ON SATURDAY the Sydney-based yacht Victoire was berthed at the Abell Point Marina and its crew drinking beer for almost 35 minutes before the next boat finished the race.

Completing the race on day two of Airlie Beach Race Week just behind Victoire in a time of 3:55:08 was the eventual winner, Dream.

Skipper and owner of the Sydney to Hobart winning yacht Victoire, Darryl Hodgkinson, acknowledged Victoire would incur a time penalty in the Cruising Division 1 class.

"We are a quick boat but we knew in this class we would have a bad penalty," he said.

"We accept that fact because we know we are fast and with the handicap system we are penalised for our speed. Everybody in the fleet still has a chance to beat us," Hodgkinson said after the race on Saturday.

Which is what happened following the canting keeled Cookson 50's line honours victory - Victoire was relegated to seventh place.

Victoire however came back in Race 3, taking line honours and the win on corrected time.

She took sixth place in Race 4 and currently sits in first place after four races.

Hodgkinson said the yacht rating system allowed different sized boats to race against each other.

"All boats are different, it is very clever the way it's done and we accept the fact if we cross the line first we may not win on the day," he said.

"We are okay with that. We come up here because we really enjoy the area. I have been about five or six times here and we bring in our friends."

"We try to not be too competitive about it. This boat has won a lot of trophies so it doesn't have to prove itself."