Hamilton Island next challenger for America's Cup

The New York Times is reporting that Hamilton Island Yacht Club has challenged the Golden Gate Yacht Club and Oracle Team USA for the America's Cup.

Christoper Clarey is reporting that the next challenger of record for the Cup is set to be the Hamilton Island Yacht Club. He notes that Hamilton Island  "would be a surprising choice and a welcome one, in that it would bring one of yachting’s leading nations back into the competition."

Australians were the first nation other than the United States to win the trophy, wresting it from the New York Yacht Club in 1983 with the help of an innovative winged keel, however it has been 13 years since an Australian team has challenged the Cup.

Vice commodore of the Golden Gate Yacht Club, Tom Ehman, would “neither confirm nor deny” that Hamilton Island Yacht Club was the next challenger and said that Golden Gate and Oracle Team USA would announce the challenger’s identity in due course.

Christoper Clarey quoted Tom Ehman: “What I can say is that G.G.Y.C. has received a challenge - I received it on the water on Wednesday immediately when our boat crossed the finish line and won. Commodore Norbert Bajurin was with me. We received and then we accepted the challenge, and I’m satisfied that it’s a bona fide yacht club under the deed of gift.”

Read the full two page article here.

Sources
New York Times - Christoper Clarey

3 Busted for Drugs in Airlie Beach

Three men have been charged following the seizure of drugs in Airlie Beach yesterday.

Around 5.00pm detectives from Whitsunday Criminal Investigation Brach executed a search warrant at an Airlie Crescent address.

It will be alleged police located a large sum of cash, 26 grams of Cocaine, 246 amphetamine tablets, drug utensils and anabolic steroids.

A 40-year-old senior member of the Finks OMCG Gold Coast chapter was charged with two counts of possession of a dangerous drug and one count of possession of property the proceeds of a drug offence.

A 49-year-old man was charged with one count of possession of a dangerous drug.

A 26-year-old man was charged with two counts of possession of a dangerous drug, one count of possession of a thing used in the commission of a crime and one count of possession of a drug utensil.

The men are due to appear at the Proserpine Magistrates Court on January 16.

Source:
Queensland Police Service

WMD Tourism Whitsundays Awards shame

It seems that most of the judges who voted on which businesses would win a Tourism Whitsundays - WMD Award this year never actually familiarized or used the product or service of any of the applicants.

I have been advised that most of the judges for this years Whitsundays Tourism Awards decided who the winners would be from the applicants submissions only. They were 'locked up' in a windowless room for two days; fed "bad pizza"; and were asked to judge the winners from all the applications from the submissions alone.

To make matters worse, the submissions were files on a computer; each one 30 pages long and not printed out, so the judges could not go 'back and forth' comparing each applicant for each award.

The most extraordinary accusation is that none of these judges actually 'road tested' any of the Tourism Whitsundays Awards applicants' products or services. They were not given famils and were asked to judge the winners from just the information on a computer screen, which was written by the applicants.

How a Judge can pick the best Tours, Sailboat company, Restaurant, or Accommodation operator without even setting foot on their boat, restaurant, or hotel has got me and many others questioning the process of these tourism awards.

The Judges also had to pay to attend the actual Tourism Awards Ceremony on Hamilton Island. Apparently the night was not as successful as it is being made out to be - for some reason there was a huge shortage of chairs and a lot of people went home very hungry.


Related Stories:
Who is really the best at SocialMedia in the Whitsundays?
Lack of entries leaves 8 Tourism Whitsundays Awards uncollected

Buyers bidding for Abel Point Marina

Update Fri 21 Dec 2012
McGrath Nicol have taken down the 'For Sale' sign on Abel Point Marina. It is believed the bids didn't come up to the Receivers expectations - they will list the marina when times are better.

Original
The Australian Financial Review has reported that there are several bids 'on the table' for the bargain-priced Abel Point Marina in Airlie Beach, Whitsundays.

Mathew Cranston (Twitter @mcranston1) has written that Property developer Kevin Seymour has put in a late bid for Abel Point Marina to Receivers McGrath Nicol.

MH Carnegie & Co (Mark Carnegie & possibly Andrew Robinson) are believed to have already lodged a price for the Marina. It should be noted that Mr Robinson & Mr Carnegie bought the Breakwater Marina in Townsville in 2008.

Mr Robinson 'has form' with Abel Point Marina - According to the article, in 1993, Mr Robinson led a consortium that bought Abel Point for $2.7M, then sold it in 2006 for $75M.

Abacus Property Group (Birkenhead Point NSW) may have also put in a bid for the marina.Expressions of interest for the Abel Point Marina closed a couple of weeks ago.

Sources
Australian Financial Review - Mathew Cranston (Twitter @mcranston1)