Airlie Race Week 2013: get your mates together | Sailing News
Insteadof missing out on a great event, Peter Hewson and his sailing mates havecome up with a successful formula for getting to Airlie and having fun.They simply band together each year, decide which boat to take northand then pack their party shirts in readiness for Airlie race week. “No one has any crew anymore. It’s probably the same everywhere. Everyoneis struggling for crew fora 40-foot boat so to give other people the opportunity to have a go in therace week we have been getting our crew together and jumping on otherboats. “We have taken north everything from Northshore 38s to NSX’s, Farr 40s andothers,” Hewson said.The choice this year is Hewson’s Sydney 41, Storage King Wallop, winner ofthe 2013 Australian PHS Championship. The 24th Abell Point Marina Airlie Beach Race Week, being held from 9th to16th August, will be Hewson’s 14th year of enjoying the competition withhis Lake Macquarie mates and his third time racing his own boat.His combined crew will be made up mostly of ex-505 dinghy class sailorsincluding 505 World ChampionTom Woods and their very fit 72-year-old mast man, Jacko.  Last year the Lake Macquarie sailors campaigned Al and Danielle Ovenden’sAdams 15-metre, Let’s Go, in the Cruising Division. Next year they plan totow up Tom Woods’s newly purchased canting keel Farr 36 to Airlie foranother swap of crews. The PHS winner has had to make the tough decision of which division toenter in his Storage King Wallop. “I have been contemplating whether to doIRC or Performance. We went so well in the Coffs Harbour regatta racingagainst some flash IRC boats, but with 12 crew interested in racing andIRC having a crew number restriction, I have got to flip some people tomake IRC. “What’s made me lean towards IRC is that Newcastle has managed to get theAustralian IRCChampionship next year and that’s a big plus for Newcastle. It will build upsome more IRC boats to race out of Newcastle” The crew accommodation is booked, the fast on-water Quantum shirts and thebright blue beer bottleparty shirts are packed, the entry is in and the Storage King Wallop teamare ready to go IRC racing.For event information, go http://airlieraceweek.com/