Seawind Whitsunday Rally sails into town

The 3rd annual Seawind Whitsunday Rally will set sail from Shute Harbour, Qld, on Saturday, June 20, for a week of racing and partying around the Whitsunday Islands onboard 14 luxurious Seawind catamarans.

Approximately 60 crew members will join the fun-filled week of social racing and activities, flying in from all around Australia and overseas.

Seawind said the rally will have the fleet race from island to island with a party or event at each of the seven destinations, including Shute Harbour, Long Island, Shaw Island, Hamilton Island, Whitehaven Beach, Butterfly Bay and South Molle Island.

The Whitsunday Rally is one of eight separate worldwide sailing events organised by the NSW-based luxury catamaran builder as the Seawind FGI Cruising Club Series for 2009.

This is a year-long series of regattas and cruising safaris around Australia (including Sydney, Jervis Bay, Moreton Bay, and Mandurah) and the Americas (including Catalina Island-California, Mexico and the Bahamas) with approximately 100 Seawind catamarans and 500 crew members expected to participate throughout the year.

Following the Whitsundays, the Seawind FGI Cruising Club Series heads to the Bahamas for the Abaco Regatta (July 3 to 11), then the West Coast Rally, California (August 20 to 23), Pittwater Regatta, Sydney (October 30 to November 1), Mandurah Rally, WA (November 13 to 15) and finishes with the Moreton Bay Regatta, Qld (November 20 to 22).

Seawind said the return of the Series in 2009 is a direct result of the unbelievable success the series experienced in 2008: “We had over 500 crew and over 100 boats at the various starting lines throughout the year, this is a fantastic achievement in its first year.”

The Seawind range is available for charter from operators located at Abel Point Marina, such as event sponsors Whitsunday Private Yacht Charters or Whitsunday Rent A Yacht from Shute Harbour.

Seawind Catamarans said the Whitsunday Rally is also open to the general public who participate by simply chartering a Seawind cat.

For the Whitsunday Rally there will be daily updates from the committee boat on Twitter (search: seawindcats), Face Book (search: Seawind Catamarans) and Flickr (Search: Seawind Catamarans) including photos and place winners.

Seawind Catamarans has two manufacturing plants located in Wollongong and Nowra, on the NSW South Coast, building vessels like its popular 35ft Seawind 1000XL and the 38ft Seawind 1160, which it said has won many design awards both in Australia and the USA.

For more information, visit www.seawindcats.com