Airlie Race Week event organisers are expecting a fleet of more than 30 boats for this year’s Multihull Australian Championship.

The championship is being held as part of the 24th annual Airlie Beach Race week being run from 9th to 16th August 2013.

Mike Hodges, vice commodore of Queensland Multihull Yacht Club, has his finger on the pulse of who plans to be up north with their new boats for the warm winter racing. “I reckon 30 plus boats based on the people I know who will be going. The entries you’ve got two months before aren’t really an indication of the numbers you are really going to get.”

The current entry list is APC Mad Max (Grainger 10, Qld), Aquilo Ii (Farrier F82 R, Qld), Carbon Credit (F32 Srcx, SA), Fantasia (Seven Seas 50, Qld), Indian Chief (Custom Grainger 9.5 Cat, NSW), Morticia (Sea Cart 30, NSW), Move It (Box Boat 8.5, Qld), Oz 22 (F22, Qld), Renaissance (Schionning Waterline 1520, Qld), Rum Raider (Grainger Raider Cat, Qld), Wild Spirit (Crowther Supershockwave, Qld), Wilparina 11 (Farrier 9 Mod, SA).

Upwards of 10 new boats are expected to compete across the OMR Divisions 1,2 and 3, and the cruising PHS division event.

Peter Hawker’s Carbon Credit is the first to enter of the two new boats to come out of South Australia. Both are Farrier 32s; fully carbon fibre. They are the updated version of Rob Remilton’s Wilparina.

Hodges is particularly interested in the new 9.1m NSW boat Morticia. “It’s a boat we have seen very
little of. It’s a brand new Sea Cart 30. They come with a big reputation. I think they are pretty quick. These guys haven’t had their boat for very long. They are probably still working out how to get the best out of it. It will be interesting to see how it goes.”

Peter Hackett has entered his new F22, the first one in Australia There is only slight problem with his entry; the boat is still being built in New Zealand. Hackett hopes to have it in four weeks, but wouldn't be surprised if it arrives the day before. Either way he is confident it will be ready in time.

Another two new boats to compete will be out of David Biggar’s Sunshine Coast shed, both Box Boats. The first to enter is David Turton’s red-hull Move It which hasn’t quite made it into the water as yet.

Although not new, it will also be the first outing for the newly modified 9.5m Indian Chief. “It’s going to be a different boat to what it has been in the past. It’s been made longer nearly a metre on the bows. That’s going to make it a different boat. It’s going to make it faster as it will probably be able to carry a bit more sail.

“I think the Div 1 is going to be a bigger division than it has been in past Australian championships
as most of the boats that were there last year are going to be again, plus all those new ones. It’s going to be pretty hotly contested event,” Hodges said.

For event information, go www.airlieraceweek.com