“I’m taking the motor boat out next weekend,” a friend said.
“Oh yeah, not much breeze forecasted then?”.
“The Round the Whitsundays race is on; there’s never any
wind.”
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| Lady Katherine crew for 2018 Round the Whitsundays race |
The iconic 80 nautical mile anti-clockwise Round The Whitsundays
yacht race is held in early July every year, and typically the weather
conditions are light. That means it can be a long day and night on the water, so
to keep up crew morale many tasty snacks are required. Although regular dolphin and whale sightings (and
soundings) also add to the excitement of sailing around one of the best
cruising grounds in the world.
On the first Saturday of last month, it took Lady Katherine nearly two
hours to wallow her way from the start line at Airlie Beach and out of Pioneer Bay
into the breeze line of the Molle Channel. The calm conditions gave us an
opportunity to chat to fellow competitors and friends on passing motor boats,
and enjoy a cup of tea with a ginger nut biscuit (ginger a little superfluous
on this calm day!).
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| Lady Katherine's impressive number one headsail framing the fleet at the start |
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| Up close and personal in Pioneer Bay |
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| Where's the breeze? |
With empty cups stowed, on cue our first time hoisted number one head sail began to fill with a
south easterly wind, and we rejoiced as Lady
Katherine finally heeled over - ever so slightly but heeled all the same. We
were racing at last! So too was everyone else; each skipper of each yacht deciding
which side of the Molle Channel would be best to navigate to gain the edge on the
others. Tactical manoeuvres were also being discussed on-board Lady Katherine. The local expertise of
two commercial masters plus a visiting seasoned off-shore competitor, had us
sailing straight down the middle of the channel with the tide at a speed of 7 knots. It was a fabulous sail, and the only one we were going to get.
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| Sailing down the Molle Channel on-board Lady Katherine |
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| Historic Dent Island lighthouse |
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| Twister saying hello to southern tip of Dent Island |
We led Division 3 (and a couple of Division 2 boats) all the
way past Daydream Island, around the southern end of South Molle Island, across
the Whitsunday Passage, along Dent Island past the lighthouse, around the
corner, and…..stopped. Not a ripple on the water; not a breath of wind; a glass-out.
We were going nowhere. And neither was anyone else. So we wallowed once again
at a whopping speed of .2 of a knot, taking in the magnificence of Pentecost
Island for the next few hours.
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| Pentecost Island and Infarraction |
Decisions had to be made. Do we persevere until the
southerly change comes in at 3.00am, or do we call it a day and be tucked up in
the berth by dark? After a round of the best Whitsunday homemade quiche while
watching a dolphin pod lazily swim by, it was put to the vote: 5 to 4 for a
return to Port of Airlie if our boat speed doesn’t increase to over a knot
within the hour. I think we all knew we weren’t going to travel any faster for
the time being – the weather forecasters are pretty accurate - so we retired
from the race after 26 nautical miles. The iron sail was turned on, the red and
white MPS dropped, and away we motored around Hamilton Island, through Fitzalan
Passage, across Whitsunday Passage to North Molle Island, and navigated the
night sky into Pioneer Bay and the marina with a fridge full of food.
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| Our attempt at Round the Whitsundays race. You're supposed to go right around ALL the islands! |
It was disappointing that we didn’t complete the race, even
though we were all keen to do so.
However, we couldn’t stand the pain of going
nowhere for another 12 hours before a 35 knot wind slammed into us for the bracing
finish home. There were other vessels willing to persevere though – five in total
– which we greeted with a wave after a good night’s sleep when they slipped
into the marina between 8 and 10 on Sunday morning. Well done to them all.
It wasn’t the first time Gary and I have been on a vessel
that has withdrawn from the Round the Whitsundays race. Conditions were very
similar back in 2005 on a friend’s yacht, Elyara,
and we retired pretty much from the same position. Strangely, the previous year
we won the race on handicap after 23 hours of racing. Of course, we were all
much younger then, and much less time poor.
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| Gary holding out the boom on board Elyara, 2005 |
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| Dawn on Round the Whitsundays race 2004 on board Elyara, the winner on handicap. |
We’ll just have to see what next year
brings!
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| The beautiful Lady Katherine |
