Back on the rock for some sailing action…
Been looking forward to Audi Hamilton Island Race Week up here in the Whitsundays ever since last year’s superb event. Then we were cursed with light, tempremental winds but this year has started out perfectly.
For those holidaying here the requirements are sunshine, for those sailing here it’s all about the wind and the first two days of the regatta have been just about perfect with strong gusts powering the fleet around the islands.
Yesterday I fulfilled the dream of a lifetime as I headed out onboard Wild Oats XI – the four time Sydney to Hobart winner. This is one serious piece of technology at 100ft long, manufactured from carbon-composite technology with a canting keel. (which means there’s a huge ram in the hull that lifts the keel at right angles to the yacht allowing the mast to lift back towards vertical, the most efficient shape it can take as it maximises sail area to the wind – ok techno-babble over)
The week is about more than just sailing though with loads of events off the water for the social-set to attend; celebrity BBQ’s, fashions shows, a day of racing Audi’s on the runway, ‘Deadliest Catch‘ Captain Andy Hillstrand’s dinner and a few cocktail parties thrown in along the way.
But the event has a serious sailing fraternity attending too with amateur sailors, bareboat rentals and buy-a-place crews on the water competing in the eight different classes from the entry level non-spinnaker all the way up to the opulent Superyachts, of which there are three – the largest being Kokomo, the 58 metre super sloop.
To contact us about the Best Expedition please email bestexpedition@tq.com.au.
Hamilton Island Race Week
Back on the rock for some sailing action…
Been looking forward to Audi Hamilton Island Race Week up here in the Whitsundays ever since last year’s superb event. Then we were cursed with light, tempremental winds but this year has started out perfectly.
For those holidaying here the requirements are sunshine, for those sailing here it’s all about the wind and the first two days of the regatta have been just about perfect with strong gusts powering the fleet around the islands.
Yesterday I fulfilled the dream of a lifetime as I headed out onboard Wild Oats XI – the four time Sydney to Hobart winner. This is one serious piece of technology at 100ft long, manufactured from carbon-composite technology with a canting keel. (which means there’s a huge ram in the hull that lifts the keel at right angles to the yacht allowing the mast to lift back towards vertical, the most efficient shape it can take as it maximises sail area to the wind – ok techno-babble over)
The week is about more than just sailing though with loads of events off the water for the social-set to attend; celebrity BBQ’s, fashions shows, a day of racing Audi’s on the runway, ‘Deadliest Catch‘ Captain Andy Hillstrand’s dinner and a few cocktail parties thrown in along the way.
But the event has a serious sailing fraternity attending too with amateur sailors, bareboat rentals and buy-a-place crews on the water competing in the eight different classes from the entry level non-spinnaker all the way up to the opulent Superyachts, of which there are three – the largest being Kokomo, the 58 metre super sloop.