Celebrating 170 years of Ocean Racing

We invite you to be part of the history of the ORCV and join us on the upcoming anniversary races in 2022 and 2023.

Ocean racing is alive in Victoria with three iconic races approaching significant milestones and we invite you to be part of these iconic races.

50th Melbourne to King Island (starts 11th March 2022)
50th Westcoaster - Melbourne to Hobart (starts 27th December 2022)
70th Apollo Bay - (starts May 2023)

Please get behind and support these races by Expressing your Interest in being part of these races here.

Weather Forecast for Race 2 and Women Skipper and Navigators Race

Weather Predictions for Sunday's race - Women Skipper and Navigators Race

For the 16 boats entered in the Women Skipper and Navigators race on Sunday (Blairgowrie to Sandringham), the predictions are starting with a W-NW at the start which will move to the W around the middle of the day before turning SW in the early afternoon. Once again, we will enjoy another great day our racing.

Weather Predictions for Saturday race to Blairgowrie

Looks like Simon is in need of a new beanie. It's going to be a little windy from the West which will make for a fast race and comfortable race if predictions stay good. Pack your ORCV beanies or pick up one in Blairgowrie. 

Instructions on berthing and arrangements at BYS are here

Sailing Instructions and Notice to Competitors here too

ORCV Winter Series sees Rush to the line in light winds 

 ORCV Winter Series kicked off with 45 competitors out on Port Philip enjoying some close racing after the conclusion of the lockdown period last Saturday. It was a race of 17 nautical miles sailed in tricky light-winds where boat speed can make any sailor a tactical genius, and the aim of the game on Saturday was certainly to settle the boat and pick the right sails. 

John Newbold’s Reichel/Pugh 51 'Primitive Cool’ made it home first for Line Honours, mixing old and new crew for a great result after a one-year break from racing.  John Patterson’s Farr 45 ‘Rush’ - finished next to take both the overall and AMS division wins, followed by Gerry Cantwell’s Marten 49, ‘Carrera S’ only a minute behind, picking up first on ORCC. There was some great racing across the entire fleet, with the doublehanded fleet jostling for position and being won by Dan Morrow on 'Affirmative Action’ (11 Metre One Design) in AMS and Richard Ekberg’s Sunfast 3300 ‘Ragnar’ in ORCC. John Strahan took out non-spinnaker division, aboard his Bavaria 44 yacht ‘True Colours’. 

Rush overall winner in the first winter series passage race Photo Dave Hewison

The race course featured a longer leg out to the spoil grounds and back to mark T14, which saw boats who initially led off the line fighting to maintain their lead as the pack behind them carried better breeze across the bay. Gerry Cantwell commented that his Carrera S had a great race with Rush across to the spoil ground and right through to the finish, and that they enjoyed mixing with some fast boats as they look ahead on the racing calendar towards a Hobart, as well as next year’s 50th Anniversary King Island race. John Patterson from Rush also commented that the fleet stretched and then compressed again in the latter half of the race, as boats dodged around holes in the breeze and eroded the lead of those ahead. Overall Rush sailed a great race, making some good ground going upwind on the right hand side of the course, before fighting to keep those gains against the Marten49 whilst chasing hard for Primitive Cool. 

Great racing onboard Carrera S Photo Dave Hewison

Damien King’s Frers 61 Margaret Rintoul V was mixing with the front runners in her first race since moving to Melbourne less than three weeks ago, after a busy week preparing the boat with the help of Simon Dryden and Lowa Paszko. Damien along with four crew worked hard to keep their 20-ton yacht pushing some of the lighter boats in the field, enjoying the chance to power up the boat and get some data to compare against before the arrival of a new suite of sails later in the year. Damien intends to race the boat against many of Saturday’s competitors in this years’ Hobart, crewed by a lifelong group of friends who have grown up together racing cadets, 420s and 470s on the bay. 

Congratulations to all boats and crew who took part in the first race of the ORCV Winter Series; the second race is scheduled for the 3rd of July and will see the steadily growing fleet racing to Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron. Get your entries in now, and find more information here: https://www.orcv.org.au/winter-series 

Top Results:

Overall Winner 1st on AMS Rush (B45), 2nd Carrera S (AUS49005), 3rd Vertigo (R935)
ORCc 1st Carrera S, 2nd Wicked (SM4), 3rd Ragnar (SM33)
PHS 1st Carrera S, 2nd Rush, 3rd Primitive Cool (S777)
DH (AMS) 1st Affirmative Action (AUS216), 2nd Godzilla R111, 3rd PP1 (AUS31)
DH (ORCc) 1st Ragnar(Sm33), 2nd PP1, 3rd Maverick (Sm3600)
DH (PHS) 1st Affirmative Action, 2nd Godzilla, 3rd PP1
Non Spinnaker 1st True Colours (Sm444), 2nd ANA (R94B), 3rd Alliance (Sm4646)
Line Honours Primitive Cool
Full results on this race can be found here https://www.orcv.org.au/results/2020-21/2021MWS/series.htm?ty=10359 

Sam Harrington /ORCV Media

Sailing Captain New - May 2021

In this, my last newsletter before handing over the ORCV Sail Captain role to Rear Commodore Jeremy Walton. I am writing to brief you on a number of developments that will affect skippers and crews in the 2021-22 season.

Keel and Rudder Inspections

In response to increased incidence of keel and rudder failures in recent years, Australian Sailing has introduced a new keel and rudder inspection requirement. The regime calls for an inspection of boats participating in Category 1,2 and 3 races - every two years or after any unintentional grounding.

The inspection must be undertaken by a qualified person, reporting any defects to the owner who is then responsible for undertaking any repairs which may be required.

The regulations (AS 3.02) do not require a written report or certification and should not involve significant additional expense as long as the inspection is organised as part of your annual maintenance regime. A shipwright or other suitably qualified inspector should be able to complete the inspection in 10 - 15 minutes or less.

Addressing the new requirement, the ORCV has amended its “Stability and Construction” declaration form to include confirmation by skippers that the necessary inspections have been undertaken. Further details may be found here.

Inspection is recommended for the 2021 Stanley Race, required for the 2021 Christmas races and is mandatory for all Cat 3 and Cat 2 events from I January 2022.

IRC Handicaps

ORCc handicaps have been successfully introduced by the major Melbourne Clubs, and in recent races have overtaken IRC, with counts as follows.

Coastal Sprint Race 1 - AMS 16 IRC 4 ORCc 0
Coastal Sprint Race 2 - AMS 11 IRC 4 ORCc 4
Coastal Sprint Race 3 - AMS 16 IRC 6 ORCc 9
Apollo Bay - AMS 29 IRC 12 ORCc 15

There are signs that support for IRC is falling rapidly and some of the major Melbourne Clubs are considering withdrawal from IRC racing. This would flow through to our IRC entry numbers raising the possibility of insufficient entries for viable IRC racing.

Skippers are advised to monitor developments at other clubs before renewing their IRC certificates.

Automatic Self Inflating PFD’s

Skippers may be aware of discussion at the Commodore and Club level on whether immersion activated inflation of PFD’s should be introduced on a mandatory basis across Melbourne based clubs.

The ORCV Sailing Committee has considered the issue and decided not to mandate the use of Automatic Self Inflating PFD's.

Satellite Devices, Sat Phones and HF Radio and AIS

The new electronic regulations come into effect from I July 2022 bringing both good and bad news. We will be publishing a guide/review of Satellite Receiver, Satphone and HF Radio options in the near future and the purpose of this note is to give advance notice of the change.

First, AIS will become mandatory for all Category 2 events. It's also well worth the money for both safety and competitive reasons and needs to be on the “to do” list for Cat 2 racers who do not already have fully operational transponders.

Secondly, The ORCV’s current existing dispensation enjoyed for use of Satphones in lieu of HF radios has been withdrawn. Satphones are still permitted but the replacement regulations are a little more onerous including a requirement for including permanently mounted external antenna. Some members using Iridium Go will need to undertake a minor upgrade before their next Cat 2 event and the use of rented satphones, while still possible, will be less convenient.

The new communication options available to skippers come with a range of costs and benefits and the choice of equipment and subscriber services will depend partly on the type and frequency of sailing.

Please note that Sydney – Hobart competitors will still require HF radio in this year’s event. Also where a yacht is equipped with both HF and Satphones, as a matter of administrative convenience, the ORCV requires use of HF for position reporting in its offshore events.

The 2022 Sailing Program

The 2022 Sailing Calendar has now been published and 2022 is shaping up as an exciting year. We will continue to develop the Coastal Sprints and our two destination event Rallies. Supporting the 50th King Island Race festivities, we will bring forward the start of the race to the evening of Friday 11 March and, as part of the lead up to the 50th Westcoaster in December 2022, the Melbourne to Devonport Race will be held on Melbourne Cup long Weekend.

Justin Brenan – ORCV Sailing Captain

ORCV 2021Championships - Progress Report

The ORCV Coastal and Offshore Championship awards will, as usual, be determined by results in the Apollo Bay Race but this year we also have two additional influences – namely the introduction of ORCc and decline of IRC (creating small divisions from which results could be drawn) and the cancellation of one of our scheduled Category 2 Races events due to Covid.

Coastal Sprint Fleet as seen from True Colours

The Coastal Championship

The coastal championship is based on each yacht’s best 4 results from one of the two most popular Measurement Handicap Categories in each of the four Category 3 races. Scoring is based on the Low Point system.  At the end of the Coastal Sprint Series the leading contenders were:-

Tony Hammond in Maverick – 8 points
Mark Welsh in Wicked – 9 points
Gerry Cantwell in Carrera S – 13 Points
David Lynch in Pegasus – 13 Points
John Hall in Wingara – 14 points
Justin Brenan in Alien – 15 points

For the Apollo Bay Race, all scores must be drawn from AMS or ORCc and, as the ORCc Handicap Category is now up to 13 Boats, all skippers are in with a chance.

The Offshore Championship

The scoring system for the offshore championship is designed to recognise differences in fleet size and in the inherent challenge presented by the various races – first place in a race such as King Island thus carries a much higher weighting than a Cat 3 event.
Due to the cancellation of a scheduled Cat 2 event, the minimum number of Cat 2 races required for scoring purposes is reduced from 3 to two.

After 3 races, the leading contender is Peter Davison (PJ) in Arcadia on 42 points scoring 3rd in the King Island Race, 6th Devonport and 4th in Sprint Race 1.

A number of other boats remain in contention, including Josh Thring in Audere with 32 points, but with a clear led of 10 points “PJ’s” consistent performance towards the front end of the fleet should bring home the Championship.

Justin Brenan Sailing Captain