Time to plan your Ocean Racing 

The Notices of Race for the King Island, Port Fairy and Apollo bay race have been posted. If you click on the buttons on the right hand side of the website you will see the race buttons. If you click on these buttons you will be able to download a copy of the Notice of Race and you can also enter on from the same location. After the success of the tracker in the Tassie races we will be having trackers in the King Island and Port Fairy Races.

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ORCV Melbourne to King Island

Warming.

It's a favourite subject for conjecture and debate in recent times. Have the weather patterns slipped South in the last few years?

Global warming is either scientific smoke and mirrors or real and absolute, depending on which camp you belong to. One thing that has been observed, however, is that Bass Strait is not really Bass Strait much these days. I was speaking with Andrew Warner very recently, who reminded me that the 2007 Rudder Cup Centennary race, which he did on Independent Endeavour, incorporated two days of drifting in the Paddock and the same occurred in the 2010 Melbourne to Vanuatu race... He felt that 42S was the new 38th parallel.

Down at our beloved King Island, Frank Hammond, who got there (eventually) on Spirit of Downunder, commented about that being the most benign he had ever experienced Bass Strait and I cannot remember a single race in the Paddock that did not involve large amounts of cold, wind, rain and swell. For sure there have been some mild crossings, but never during racing.

Sam Chandler from Scarlet Runner reflected that she had never been in a race yet, where Bass Strait really was, Bass Strait, either...

So here we are departing KI at about 1600hrs on the Sunday and I love this, because the clouds are the lines of corduroy, whereas usually, it is the sea that has those delightful lines in it...

A smidgeon further North and well into the top of Bass Strait, this is a completely un-retouched image of the Paddock. Look closely and you can see a couple of white specks directly behind the turbine's exhaust. That's you guys who departed Grassy, just after the Presentation on the Sunday, running with about 10-15knots from the Sou'west.

I showed this image to Jeff Dusting from SYC a couple of days later and he commented that it could not be the Med or Nth Qld, because of the colours, so had to be the Paddock....

Anyway, miscellaneous ramblings perhaps, but bound to be a discussion point...

© John Curnow, ORCV Media

Please contact me for re-issue rights.

	Councillor Island on the left, as seen from the plane... Remember the currents!!!!

ORCV Melbourne to King Island

If not one, then the other...

Well. We know they don't get to do a lot more than the Winter Series due to their OTB commitments, so it was good to see them split the field and send some to King Island and the others to Geelong.

Of course, we talk about our original Love Boat, Nutcracker. I got to talk with our favourite, nearly-the-oldest-bowman-on-the-Bay and Broker extraordinaire, Chris Furey, regarding the long weekend that just passed. "While his mum (Kathryn Furey) was making her way ever so slowly to King Island aboard Nutcracker, our son Jack (age 11) was racing in the International Cadet States at RGYC, where he and skipper Patrick Chipp eventually finished in eleventh place", said Chris.

Magoo II (Patrick Chipp and Jack Furey) from Sandringham Yacht Club at the International Cadet Victorian Championships 2011, which were held at the Royal Geelong Yacht Club at the same time as the King Island race. Image courtesy of and © to our good friend, Teri Dodds.

Nutcracker's Skipper, Rob Davis, was also represented with his daughter Matilda racing in the Cadets, as well. She finished in ninth place with her Skipper, Jacob Freeman. The 2011 Victorian State Championship was won by 2010 Cadet Worlds runners-up, Anton and Julian Sasson, the sons of yet another Nutcracker crewman, David Sasson.

Nutcracker sure had some skill onboard for their jaunt down, which is probably why they punched well above their weight. Kathryn is in the front and Rob is in the black sleeves at the back...

We'll find something...

© John Curnow, ORCV Media

Please contact me for re-issue rights.

	Councillor Island on the left, as seen from the plane... Remember the currents!!!!

ORCV Melbourne to King Island

Hard work this ocean racing thing...

He of the Countdown Timer managed to get his snapamatic out during the King Island race and we have a couple of shots to share from Jeremy Walton, who is also an ORCV Committee Member. "I wanted to share these to show just how hard this ocean racing stuff can be....", he said.

 "First one is Andrew 'Burger' Burggraaff making a good attempt at winning the 'Z' flag on the way to KI; he didn't win and I am not going to say who did!!!" Ed. Spoil sport.... Reckon I can guess, however and even I am not keen to go there...

"Next couple show Jason Boyle, of Adventureland, doing a great job at the other end of the boat. At this stage we have the big bag up and are going along at around 12-14 knots. As you can see, he has the full support of the rest of the crew, who are ready to jump to it at a moment's notice." Ed. Oh yeah, I am convinced. (Not).

Now clearly Bugs Bunny cartoons on TV are way more interesting than seeing what Jeremy was up to. A magical source sent me this image of Jeremy's shore crew of Karen, Henry and Grace, "just so obviously and tremendously concerned about us all!!!", was Jeremy's response when I showed him. I told him it is because of the tremendous efforts that Race Management go to with sending SMS's to your designated loved ones during the race that there are no frowns... Who knows Jeremy, when you jump ship to go on OR1 to Port Fairy, maybe they'll have to get up and make a cup of tea or get a milk and reflect upon your location at the time. Perhaps...

You know what. He of the Countdown Timer did not put the critical timelines down at the bottom of his email. Tut. Tut...

There will be more.

© John Curnow, ORCV Media

Please contact me for re-issue rights.

	Councillor Island on the left, as seen from the plane... Remember the currents!!!!