Airlie Beach Race Week
Airlie Beach Race Week takes place Aug 11 - 18, 2027 in Airlie Beach, Australia. The dress code is Casual beach wear throughout - boardshorts and thongs are the local uniform, with a shirt for the evening entertainment. Typical cost ranges from 700 to 2200 EUR per person.
A deliberately relaxed tropical regatta in the Whitsundays that pairs six days of racing with seven nights of free live entertainment on the Airlie Beach foreshore. The fleet spans racing keelboats, trailer-sailers and cruising boats, and nobody pretends the social programme is secondary. For a visitor it works as a beach festival that happens to have a serious regatta attached.
- When
- Aug 11 - 18, 2027
- Where
- Airlie Beach, Australia
- Dress code
- Casual beach wear throughout - boardshorts and thongs are the local uniform, with a shirt for the evening entertainment
- Cost
- Typical cost ranges from 700 to 2200 EUR per person.
- Weather
- 14 - 24C, dry-season winter, sunny with reliable southeast trade winds
- When to book
- Book Airlie Beach accommodation 4 to 6 months out; the town is small and race week fills it
- Getting there
- PPP (Whitsunday Coast, Proserpine), about 40 min to Airlie Beach
- Where to stay
- Coral Sea Marina Resort, Mirage Whitsundays, Heart Hotel and Gallery Whitsundays
- Official site
- https://www.abrw.com.au/
How to attend
The nightly live music, food stalls and race village at the Whitsunday Sailing Club are free and open to everyone, and the racing is visible from the foreshore. To sail, enter a boat via abrw.com.au or book a crew berth through Whitsunday sailing schools and charter operators, which regularly place novices. It pairs naturally with a few days on a bareboat or a Whitehaven Beach trip either side of the week.
The race village, live music and food stalls at Whitsunday Sailing Club are free and open to everyone, so there is no ticket to buy; the official site sells only boat entries and berthing packages.
Insider tip
Racing runs six days but the free live music at the Whitsunday Sailing Club runs seven nights, and the layday party mid-week is the one locals actually turn up for.
Get inside Airlie Beach Race Week
Booking matters here: book Airlie Beach accommodation 4 to 6 months out; the town is small and race week fills it. Members track that window, what it really costs, and 571 more events across the season.
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