It was the Chisholm Institute crew of Mr Bojangles who were blue-eyed after sailing to an overall third placing at this month’s Airlie Beach yachting regatta.

One of Australia’s largest regattas, Mr Bojangles was headed by Chisholm trainers Pauline and Greg Cleaver. The crew were students from the Diploma of Outdoor Recreation and managed to stow an individual regatta haul which included three first, one second, one third and a sixth place.

The crew were racing against very experienced teams from all parts of Australia according to Pauline. 

“What the crew lack in experience, they make up for with enthusiasm,” she said, “we have Andrew Keep, from Mornington Yacht club, who has extensive racing experience assisting us, and the students are coping very, very well with their steep learning curve.

"They have learned a lot about trimming sails, navigation, tides and team work."

Chisholm student Sam Wright said it had been an amazing opportunity to develop skills and at the same time experience different facets of the outdoor recreation industry.

“It has shown me that there are so many outdoor employment options and it has been excellent being away with the whole class for six weeks.”

The regatta is the final component of a six week trip to North Queensland, which has seen the group undertake raft guide training on the Tully River, sea kayaking around the Whitsunday Islands, bushwalking on Fraser Island and working for Edmund Park camp, west of Brisbane. The two year Diploma of Outdoor Recreation course trains specialist instructors for the outdoors.