ORCV Hutchwilco Melbourne to Stanley (M2S).

First it was Champagne, then it was bilge water!

The TP52, Calm, emerged from the rain and spray crashing over the pier at just before midnight to win the Hutchwilco Melbourne to Stanley race on Saturday.

They had been around four nautical miles astern of the early race leader, Scarlet Runner, but had worked hard to firstly overtake them and then put nearly the same distance from their stern to Scarlet Runner, before she retired not too far from the finish. Speaking with co-owner, Jason Van Der Slot, you could tell they had not only worked hard in the varying conditions, but were also delighted to firstly win, but be proud of their achievement.

Indeed the retirements came fairly thick and fast as the day’s Champagne sailing went to bilge water. As the day drew dark, both the clouds and wind built as a circular cell ran through the fleet above the Northwest coast of Tasmania. Most reports were for 35 plus knots out of the Sou’east, but regularly it was in the 45-knot area and sometimes from an entirely different direction.

Calm racing on Port Phillip recently.

There were several mainsails that were damaged, a headsail that had been lowered went overboard and one boom snapped clean in two, but all sailors were fine, if shaken and clearly wet. Boats out in front reported the breezes during the mandatory radio scheds and so boats behind made early preparations, which certainly was the case for Dry White. “Early Sunday morning, eXtasea advised the fleet that they were 12nm from Stanley and had 30-knot SE winds. We were 30nm from Stanley at the time and this invaluable safety-related information enabled us to be better prepared for those conditions”, said their Navigator, Neville Rose.

About an six and half hours after Calm crossed over the finish and returned to Melbourne, as the weather made it unsuitable for them to moor alongside the pier, Jazz Player was there to finish in the first of the day’s light. Indeed that light was to reveal many of the clouds that had been there the night before. Half an hour after Jazzy was Kiss Goodbye to MS, who had had an excellent race, which would become evident during presentations later on Sunday afternoon.

Mille Sabords was one of the mid-fleet finishers.

Many other finishers would get to Stanley mid-morning, as the harbour came alive with all the boats. The services provided by Sheryl Robson and the Smithton Lions Club got the sailors fed, watered and showered, before the serious business of swapping stories got underway.

The last of the 21 finishers from the 36 starters was Robyn Brooke and Rosie Colahan on board Pretty Woman. They crossed at around 2pm, with a couple of the retirees coming in just after them. The race was the start of these two seasoned sailors 2013 Melbourne to Osaka campaign and they were, “…delighted to beat some of the fully-crewed boats in the Australian Measurement System division, given that we’re in a cruising vessel”, said Rosie.

It was quite a contrast between the pictures coming from on board various boats earlier on Saturday afternoon with spinnakers and smiling crews to the wet and bedraggled sailors that got in to Stanley. However, by the time presentations came around at 3pm on Sunday, it was all ancient history. Proceedings began with the auction of two, 2kg crayfish, which went for a good price, but for the buyer, Bruce Hawken, still somewhat below market value. Bruce is from Kiss Goodbye to MS, who ended up having a fantastic race, securing third over line and in IRC. However, they won both AMS and PHS, with the latter being especially important this year. Our sponsor, Hutchwilco, had put six brand new Personal Flotation Devices up as the prize for the winner of this category. It added to their loot consisting of flags, wine and the crays, very nicely. All the crew were terribly thrilled, but none more so than Ian Law, who is responsible for the name change to reflect the crews desire to help out Multiple Sclerosis Research Australia. “We could not have hoped for anything more and this will be really great for helping to raise awareness of both MS and the fundraising we’re doing for MSRA”, said Ian.

If you’d like to read more or help out Ian and the crew from Kiss Goodbye to MS, please see HERE.

Right then, we had 37 vessels in the M2S, but Chikara Outlaw withdrew a few days ago, so 36 got away - 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 to all in the variable and ultimately, challenging conditions.

Full results for the 2011 Hutchwilco Melbourne to Stanley race are HERE.

ORCV Land also extends on to the ORCV Facebook page, so make sure you go and "Like" the page, now. 252 souls already have and thank you to each and every one of you.

© John Curnow, ORCV Media

Please contact me for re-issue rights.

	The ORCV's Hutchwilco Stanley race is proudly sponsored by:
ORCV Race Van moved by: