Whitsundays Twilight Sailing

The Whitsunday Sailing Club is the hub of sailing in the Whitsundays and thrives on promoting the recreation to people from all walks of life. The club is well-known to travellers for its weekly Twilight sailing race which is a social and fun race where non-sailors, visitors and anyone interested in trying out sailing, can take part.

With around 20 yachts participating in the weekly race, there is often room for visitors to jump on with the crew and experience sailing for themselves!

If you are visiting Airlie Beach, you may very well hear about the Whitsunday Sailing Club’s twilight sailing from other travellers, and the club is one of many around Australia which run a social twilight race.

You can try your luck and see if you can grab a spot on a boat, though you must bear in mind that there may not be places available. If you are fortunate enough to get the okay from the skipper to go sailing with them, you are in for a treat!

The yachts, which are either a monhull or multihull, are berthed at either Port of Airlie marina or Abell Point Marina which is where you will begin your adventure. The twilight race itself involves sailing around 3 buoys which are located in Pioneer Bay.

The sailing is fun, social and a little bit competitive and you will certainly enjoy the wind in your hair, the grinding of the winches and the turns around the buoys which are fast and exciting! If there is a bit of wind, you may feel the heeling of the boat as it leans to the side before the race finishes with the sound of the horn.

After the race, join the crew at the sailing club for a social drink, the results and prize giving, and a popular mixed buffet for dinner.

Sounds like fun?

Head to the club at around 3pm on a Wednesday afternoon and keep a look out for crew members who are usually wearing their ‘crew shirt’. Whether they have room for a visitor is at the skippers discretion.