A hands-on approach is at the heart of ensuring the strength and future success of SeaLink Magnetic Island Race Week (SMIRW), which just celebrated its 18th birthday, much to the happiness of competitors and Townsville Yacht Club (TYC).
Race Week closes the northern circuit each year. It is held as winter burgeons into spring, a one of a kind event for myriad reasons. It was founded by Terry Dodds, Managing Director of Sunferries (now SeaLink), the major backer of the event from its inception in 2007.
Dodds recognised the value of giving those yachts competing at Airlie Beach and Hamilton Island Race Weeks one last regatta before returning to their home ports in spring. He was right. When you ask those from colder climes why they love coming here, the weather and the destination figure prominently.
Mike Steel is the enduring Commodore of TYC and Event Chairman of SMIRW, where he races his Elan E5, Boudica. He and Muller, A TYC Director who competes with his Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 409, Brava, were around for the inception of the regatta and still here today, making sure it keeps thriving.
The twos passion for sailing and the event is evident. Steel stepped down as Event Chairman in 2018, but the baton was delivered back to him the following year. Muller has also been a constant in dual roles as TYC director and competitor. The pair go a step further, taking sponsors and event partners racing – and both enjoy that aspect.
Steel says he’s always loved anything to do with sailing boats: “When I was seven years old, my dad had boats on a slip in Bulimba (Queensland). In Grade 4, when the other kids were drawing pictures of cars, I was drawing boats.
“Dad had a Top Hat 25 and I remember around that time seeing the movie Jaws. We did a trip out to Palm Island on the boat and I remember being terrified a shark would get us! I never got seasick though. I started racing Sabots off The Strand in Townsville. I still have the shirt I used to wear and the certificates I was awarded.
“Sailing on little boats I’d see yachts and think, ‘I want to be on one of those’. When I turned 17, I got my first car and bought a 14 ft catamaran. At 18 I bought a Moth. I always had to have a boat.
“At 19, I started crewing on a Currawong 30 as foredeckie for Dick Greenwood. We raced in the first or second Hamilton Island Race and I loved it! We did the Coral Sea Classic. We went to Papua New Guinea in 1998 for two years and I raced on a 26 footer there. Racing consumed me. I just had to be on the water.
“I had a Ross 780 when I was 38 or 39 and was a sailing member at Townsville Yacht Club (then known as Townsville Cruising Yacht Club). I raced that boat at the first Maggie Island Race Week in 2007. Sunferries ran the event back then and the Club looked after the on-water race management.”
Steel continues, “Ten years ago the Club took over running the event and I became a director of the Club and event chair. They wanted help running the event, so I put my hand up. Then I became the Club Commodore in 2024 and have been the event chair since – except for one year.”
Steel continued to sail in tandem with his other shore-based roles and updated his yacht to a brand new Dufour 34, Boudicea. Then he updated to a Dufour 36, Boadicca. Last year, he updated again, this time to a new Elan E5, Boudica.
“Same name, four different spellings,” laughs Steel who loves SMIRW: “I love coming here. It’s a smaller regatta with everyone in one place. You get to know people. It’s fun. It’s the signature event for the Club. It’s landed Townsville and Magnetic Island on the map.
“This would have been our 19th Race Week, but we had to cancel 2020 because of COVID. In 2021, we knew people were itching to go sailing and travel again, but were nevertheless amazed when numbers reached 35 the day entries opened. Ten days later there were 70 and it quickly escalated to 80. It’s been selling out faster since. Ten minutes for this year’s regatta!
“I couldn’t believe it,” Muller says. “We’ve been keeping a wait list for the last five years, as it become more and more popular. Muller, a member of TYC since 1985, has been on the Board since 1991 in various roles and was Commodore in the mid-2000s.
“The numbers here (SMIRW) are just right. The advantages are that everyone is parked in one spot, nearly everyone lives in the same spot, the entertainment is a one to three minute walk and the start line is a five minute motor.
“Taking sponsors out to race here – I always felt it was necessary, as they want to be part of the event – they want to experience it. It doesn’t have much meaning if they don’t experience it,” Muller explains.
“Coming first, second or third is not the be-all and end-all either. It’s the experience you come here for.”
This year, singer/guitarist, Tommy Lee Archer, stood on deck of Chris Morgan’s La Quinta and entertained us from the marina out to the start line each day, while the women on Vicki Hamilton’s Akarana, danced and sang on deck. Others dressed in costume. These are some of the experiences that make you smile and differentiate SMIRW from others.
“The other thing we have, is racing not starting until 11am and finishing by around 3.00 to 3.30pm. That way you get the best of racing and the best of the day.
“We speak to competitors every year and ask them what‘s good, bad and what to change. People say, ‘Why would you change it?’ They say, ‘We love it just the way it is’. The majority say it’s not just about being on the water, but what we offer ashore as well.
On his own sailing experience, Muller began sailing in 1985 and raced with various owners, inclusive of three Sydney Hobarts.
“In 2011, I bought Brava, my only boat. It’s 14 years old now. I love the challenge of sailing. At Maggie Island I especially love the camaraderie, the mixture of people and skills that you rely on. And you don’t have to take it too seriously!”
On putting effort into TYC and SeaLink Magnetic Island Race Week, Muller says, “I’ll keep going for the time being. It’s a profitable club and marina. For the last 20 years we’ve had a very good board and that’s what makes the Club and the event successful.
For more information on SeaLink Magnetic Island Race Week, please visit: www.magneticislandraceweek.com.au.
Di Pearson/SMIRW media
Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SMIRW
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/miraceweek
#SeaLinkMagneticIslandRaceWeek #SailingAustralia #TYC #MagneticIsland #SailingCommunity
Interested in seeing more Racing News? Click here
