ORCV Melbourne to King Island
Launch!
Speaking with Rob Date of Scarlet Runner, who won the Adelaide to Port Lincoln race recently, he said, "Hopefully we won't be eight minutes behind the gun for the start of the King Island race and it would be tremendous to not have to deal with the rain, as well!" Of course, Scarlet Runner went on to win IRC for the whole Lexus Lincoln Week, as well, which did cap off a great time in South Australia, overall, Rob told me.
The race itself provided for some great images. It was meant to be super soft, but 30 knots kicked in and as you can see, it was wet from both the rain and the fast passage that was being enjoyed by the leaders, Scarlet Runner, SMB 3.5 and Calm. Rob purchased these images for us to review from local shooter, Greg Pratt, of Paparazzi Digital Photography.
Now speaking of fast passage, it did look like the KI record of 10:08:04 was set to tumble, which would have seen the leaders of the 25 boat fleet in by early morning. We'll have a detailled piece on this lot shortly... As for the front of the pack, it is a shame that Calm ended up not being able to join us at this time, but great to see that the intent is there. Perhaps they will be part of the Dash Back system from Port Fairy, this Easter...
One boat definitely off to KI, is the Line Honours favourite, Gusto. She is 66 feet long and draws 4.1m, won the Melbourne to Stanley race last year, set a new record for the 2010 Boxing Day Dash from Port Melbourne to Blairgowrie and then won the mighty Westcoaster last Christmas, doing 25 knots across the bottom of Tasmania in the process. She is lovingly referred to as the Big Blue Boat or the Skiff on Steroids.
Gusto barrelling out the Heads last Xmas - pic with thanks and © to, Teri Dodds.
There are some first timers also coming to partake of the deep and protected waters of Grassy, to say nothing of the steak sandwiches or the plastic bag raffle. John Hall's Arch Rival (the old Rouseabout) and Andrew Griffith's FullyNPushing (he's an Obs and Gyno) both fall into the newbie class, but there is plenty of experience there. Also with plenty of experience onboard and sort of sneaking out into the ocean, somewhat quietly until I got onto it, are our original Love Boat - Nutcracker. We'll be watching proceedings aboard this vessel closely....
Also attending this year are venerable ocean racers like Yoko, along with a plethora of 35 to 40 footers. Current record holder, Cadibarra 8 is racing, after having come back to Melbourne from Queensland. She could do well on handicap, as will Alien, Extasea, Slinky Malinky, Halcyon and White Noise. Jason Close's new B First 35 got ready just before the start of the run to Launceston at Xmas and she, along with Peter Dunne's Upbeat (a B First 36.7) both did well for the entire three-race series.
Arch Rival and Matrix, which are near sister ships to each other (the former was the plug for the latter) and designed by the same man as the current record holder, should also do well. Don Jones is known for his boat's ability to well once the sheets have been eased just a little. Given the likelihood of a downhill race, then Spirit of Downunder, along with the pair of Inglis' - Addiction and Beyond Outrageous should feature, too.
Chris Furey's great image of Team BO with the fractional Bag up!
You know, we have had some interesting interpretations of crew roles from boats like Caledonia before (they're going to KI, BTW), but these came in from Biddy Hu II...
- Brian Burggraaf - Tactician - best known to us as one half of the Remedy team
- Wayne Butson - Rigger - hope you're not needed too much
- Les McKee - Gourmet Chef - with both Ingenue and The Secretary not there, it's good to see someone is keeping Master Seachef alive. Les was aboard Samskara in the 2010 Melbourne to Vanuatu race
- Colin Andrew - Speech Therapist - just gotta ask???????
- Paul Lindermann - Skipper - left the disco balls behind in the 2009 Eastcoaster
- Craig Shepherd - Motivator - Good job
- Phil Garvey - no title - hope he's not the gimp?
All in all, it is an excellent turnout and it equates to some 200 sailors, which is double the competitors that the island gets from the trans-island running race, which is on at the same time.
So you'd thought I'd forgotten about the weather, then? I hadn't. For the last ten days or so, during various conversations, the astute Skippers and Naviguessers have been talking about Nor'Easters of up to 19knots, with the freshest bits just before dawn. Start is 0100hrs off Drapers Reef at Queenscliff, BTW.
Now, with not that much time left to go before launch, The Brass have lobbed in their spiel and we'll bring it to you shortly...
You know you're making progress when a 52 footer looks like this!
© John Curnow, ORCV Media
Please contact me for re-issue rights.
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Councillor Island on the left, as seen from the plane... Remember the currents!!!! |
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Laurie "Lozza" Ford's beloved, Cameron De Lange penned, Spirit of Dowunder - image with thanks and © Steb Fisher.
Here's Magic Carpet winning the 2010 King Island race - Two Handed no less!!!
