Melbourne Two Handed (MTH)

All's quiet on the Western Front...

...as well as the East, the South and the North!

You know, it's amazing how much tide runs past Brighton at times. For the ORCV's 2009 MTH held on the weekend, it seemed like it really was running all the way down from Williamstown like a conveyor.

The start was accomplished in a light NorthWesterly with Rob Tanner's 'Allegria II' first across the line, followed closely by 'Horizon Sprint' with Lisa Hammond on the tiller. Some yachts took a leg towards the shore, but it did not seem to pay off, despite this being the conventional wisdom. Cloud patterns forecast a bay sea breeze and pressure definitely faded from St Kilda first. The yachts working mainly along the rhumb line did best up to the Northerly mark, which was RMYS #8. 'Fuzzy Logic' (P Roberts/W Lennon) was first around with 'Isuzu Marine' (Jock and Hamish MacAdie) next, then 'Chikara Outlaw' (Bill Trueman) and 'Seaduction' (B Pattinson) thereafter. The bulk of the fleet was around this first mark an amazing thirty minutes after the start!!

Are we there yet? - Not likely.

That band of calm that establishes itself before a sea breeze moves in, did in fact do so from St Kilda in the North East. This caught several yachts out with no wind and that tide kept them from passing the first mark. So next came the retirements! Something about, "The footy needs watching" and "I gotta go home and watch some paint dry", were the favourite calls coming in over the radio.

It is common to be becalmed in ocean races and the option always exists to cancel, but the truth is ocean sailors must sail in all that is put before them. So practice must be gained! It is noticeable that some yachts can always keep moving in these transom slapping races and a private patch of breeze always helps, but there have been many times when even going the wrong way to hold and build your apparent wind has proven mightily successful. The lesson here is keep the boat moving - at all cost!

The bay sea breeze came along and then smartly went away. Nice. A few breeze pulses followed, but those remaining on the course in preference to house chores, had an agonizing work along the course.

It really is a bad day when even the swans beat you!

As 'Isuzu Marine' came near the Committee Boat after the first rounding, we decided to shorten the race, in the hope that some more boats might make it. She finished the shortened course in a desperately painful 3hrs 20mins 56secs after the start. No doubt, the MacAdie boys drew on their experiences crossing the Doldrums on their way to Osaka to keep the boat going.

By then, the sea was absolute glass except for some catspaws. We were wondering if the others would make it at all??? Our answer came when next across the line was a pair of swans, who had in fact overtaken the next group of yachts! A kayak shot through the line next, then a swimmer. Some finishers made it across just before being lapped by the swimmer on his second lap. Finally, after a very frustrating race, those that had not retired were rewarded. It is hard to think that last year's race had heaps of breeze and just a couple of weekends ago there were some gusts of over 50 knots on the Bay!

One of the famous Brighton 'Icebergers' swims across the line and then came around again to nearly lap most of the finishers...

Local seals utilising their inbuilt ingenuity and SPF5000+ to catch a break on the bulbous bow of a container boat waiting to enter Melbourne's docks.

By Robin Hewitt and John Curnow