"EVERYONE was a winner today - it was just glorious."

This was the experience of one happy sailor who called into the Whitsunday Sailing Club for a cold one after the first day of Airlie Beach Race Week on Saturday.

The sun was on full beam and a lovely breeze built to 15 knots for the opening of the 26th annual event, making it perfect for the 108 yacht crews with eyes on the prize this year.

Ray "Hollywood" Roberts turned up the heat with his Farr 55 OneSails Racing defeating Matt Allen's TP52, Ichi Ban, in IRC Racing Division 1. The Sydney yachts both have the same handicap, but this is the first time Allen has skippered the former Shogun V in race mode since purchasing it recently.

The two boats were literally match raced in the battle that took in Double Cones and Armit islands.

The entire fleet competing across 10 classes was sent on a Passage Race that varied from 23 to 30 nautical miles on day one. In IRC Racing Division 2, Jason Close's Archambault 31, More Noise (Qld), came up with the goods, defeating Roger Hickman's 2014 Sydney Hobart winner Wild Rose (NSW) by 22 seconds.

In news from other classes, Chris Williams sailed Morticia to a near five-minute win over Andrew Stransky's Fantasia in the Multihull Racing class, while John Rae skippered Vivace to a three-minute victory over Graham Sherring's Stay Tuned in the Sports Boats.

Drew Carruthers sailed Runaway to a win from Paul Bunn's Christine in Cruising Division 1, while in Division 2, Graham Furtado sailed Frantic to a win over Sandor Tornai's Skeeter. Division 3 was won by Derek Foley's Wicked, with Greg Hudson's Salty Dog second.

After losing the keel on his Rumgutz in the opening race last year, Peter Harrison was rewarded with a win in the Cruising Non-Spinnaker division aboard his new boat Awesome.