When is Airlie Beach Race Week held?

Airlie Beach Race Week is held annually in August, hosted by the Whitsunday Sailing Club at Airlie Beach in the Whitsundays, Queensland. The regatta runs over roughly a week, combining several days of racing on the water with nightly onshore entertainment. It consistently falls in early-to-mid August to make the most of the reliable south-east trade winds that settle over the Whitsunday Passage at that time of year.

Who organises Airlie Beach Race Week and where does it start?

The regatta is organised by the Whitsunday Sailing Club, whose clubhouse sits on the foreshore at Airlie Beach on the Queensland mainland, opposite the Whitsunday islands. The club manages race administration, the on-water course-setting and the shoreside festival. Racing takes place in Pioneer Bay directly in front of the club and out into the surrounding Whitsunday Passage, so competitors and spectators are never far from the action.

What classes and divisions race at Airlie Beach Race Week?

Airlie Beach Race Week caters to almost every type of keelboat and multihull. Recent editions have run IRC rating divisions, performance handicap (PHS) racing, several cruising divisions including non-spinnaker classes, multihull racing and passage divisions, and a sportsboat and trailable yacht fleet. One-design classes have also raced their own series within the regatta, so everyone from a fully crewed grand-prix yacht to a cruising family competes within a like-for-like group.

What kind of courses are sailed?

The regatta blends two course styles. Passage and cruising divisions sail longer point-to-point courses that weave between islands and headlands of the Whitsunday Passage, using prominent landmarks as turning marks. Sportsboats, trailable yachts and one-design classes typically sail shorter windward-leeward courses inside Pioneer Bay. This mix gives crews both tactical short-course racing and the scenic challenge of navigating tropical waters.

Is Airlie Beach Race Week handicap racing or line honours?

It is primarily handicap racing, run across multiple rating and handicap systems so that boats of very different sizes and speeds can compete fairly within their division. IRC and performance handicap (PHS) results are calculated by applying each boat's rating to its elapsed time, meaning the first boat across the line does not necessarily win. Line honours within a division still carries prestige, but division winners and overall results are decided on corrected time.

How do you enter Airlie Beach Race Week?

Entries are managed by the Whitsunday Sailing Club and open in the months before the August regatta. Crews register online through the official Airlie Beach Race Week website, nominate the division that suits their boat, and must comply with the Notice of Race, which sets out eligibility, safety-category requirements and the racing schedule. Because the event draws boats from across the Australian east coast, many crews deliver their yachts to Airlie Beach in the weeks beforehand or arrange professional deliveries.

What is the Whitsundays Festival of Sailing?

The Whitsundays Festival of Sailing is the onshore companion to the racing. Held at the Whitsunday Sailing Club, it features live music, food and beverage stalls and evening entertainment across the week. The festival is free to attend and open to the public, so families, friends and visitors who are not racing can still be part of the regatta atmosphere each afternoon and evening once the fleet returns to shore.

Is the Whitsundays a good cruising destination around the regatta?

Yes. Airlie Beach is the mainland gateway to the Whitsundays, a group of islands fringed by the Great Barrier Reef and known for sheltered anchorages, white-silica beaches such as Whitehaven, and warm winter sailing. Many visiting crews combine the regatta with cruising the islands before or after racing, and the August timing coincides with the dry season's settled trade-wind weather, making it one of the most popular times of year to be on the water in the region.

Queensland

Airlie Beach Race Week

Airlie Beach Race Week is the Whitsunday Sailing Club's August regatta — tropical island racing off Airlie Beach, paired with the Whitsundays Festival of Sailing.

5 min read

Airlie Beach Race Week is the Whitsunday Sailing Club's flagship August regatta — a mix of tropical island racing and shoreside festival that has become one of the most-loved fixtures on Australia's east-coast keelboat circuit. Run from the club's foreshore at Airlie Beach in the Whitsundays, it combines competitive racing for everything from grand-prix yachts to cruising families with the open-to-all Whitsundays Festival of Sailing on shore.

What it is

Airlie Beach Race Week is a week-long regatta that pairs serious racing with a relaxed holiday atmosphere. The on-water programme spans several days of racing in Pioneer Bay and the surrounding Whitsunday Passage, while nightly music, food and entertainment run alongside it on shore. The event is deliberately broad: it welcomes monohulls and multihulls, fully crewed racing yachts and cruising boats, and a sportsboat and one-design contingent, all competing within divisions matched to their type and pace.

That inclusiveness is the regatta's signature. A weekend cruiser can enjoy genuine competition in a non-spinnaker cruising division while, on the same patch of water, performance crews push hard for IRC and handicap honours. If you are new to the language of regattas, our sailing terms glossary explains the words you will hear on the dock and the water.

History

Airlie Beach Race Week grew out of the Whitsundays' early cruising culture, beginning as the Hog's Breath Cruising Classic before evolving into the regatta known today. The early event ran in conjunction with the long-standing Great Whitsunday Fun Race before its popularity saw it branch out as a stand-alone fixture.

Sources differ on the exact inaugural year — it is variously traced to the late 1980s and to its first stand-alone running — so we have not pinned a single founding date here. What is clear is the trajectory: from a modest cruising classic the event grew past 70 entries by the turn of the millennium and beyond 100 in the years that followed, becoming a cornerstone of the Queensland winter season with more than three decades of continuous racing behind it.

The course and format

The regatta runs a deliberately varied course programme so that different fleets get the racing that suits them. Passage and cruising divisions sail longer point-to-point courses that thread between the islands and headlands of the Whitsunday Passage, with distances typically in the low-to-mid twenties in nautical miles. Sportsboats, trailable yachts and one-design classes more often sail shorter windward-leeward courses inside Pioneer Bay, the sheltered bay directly in front of the club.

Results are decided on handicap rather than first-to-finish, so the boat that crosses the line first does not automatically win. The regatta uses multiple rating and handicap systems across its divisions; if you want to understand how that works, our explainers on line honours versus handicap and IRC versus ORC handicap racing set out the differences. The published programme carries the schedule for each day once it is confirmed.

The fleet and classes

Few Australian regattas span as wide a range of boats as Airlie Beach Race Week. On any given day the entry list can include IRC rating divisions, performance handicap (PHS) racing, several cruising divisions including dedicated non-spinnaker classes, multihull racing and passage groups, and a separate sportsboat and trailable yacht fleet. One-design classes have run their own series within the regatta, giving identical boats a pure test of crew skill — the principle behind one-design yacht racing.

For high-performance crews, the regatta sits squarely in the world of grand-prix yacht racing: tightly run and decided by small margins. A boat like the Melges 40 — a modern, planing one-design grand-prix yacht — is exactly the kind of boat built for this style of racing, where flat-out speed in fresh trade winds and crisp crew work around the marks separate the fleet. You can read more about our own boat on the boat page.

The festival and Whitsunday experience

What sets Airlie Beach Race Week apart from a purely competitive regatta is the Whitsundays Festival of Sailing that runs alongside it. Held at the Whitsunday Sailing Club, the festival brings free live music, food and beverage stalls and evening entertainment throughout the week. It is open to the public, so families and friends who are not racing — and visitors simply holidaying in the area — can share in the atmosphere each afternoon once the fleet returns to shore.

The setting does much of the work. Airlie Beach is the mainland gateway to the Whitsundays, famed for sheltered anchorages and white-silica beaches such as Whitehaven. August falls in the dry season, when settled south-east trade winds make for warm, reliable sailing. Many visiting crews build a cruise of the islands around the regatta, racing hard by day and exploring the anchorages before or after the event.

How to enter

Entries are managed by the Whitsunday Sailing Club and open in the months leading up to the August regatta. Crews register online through the official Airlie Beach Race Week website, nominate the division that best matches their boat, and must meet the conditions set out in the Notice of Race — including eligibility, the relevant safety category and the racing schedule. Because the fleet draws boats from across the east coast, many crews either deliver their yachts to Airlie Beach in the preceding weeks or arrange a professional delivery, then base themselves at the marina or a nearby anchorage for the duration.

How to follow

The most reliable place to follow the regatta is the official Airlie Beach Race Week website, which carries the Notice of Race, entry information, daily results and the festival programme. Australian sailing media provide day-by-day race reports throughout the week, and the Whitsunday Sailing Club publishes news and updates direct from the event. For spectators on the ground, Pioneer Bay and the Airlie Beach foreshore offer a natural vantage point as the fleet starts and finishes within sight of shore, and the festival is the gathering point once racing wraps up each day.

Frequently asked questions

When is Airlie Beach Race Week held?: Airlie Beach Race Week is held annually in August, hosted by the Whitsunday Sailing Club at Airlie Beach in the Whitsundays, Queensland. The regatta runs over roughly a week, combining several days of racing on the water with nightly onshore entertainment. It consistently falls in early-to-mid August to make the most of the reliable south-east trade winds that settle over the Whitsunday Passage at that time of year.
Who organises Airlie Beach Race Week and where does it start?: The regatta is organised by the Whitsunday Sailing Club, whose clubhouse sits on the foreshore at Airlie Beach on the Queensland mainland, opposite the Whitsunday islands. The club manages race administration, the on-water course-setting and the shoreside festival. Racing takes place in Pioneer Bay directly in front of the club and out into the surrounding Whitsunday Passage, so competitors and spectators are never far from the action.
What classes and divisions race at Airlie Beach Race Week?: Airlie Beach Race Week caters to almost every type of keelboat and multihull. Recent editions have run IRC rating divisions, performance handicap (PHS) racing, several cruising divisions including non-spinnaker classes, multihull racing and passage divisions, and a sportsboat and trailable yacht fleet. One-design classes have also raced their own series within the regatta, so everyone from a fully crewed grand-prix yacht to a cruising family competes within a like-for-like group.
What kind of courses are sailed?: The regatta blends two course styles. Passage and cruising divisions sail longer point-to-point courses that weave between islands and headlands of the Whitsunday Passage, using prominent landmarks as turning marks. Sportsboats, trailable yachts and one-design classes typically sail shorter windward-leeward courses inside Pioneer Bay. This mix gives crews both tactical short-course racing and the scenic challenge of navigating tropical waters.
Is Airlie Beach Race Week handicap racing or line honours?: It is primarily handicap racing, run across multiple rating and handicap systems so that boats of very different sizes and speeds can compete fairly within their division. IRC and performance handicap (PHS) results are calculated by applying each boat's rating to its elapsed time, meaning the first boat across the line does not necessarily win. Line honours within a division still carries prestige, but division winners and overall results are decided on corrected time.
How do you enter Airlie Beach Race Week?: Entries are managed by the Whitsunday Sailing Club and open in the months before the August regatta. Crews register online through the official Airlie Beach Race Week website, nominate the division that suits their boat, and must comply with the Notice of Race, which sets out eligibility, safety-category requirements and the racing schedule. Because the event draws boats from across the Australian east coast, many crews deliver their yachts to Airlie Beach in the weeks beforehand or arrange professional deliveries.
What is the Whitsundays Festival of Sailing?: The Whitsundays Festival of Sailing is the onshore companion to the racing. Held at the Whitsunday Sailing Club, it features live music, food and beverage stalls and evening entertainment across the week. The festival is free to attend and open to the public, so families, friends and visitors who are not racing can still be part of the regatta atmosphere each afternoon and evening once the fleet returns to shore.
Is the Whitsundays a good cruising destination around the regatta?: Yes. Airlie Beach is the mainland gateway to the Whitsundays, a group of islands fringed by the Great Barrier Reef and known for sheltered anchorages, white-silica beaches such as Whitehaven, and warm winter sailing. Many visiting crews combine the regatta with cruising the islands before or after racing, and the August timing coincides with the dry season's settled trade-wind weather, making it one of the most popular times of year to be on the water in the region.

← All regattas

Nearby & related

More regattas

Queensland · August