Audi Hamilton Island Race Week 2011 was hailed as the most successful and satisfying in the event’s spectacular 28-year history. Entered in the 2011 Audi Hamilton Island Race Week were 195 racing yachts – ranging from small cruisers to record-breaking supermaxis – and some impressive superyachts on the water. Then, when the sailing was done, crews, families, friends and island guests sampled the most impressive on-shore party and social agenda imaginable.

View of the fleet at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week - Day 2 - Sunday 21 August 2011. Photo by Hamilton Island Photography.

There were numerous highlights throughout the week, but none more so than the presence of the world’s oldest sporting trophy, America’s Cup, and the current Cup winning skipper, Australia’s Jimmy Spithill. And while the sailing scene was incredibly exciting, thanks to the presence of a solid south-easterly tradewind for much of the week, there was a most impressive array of familiar and friendly faces across the party schedule, including Naomi Watts, Megan Gale, Tom Williams, Matt Moran, Shanon Bennett, Catriona Rowntree, Sandra Sully and Mark Beretta.

The America’s Cup welcomed to Audi Hamilton Island Race Week by Bob Oatley, Jimmy Spithill, and Iain Murray. Photo by Andrea Francolini Audi image

Everyone was impressed by the week’s sailing and social activities, and it was the man who brought the Cup to the regatta, 30-year America’s Cup legend Tom Ehman, who summed up the week perfectly: ‘Hamilton Island Race Week is the best kept secret in the world of yachting. The organisers of any major race week should look at how Hamilton Island makes this more than a sailing event: it’s also a social and cultural happening. Through resources, imagination and hard work it has really come into its own.’

See for yourself by watching this impressive, 5-minute Audi Hamilton Island Race Week 2011 highlights package.

The America’s Cup is welcomed to Audi Hamilton Island Race Week by island owner and veteran yachtsman, Bob Oatley, Cup winning skipper Jimmy Spithill, and Hamilton Island Yacht Club Commodore, Iain Murray. (Andrea Francolini/Audi image)

Magnificent social events, like the release of a new range by Collette Dinningan, are among the many and varied onshore activities at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week.