Whitsunday Sailing Club built around the tradition of having fun has become a serious competitor in rivalling other major Australian sailing destinations to host national championship regattas on their Pioneer Bay courses.
The interest in this perfect dinghy and ocean yacht racing venue gained momentum when the club in combination with the Hog’s Breath Cafe sponsorship hosted the Hobie 16 catamaran World championship in 1998.
Sailors from the leading nations around the World were impressed with the friendly hospitality and the associated relaxed environment and still regard the event as the happy Hobie regatta.
More importantly the event organising committee of Don Algie, Miles Wood and Geoff Smith successfully established the Whitsunday Sailing Club and the excellent courses on Pioneer Bay as a World standard sailing venue.
Further worldwide awareness was achieved with the web cam where the updated images of the colourful Whitsunday sunsets attracted a flow of emails from countries including Alaska, Greenland and Mongolia who were not represented at the regatta.
The tourism awareness generated from the international exposure of the 1998 Hog’s Breath Hobie World series has continued to become an important asset in the negotiations for future championships.
Similar interest surrounds the Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week which is now established as a signature special event injecting an annual multi-million dollar cash flow into the local community.
Present club officials Mick Phillips, Kevin Fogarty and life member Jim Hayes have not rested on past achievements.
All three were back on deck last Saturday when the WSC hosted the 33rd Great Whitsunday Fun Race which again attracted a widely diversified fleet including the former Tasmanian jam trader Solway Lass to the fast lane sailing catamaran Cynophobe.
This special event always attracts a huge following of spectator craft manned by out of town visitors who make the trip each year to simply enjoy the post race party at the Whitsunday Sailing Club.
Sure the significance of the Fun Race factor has played a big role in contributing to the financial stability of the club but Mick Phillips, Kevin Fogarty and Jim Hayes believe all other days in the year are equally important and have continued to market The Whitsunday Sailing Club and the tourist venue of Airlie Beach as the perfect championship sailing destination.
Their collective effort in selling the sailing destination has been approved by the Australian Tasar dinghy association as the host venue for the 2010 National championship.
It is anticipated a fleet of 85 including a high number of husband and wife, father and son, father and daughter racing combinations representing clubs from Tasmania and all mainland states will accept the notice of race and will line up to tension their sails for championship honours.
Club officials remain focused on hosting the event in July followed by the 2010 Meridien Marinas Airlie Beach Race Week in early August and the 34th Great Whitsunday Fun Race in September to complete another important cash flow into the community.