McConaghy Melbourne Offshore Championship
(M2S as part of the MMOC)
Eight Bells.
And all is well - especially if you are on 'Goldfinger'!!!
It's a flat sea out there, with 16knots of breeze from around 195 degrees and a sea of less than half a metre. Nice. Better than nice actually, which is a classic for the crews that are sticking their heads out into it for the first time.
In the race for Line Honours, 'Calm' has moved to about 16 nautical miles ahead of 'Goldfinger' then just astern of them is 'Audi Centre Melbourne'. So the former has indeed been working hard to take second position from third place in the last Sked... 'Calm' now has around 15 miles to get to the line, here in Stanley.
'Goldfinger' has had a great time of it, which should make Andy Keep smile... (no doubt Peter Blake already is) Bet they wish they had the kind of breeze pictured here.
The fleet indeed appears to have found some breeze - finally. 'Ninety Seven' is some seven hours ahead of where she was placed for finishing, based on the previous radio sked. This is good news for everyone, from catering to prize ceremony and us, who have been waiting in the now very cold van.
'Wicked' now leads AMS from 'Extasea' and 'Godzilla' - IRC is all about waterline length and reflects Line Honours perfectly. Now in performance, 'Matangi' leads, from 'Pretty Woman' and 'Myuna', so those skippers could be the first to get the coveted new 'Yellow Ribband', which is for the sensational McConaghy Carbon Fibre Performance Wheel at the end of the season.
As a result of all these movements, 'Calm' now looks to be arriving at 03:10hrs, 'Goldfinger' at 05:45, 'Audi Centre Melbourne' at 06:04 and then 'Shogun' at just before Seven on Sunday morning. Last boat is now slated for 20;00hrs on Sunday Evening and that is 'Hummingbird' from DSS. In the middle of the fleet, it is now quite bunched up, so you never know from whence the ultimate winners will come.
'Matangi' are seasoned campaigners, so it is good to see the TYC crew doing well.
'Wicked' has had a pretty good outing with all this...
By John Curnow
