Adventures of Lady K: Round the Whitsundays Race

“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.”

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!).

Lady Katherine's impressive number one headsail framing the fleet at the start

Up close and personal in Pioneer Bay

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.

Sailing down the Molle Channel on-board Lady Katherine

Historic Dent Island lighthouse

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.

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.

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.