My First Melbourne to Hobart Race: A Journey of Emotion, Challenge, and Triumph

Story and photo by Glenda Pillifeant

Reflecting on my first Melbourne to Hobart race, I am filled with a profound mix of pride, gratitude, and a deep sense of accomplishment. But this journey was about much more than just the race itself; it was about the people I sailed with, the unwavering love and support shared along the way, and the memories that will stay with me forever. It’s a race that many aspire to, and though it still feels surreal, I am yet to completed my first year of sailing. Was I lucky? Perhaps, but it’s taken dedication, hard work, and determination to get here.

My journey began on January 20, 2024, with a crewing course at the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria. On that very day, I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time and was asked to join the Faster Forward team for my first-ever yacht race at the Festival of Sails in Geelong. From that moment, I was committed—whether it was learning the boat or supporting the team during repairs. I was there every time the boat set out.

In November, I participated in my first offshore race, the Ocean Racing Victoria (ORCV) Melbourne to Devonport race. The weather was moderate, making it manageable and not a true test of resilience or seasickness. But as the Melbourne to Hobart race approached, things took an emotional turn. Our team was devastated by the loss of our dear friend Kevin and my best friend Deb, both of whom passed away less than eight weeks before the race. Their absence weighed heavily on us, but their spirit remained with us as we pushed forward, honouring their memory through every challenge.

The first 24 hours of the race were by far the most difficult. Massive swells, high winds, and the overwhelming challenge of seasickness—five out of nine crew members were affected—tested our limits. There were moments when I doubted myself, both physically and emotionally, but through it all, my teammates supported not just me, but each other, showing incredible camaraderie.

As we rounded the bottom of Tasmania, something shifted, or it could have been the seasickness tablets. Either way the team found its rhythm, refocused, and dug deep to push through the final stretch. The finish line was within reach as we passed the Iron Pot. However, the wind had other plans, and we were left drifting for two agonizing hours. When the breeze finally picked up, it was like a switch had flipped, and we surged
toward the finish line.

 

Crossing the line felt amazing, sailing past “The Taste of Tasmania” with a sea of people cheering us on was an unforgettable moment. We completed the race at 10 p.m. on the 29th of December, just in time to celebrate our teammate Ken’s birthday with gusto.

I’d like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria (ORCV) and everyone who helped make this monumental event possible. Your dedication made this race an unforgettable experience. To my team—thank you for your unwavering support, camaraderie, and tolerance during the toughest times, I will always be grateful.

This journey has tested me mentally, emotionally, and physically. To reach the finish line and honour the memory of those we’ve lost, while celebrating the ones we hold dear, has been an incredible experience. The magnitude of what we achieved is still sinking in, but it will stay with me for a lifetime. I look forward to the challenges and victories that
lie ahead.

See you on the water soon!

MRV stifles Ambition to take Line Honours and Overall Win in the 2025 Apollo Bay Race

By Jane Austin/ORCV media

Celebrating their win! All smiles for skipper Damien King (far left/front) and Crew on MRV / Photo by Damien King

Margaret Rintoul V (MRV), skippered by Damien King from the Sandringham Yacht Club (SYC), has sailed a fast and furious race to win the 72nd Melbourne to Apollo Bay Race (M2AB).

While the lyrics of a well-known song suggest ‘history never repeats’, King has well and truly proved that good things can happen twice, carrying his exceptional performance from the 70th anniversary race into this year’s event winning on line honours and on overall AMS and PHS handicaps.

The 52 nautical mile race, run by the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria (ORCV), started in brisk conditions at 4 am on Saturday morning with 185 sailors making quick progress off the Queenscliff start line in a 15 knot westerly breeze.

The Frers 61 MRV was the first boat through Port Phillip Heads followed by ORCV Coastal Championship leaders Ginan, skippered by Cameron McKenzie and Nigel Jones from the Mornington Yacht Club, and Steve Twentyman’s Hanse 505, Shimmer.

The forecast was for cracked sheets all the way to Apollo Bay and while the majority of the fleet navigated the race well, others encountered some quiet patches and were ‘parked’ for a short time.

The battle for line honours was on from the start with MRV, Chris Dare’s Ambition from the Derwent Sailing Squadron in Tasmania, and Shimmer all in with a chance to claim first-home bragging rights.

King didn’t have it all his own way though with new fleet entrant Ambition, a Botin/Carkeek GP42, swapping the lead with him several times in only their second race in the boat.

MRV's Youth Superstars (Left to right), Felix Duell, Mats Maertens and Max O'Connell on MRV / Photo by Damien King

Max O’Connell, with Felix Duell and Mats Maertens were sailing their first race to Apollo Bay on MRV.

Adding yet another competitive dimension to the race, Max’s brother Jeremy O’Connell was onboard Ambition, with Max keen to pocket family bragging rights in his first M2AB race.

Max O’Connell reflected upon his first race and the tight tussle with Ambition.

“It was great fun, there were lots of challenging parts, especially the cold, it was very cold up on the rail, but when the sun came up, our spirits came up, and we could see boats around us and beneath us, it was just beautiful,” said O’Connell.

Max was in awe of the spectacular scenery and the competitive nature of the final race of the 2024-25 ORCV Offshore Sailing Program which saw only 55 seconds separating MRV and Ambition across the line, with MRV’s elapsed time 6 hours, 39 minutes and 40 second.

“About ten nautical miles out from the finish we knew we had a race on.

“We had Ambition on our hip, we were following them, and my brother was on the other boat.

“We talked about our options, to sit and hold second position or try for the win.

“We ended up in a tacking duel for about ten tacks over the last few miles.

“We knew Ambition would throw everything at us, and they did, but we just hit them straight back and managed to pull ahead to win,” said O’Connell.

MRV skipper Damien King was over the moon with his success in this year’s race and described his three new race recruits as “absolute legends”.

“Our strategy was to try and hold the rhumbline, we went out to sea a bit, but our plan was just to sail as fast as we could.

“We just love this race.

“It’s a perfect time of the year for this race, we’ve done it a bunch of times…we had great fun and are very happy to come away with line honours and the overall win.

“The race is a great length, we enjoyed starting in the middle of the night, there are different challenges with that, and to sail with three first timers onboard who are absolute legends, it’s just great,” said King.

Joining King and his newcomers on board MRV were Leeton Hulley, Grant Allen, Jonathan Orr, Dean Joel, David Suda and Mark Byrne.

While Ginan, the speedy J111 racing boat, missed out on the overall win, which is decided on AMS handicap, the seasoned sailors were very happy to take away the ORC overall win and the 2024-2025 ORCV Coastal Championship for the third year running.

Skipper McKenzie paid tribute to his entire team’s preparation and made specific mention of the time and effort of his “fabulous navigator” Greg Patten.

“Greg put a lot of time into understanding the race weather, looking at historical routes, understanding how wind shadows caused by the hills could affect us, and we looked at tracks of previous races.

“Because of Greg’s preparation, we were able to make some good tactical decisions today.

“And even though we were pushing the boat hard, we were still taking the time to admire the fabulous scenery along the coast, we are really luck to do what we do,” said McKenzie.

Onboard Ginan were Mark Jukes, Tim Bilham, William McKenzie, Jack Vermeer, Stephen Daniel and James Bacon.

Rounding out the overall results on AMS, Shimmer finished in second place behind MRV by just 32 seconds, with Ginan in third, while MRV and Shimmer finished behind Ginan on ORC overall.

Shimmer underway, living up to its name / Photo by Neil Bourne

Shimmer took out second place on PHS overall with Xenia, the X4.3 boat skippered by Koos Theron from SYC finishing in third.

Peccadillo, skippered by Charles Meredith from the Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron, won line honours in the multihull division.

ORCV Race Director Ryan Blackstock was very happy with the race with all 28 competitors finishing in a reasonably good time.

“I think it was all fairly straightforward, nothing too out of the ordinary, although I did hear from some people after the race that the wind was fairly patchy around Lorne, but we had a consistent breeze on the finish line.

“And the race was probably a bit easier for some of the tailenders who had a better run to the finish line than the front markers who went a bit further south of the finish line and had to tack back towards us,” said Blackstock.

Joan Lorraine underway to the start line / Photo by Matthew Lee

In other provisional results, Alex Team-Macadie, skippered by Jock Macadie, won the Double-Handed PHS handicap from Sarah Allard’s Saltair and Foggy Dew, skippered by Robert Darcy, finished in third place. Joan Lorraine, skippered by Peter Garner took out the Division 2 Cruising PHS handicap.

The 2025 Melbourne to Apollo Bay Race was sailed with great spirit and camaraderie.

 The Jackal on the way to Queenscliffe / Photo by Peter Grant

This year’s race welcomed several newcomers and a growing contingent of youth sailors and was a fitting end to the summer sailing season.

The fleet was joined by spirited pods of dolphins setting a cracking pace through the water along the Victorian coastline.

King and McKenzie joined many competitors who extended their thanks to the ORCV team for hosting this popular race and the broader offshore sailing program, and for generating coverage across media platforms that is inspiring new sailors.

“Thanks to the ORCV for putting these events on and for always being a fun and inclusive environment for all of us, we greatly appreciate it,” said King.

For full and provisional results across all divisions, click here.

PP1 flies into Ronstan Cock of the Bay Record Book 

Boxing Day Bonanza on Port Phillip Bay

Over 500 yachties will take to the water for the 2024 Ronstan Cock of the Bay Race and if the early weather forecast holds true, a new race record could be on the cards.

Port Phillip Bay will be a fiesta of colour and action, providing spectacular entertainment for the hundreds of spectators that support this traditional sailing event hosted by the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria (ORCV).

Colourful spinnakers will fill the skyline shortly after the start Photo Steb Fisher

The entry list for the Ronstan Cock of the Bay Race, a highly regarded fixture on Victoria’s sailing calendar, is likely to hit the one hundred mark well before Australia’s top order at the MCG, and sailors will enjoy the opportunity to have some fun and let their hair down after a busy Christmas Day.

For others it is another opportunity to fine tune their boat handling, crew work and tactics in preparation for upcoming ocean racing events.

ORCV Commodore and co-skipper of White Spirit, Cyrus Allen, regards the race as an important part of Australia’s Boxing Day traditions.

“The Cock of the Bay unites sailors from around the Bay in a challenging, but always fun, Melbourne classic.

“A welcome addition to Christmas celebrations, with typically over 100 boats competing, this race reflects the camaraderie of sailors from all clubs and is an important warm up race for those entered in the Melbourne to Hobart race the following day,” said Allen.   

Seven days out from the start of the race, Race Director Simon Dryden is forecasting a fast downwind race noting mainly strong winds from the north, likely turning westerly later in the day as the fleet takes on the sprint from Port Melbourne and heads to the Mornington Yacht Club.

“Early weather predictions may put the 24 year old race record into contention,” said Dryden.

The race record was set in 2000 by Sportscar in a time of 1 hour, 58 minutes and 28 seconds, and with nine Melbourne-based yacht clubs vying for the title, competition is expected to be intense.

Veloce will be looking to back again a Line Honours win at least Photo Michael Currie

While its early days, boats currently looking good for line honours include the light and speedy Scarlet Runner, skippered by Rob Date from Sandringham Yacht Club, while Phil Simpfendorfer will be hoping for a repeat of his 2023 line honours win on the Melges 40, Veloce 4.

While these boats will be quick, race followers should keep an eye on the beautifully appointed and well-sailed Frers 61, MRV, skippered by the experienced Damien King, while Trigger (Rowan Keast) and Fargo (Ari Abrahams), will also be in contention.

A handicap winner is hard to pick at this stage, but those in the know are pointing to Unprecedented as an early favourite with the boat in top form after winning the recent West Offshore Products Coastal Sprint in similar conditions to those forecast for race day.

Her pace downwind coupled with the advantage of an intimate understanding of sailing conditions around the Mornington coastline will make this boat hard to beat.  

The ever reliable J111, Ginan, skippered by Cameron McKenzie and Nigel Jones, will be pushing for the handicap win and will also have the benefit of local knowledge of the often fickle winds experienced in the area as the land warms up and the boats get closer to the Mornington cliffs.

Garry Anderson has already bagged a hat-trick of previous wins with his Beneteau 47.7 Esprit, but with the current forecast, might struggle to net a fourth win.

The Beneteau First 40s, Wicked (Mark Welsh) and Bandit (Ashley Trebilcock) are part of the mid-sized fleet contesting the race with seasoned crew who will run their boats well under the forecast weather conditions.

While it’s a quick race around the coastline of Port Phillip Bay, the Ronstan Cock of the Bay Race is not without its challenges with skippers often ‘rolling the dice’ when choosing whether to stay in close to the shore, hoping for a lift from the hills around Mornington, or to go further out in the Bay to find stronger winds.

“People think the Ronstan Cock of the Bay is an easy race, but it can be quite tactical as the boats move further down the [Port Phillip] Bay if the winds are shifting.” said Dryden.

The 21 nautical mile race starts at 10.30am on Thursday the 26th of December 2024.

Locals and holiday makers can watch the colourful spectacle from several major Bay locations including Port Melbourne, St Kilda Pier, Brighton Pier, Sandringham and Hampton foreshore as the fleet heads towards the Mornington finish.

Crowds will enjoy the spectacle from the shoreline Photo Michael Currie