and sunbaking complete, all the contestants lined up. Each one sported flippers and masks and armed themselves with the snorkel relay batten which was handed from one contestant to the next as they sprinted back and forth down Whitehaven beach, cheered on by onlookers.

Later that night we invited the Californians over for an Aussie BBQ and to watch the State of Origin rugby league match onboard.

"You Aussies sure do things differently," said Terry, "Grilled onions on your burgers, football with no helmets, and running down the beach in 'flippers'!"
We had certainly given them a well rounded cultural experience.

WHITEHAVEN BEACH TO HOOK ISLAND
Race five was another easy downhill race that took the fleet from the sands of Whitehaven Beach to the beautiful coral-rich bays of Butterfly and Stonehaven. With only limited moorings, the fleet was divided between the two bays for an afternoon of exploring and snorkeling over the local reefs and resident giant clams, before retiring for a quite evening onboard. Or so we thought...

The fleet in Stonehaven all met up for an onboard party on Lady L who provided some Californian hospitality.

HOOK ISLAND TO SOUTH MOLLE ISLAND
The final day had arrived and there was just one last race left to run that could determine who would win and lose.

The race began with a gate start whereby the committee boat sails on port tack to windward of the fleet which remain on starboard tack and sail across her wake to begin racing. This was a great way to start with the fleet remaining very close during the entire race.

The race lead changed about five times through this beat back to windward against the tide into South Molle Island, but the finish came down to the wire with John Newton on Seawind 1160 Hadja coming just metres away to stealing our lead nearing the finish, however, Jim's steady hand got us over the line first.

Hadja is John and Gail Newton's second Seawind, having upgraded last year from a Seawind 1000. This is one monohull sailor I thought would never convert, having raced and sailed monohulls all his life.

It was wife Gail, however, who suggested a cat would be more comfortable and they have been cruising the east coast of Queensland for several years now.

Once the fleet had all arrived and taken a mooring it was back onshore for a round of golf before presentation at possibly the most casual golf clubhouse in Australia, and then on to a seafood buffet with live entertainment for twisting by the pool to finish the night off.

Warren and Debbie Kerswill of Seawind 1000XL Next Phase were the overall winners, with Ian Mulhauser and Wendy Hopkins on Seawind 1160 Purrfection a very close second from Murray and Faye Rowe on Seawind 1160 "Tropical Sunset" in third.

Each boat received a framed aerial photograph of their boat taken earlier that week as a souvenir of the week just passed, but probably the most valuable prizes, however, were the great friendships that were made over the course of the week.

From what started out as a group of strangers later became a close knit group of mates, all with a common interest and all part of the Seawind family.

For more information on upcoming events in the Seawind Cruising Club Series, phone (02) 4285 9985 or visit www.seawindcats.com