Plenty of fun on the water

THE Whitsunday waters were filled with pirates, wenches, doctors, nurses and even a gladiator and a nun, during the Whitsunday Sailing Club’s annual Great Whitsunday Fun Race, held on Saturday.

A mixture of monohulls and multihulls made up the fleet, including a number of offbeach sailors, some of whom dressed up their boats with added extras such as inflatable sharks.

Whitsunday Sailing Club Commodore, Jim Hayes, said everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, with the 37-year-old event focussed on socialising on the water and having fun.

The overall winner was Fantasia 2 (Andrew Stransky), who triumphed over the 30-strong fleet.

A multihull from the Russel Island Yacht Club, Fantasia 2 also took out the multihull division win on the day.

Crew member Phil Thompson was the only one at the Sailing Club when it came to accepting the traditional trophy consisting of an empty bottle of rum.

“The other guys are so into sailing they headed straight off and are cruising around the Whitsunday islands at the moment,” he said.

Meanwhile, in the cruising monohull fleet, the winners were Reignition (Charles Wallis), Sky Bird (Terry Winterbottom) and Brilliant II, (Julian and Sharon Smallwood), with Condor (David and Alison Molloy) winning the monohull racing division.

In the division for monohulls under 42 feet, Anthea (Dewi Hughes), took the win, ahead of Sardine (Brent Winter) and High Tide (Shannon Hart), in third.

In the offbeach boats, Eva Lorenz came in first, with Luke Mairs in second place and Shaun O’Regan in third.

Local boats Condor, Anthea and High Tide also teamed up to take the team win on the day.

This year, the accolade of best themed boat went to La Quilta (Heather Sutton), whose yacht resembled a hospital ship, while the best dressed boat went to Riff Raff (Nikki Abbott), who took out this title for the second year in a row.

The best dressed crew went to Sardine (Brent Winter), and the best pirate crew and Miss Figurehead went to the crew on Thylacine, skippered by Greg Mackenzie.

RESULTS

Overall Winners: 1st Fantasia 2, 2nd Condor, 3rd Reignition

Division 1A (cruising monohulls over 42 feet): 1st Reignition, 2nd Sky Bird, 3rd Brilliant II

Division 1 B (racing monohulls over 42 feet): 1st Condor

Division 2 (multihulls over 42 feet): 1st Fantasia 2,

Division 3 (monohulls under 42 feet): 1st Anthea, 2nd Sardine, 3rd High Tide

Offbeach: 1st Eva Lorenz, 2nd Luke Mairs, 3rd Shaun O’Regan

Team Trophy: WSC 1- Condor, Anthea, High Tide

Best themed boat: La Quilter

Best dressed boat: Riff Raff

Best dressed crew: Sardine

Best pirate crew and Miss Figurehead: Thylacine