ORCV Hutchwilco Melbourne to Stanley (M2S).

Classic Bass Strait?!

You know, I always hate talking about the weather too far out, because it can, and does quite often, all change somewhat markedly.

At any rate, you all have access to the same data, so it is a good thing The Brass are happy to lob in with a comment. This is especially so, because they are a bit like Bill Collins - the Accurate One.

Back at King Island, I was talking with the Scarlet Runner crew and mentioning how the races seemed to be softer and all that. Our good pal Andy Roberts lobbed in with some science to put some emperical data to the miscellaneous ramblings, in a piece called Warmer? Yes. Wetter? No., which followed on from Warming.

All of that having been said, get set for classic Bass Strait! "Early indications for the Hutchwilco Melbourne to Stanley race indicate a trip with a rough start and fast finish. If the wind strenghth holds, it will be a fast, but oh-so-wet ride. (Ed. Me likey the fast bit - WooooHoooooo!) The strategists are in for an early tactical decision however, as they grapple with going left or right of the rhumbline. The whole story could change if the approaching high pressure system slows down or speeds up. The other area to keep an eye on are the isobars over Bass Strait, which are not uniform", said The Brass.

Good trip down the Bay - I can see everyone counting number of the kite trips to start they've ever had. Not many fingers needed there....	Hard on the wind for the start, with lumps and bumps too!!!

The snoptic situation shows the wind from the South moving to Sou'easterly during the course of the race. The first chart is at 1100hrs on Saturday and the second from midnight on Saturday.

Looking at the Predictwind model, you will see that it has much less wind forecast, but the two models do not agree with what direction the wind will come from.

Well then. There it is. Will be the cold beer in the old port shed on the pier at Stanley seem warm by comparison? Will the record get broken?Kontrol has held it since 2002 in a time of 14:36:15 - there are more than enough rocketsleds out there to have a crack at. Will I be able to get a daylight finishing shot of the frontrunners???? Now there's a thought.... As Icpota used to say, "Fascinating reading!"

Right then, we had 37 vessels in the M2S, but Chikara Outlaw withdrew a few days ago, so it's 36 now - Addiction, Alibi, Alien, Arch Rival, Bandit, Biddy Hu II, Cadibarra 8, Calm, Cavarlo, Dekadence, Dark and Stormy, Dry White, eXtasea, FullyNPushing, Gusto, Halcyon, Independent Endeavour, Jazz Player, Kiss Goodbye to MS, Magazan 53, Magic, Matrix, Mille Sabords, Mirrabooka, Nutcracker, Pretty Woman, Scarlet Runner, Slinky Malinky, Spirit of Downunder, Tevake II, Trybooking.com, Under Capricorn, Weekend Option, White Noise, XLR8 and Yoko, which is excellent. Well done and good luck to all.

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© John Curnow, ORCV Media

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	The ORCV's Hutchwilco Stanley race is proudly sponsored by:
ORCV Race Van moved by:	Predictwind graciously allow us to use their models to better assist with Race Management and Marcomms.