Planning The Return Trip Home

We are very used to taking all precautions before an ocean race, it is so easy to take a more cavalier approach to the trip back home. History shows that the chance of the unexpected on the return passage is high. Often the crew number and experienced level is less than then race crew so all the more reason for careful planning to ensures a safe and enjoyable passage.

Choosing the route and identifying anchorages along the way depends on the time available, personal preferences and the crew number and experience but needs to be carefully integrated with the weather outlook. Short term weather forecasts are so good these days so there is really no excuse for not being able to pick a suitable weather window for the planned route and then keeping in touch with any changing weather conditions once under way is critical.

Conditions do change and having thought through the various “what if” scenarios is prudent. Crews should realise this in advance, and any ensure that their time constraints do not become a limiting factor for the whole passage. If conditions change (as they so often do!) be prepared to change your plans and enjoy some good anchorage time until conditions are suitable to continue your passage.

Staying in touch with shoere-based connections is very important. Radio (HF and VHF ) are always available and mobile phone coverage is usually available for coastal passages.    

Many ocean sailors consider the race a good opportunity to get to a destination that allows them to chance to enjoy a more pleasurable and relaxing cruise back home. However, careful planning for the passage is key to making this a reality!

Join us on a cruise in company up the West Coast of Tasmania.

The Journey

Leave Hobart at 1pm on the 2nd January leaving the DSS after fuelling up down the D'Entrecasteaux Channel to Kettering of or Woodbridge, Then down to Recherche Bay. Inside Maatsuyker Island to Port Davey up to Melaleuca Inlet.

The next leg is up to Macquarie Harbour to Strahan then up the Gordon River St Johns Falls.

For those looking for a shorter trip home you will go straight to Macquarie Harbour

If you would like to join the cruise please send your phone number to Matt Fahey on 0457 797 675

Ten Boats Set to Smash Race Record in 50^th Anniversary Melbourne to Hobart Yacht Race

The 50^th Anniversary Melbourne to Hobart Yacht Race is set to be one of the most memorable in history with the weather gods sending a late Christmas gift to the fleet, a swift sail to Hobart and potential entry into the race record books.

An updated weather forecast is now showing two previously distinct weather models aligning, presenting the fleet with a solid 30 knot downwind run to Hobart.

Race officials from the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria (ORCV) are now predicting that as many as 10 yachts could beat the current race record of 1 day 17 hour 28 minutes and 59 seconds set by Matthew Short on Shortwave in 2008.

After a spinnaker start in light breeze the weather gurus are expecting the wind to build strongly from the north setting the fleet up for a drag race down the West Coast of Tasmania and across the bottom of Tasmania.

Larger yachts such as Damien King’s Frers 61, MRV, Antony Waltons’s Reichel/Pugh 46, Hartbreaker, Paul Buchholz’s Cookson 50, Extasea and Andrew Jones’s Inglis 47, AdvantEDGE are expected to be the front runners with a projected finishing time of 9pm on Wednesday the 28^th of December.

Race contender Audacious will be looking forward to a swift sail to Hobart in the 50th Anniversary Melbourne to Hobart Yacht Race 2022 Photo credit Richard Bennett

This equates to a race time of 1 day and 9 hours, smashing the race record by more than eight hours.

But the big boats may find they are fighting it out with several of the smaller and lighter teams which will revel in the downwind conditions. Look out for Rob Date’s new Carkeek 43, Scarlet Runner, Brent McKay’s Bakewell-White Z39, Jazz Player, and even sub-40 footers such as Ian Snape’s Cookson 12, Salient.

Maritimo 54 has two races on her hands with skipper Michael Spies racing the Schumacher 54 day and night from the Gold Coast to Melbourne to make the Portsea Pier start line on time, and if she does make it, the late comer will also be in strong contention.

Patriot will be hoping their teamwork and tactics will give them the edge in the 50th Anniversary Melbourne to Hobart Yacht Race 2022 Image Michael Currie

The 435 nautical mile Melbourne to Hobart Yacht Race, organised by the ORCV with the cooperation of the Derwent Sailing Squadron, starts off Portsea Pier at 12pm on 27 December.

For Entry, Notice of Race and List of Entries, please visit: www.orcv.org.au

Jane Austin/ORCV media

RPAYC launches Australian Ocean Racing Championship

Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club (RPAYC) has launched the new Australian Ocean Racing Championship (AORC) today, an annual event that will be inaugurated with the Bunbury and Return Ocean Race (Western Australian) in February 2023 and conclude with the Rolex Sydney Hobart and Melbourne to Hobart yacht races at the end of 2023.

The Championship is the brainchild of Tony Ellis, a yachtsman who holds the record for racing in the most Sydney Hobarts (53) and who has competed overseas at the America’s, Admiral’s, Kenwood and Congressional Cups with success in all.

The NSW yachtsman felt a need to bring offshore racing enthusiasts from around Australia and New Zealand together in a series based on the classic offshore race courses around the country. The series will decide the Australian Offshore Champion each year.

“I talked through the idea with a few yacht clubs and they were enthusiastic, so here we are, ready to go,” a pleased Ellis said.

Early discussions were held with RPAYC, the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria and Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club. It was resolved by all parties that RPAYC be appointed Organising Authority for the AORC and that Nick Elliott, RPAYC Race Director, would oversee the running of the Championship.

The Championship encompasses events stemming from every state of Australia and comprises 20 major ocean races (see schedule below).

Elliott says, “We’ve had broad discussions over the past six months, including on the structure and what races the Championship should consist of. I think we’ve produced a formula that allows racing yachts from Australia and New Zealand the opportunity to take part.”

The rationale behind the AORC is to encourage diversity of both race courses and competition. It is designed to give yacht owners around the country as much flexibility to race and enjoy their yachts while participating in a first of its kind major competition.

Results from the races will be brought together under the Notice of Series and an annual prize giving will be held each January.

Race organisers wishing to nominate race(s) within their area/region/state shall submit the details of the race to the Organising Authority for consideration prior to 1 December, 2022.

The schedule will be revised from time to time to take into consideration new races that are added to the calendar in coming years.

Start of the Melbourne to Hobart 

Scoring

The Cox Sprague High Point Scoring System CSHPSS shall be used.  A boat's position in the overall results under the primary rating system of each race (IRC, ORC or AMS), after any penalties, shall be applied to the CSHPSS.  

Yachts entering any of the nominated races are automatically entered in the Championship, meaning no work for yacht owners or their representatives. Results will be taken from each race and tabled by Nick Elliott.

SCHEDULE OF RACES 2023

For further information on the AORC, please contact Nick Elliott: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.or phone him at: (02) 9998 3704

Finally, it's ready

At the last General Committee meeting of the year, we gathered to "bless" the van befor it departed for Hobart.  In honour of Angus, Holly Fletcher joined us to unveil and christen the van.

It’s hard to imagine that the appetites of a very large and wooly Bouvier dog called Sam were the origin of the first dedicated ORCV van. Well, back in the early 90’s - as many of you will know – race communications were done from the back of a loaned CUB van. Happy to have the additional weekend advertising, CUB (where Louise McKenzie worked) let our then Commodore Ian McKenzie and the crew borrow the van – into which they would throw a box of communications gear to keep in touch with the fleet.

The van would start the race off the Portsea Pier and then head to Arthurs Seat or to Angus & Holly Fletcher’s Flinders property for the race duration.

It turns out that wooly friend Sam liked to sleep in the van while Ian managed communications. Around 2004, early one morning Sam took a liking to the cables – chewing through them – and prompting Ian to wake Holly at 6am to see if Angus had a soldering iron....for a makeshift repair in time for the next radio sked.

Returning from sailing Angus said “we need to do better than this” - and together with Ian set about to find, fit out and prepare what came to be known simply as “ORCV” - our first dedicated race communications van.

Both former Commodores, and sadly no longer with us, Ian and Angus hatched the concept, purchased and old ambulance for 14 grand and fitted it out with the radio gear they had been using in the CUB van.

Ian & Angus spent hours on the original ORCV Van fitting it out

Used extensively across the racing program, ORCV travelled to Tasmania each year and even got to King Island. It became the ‘home base’ for Race Directors waiting for boats to come in, giving them somewhere to sit out of the elements and do their work. Doubling as a transport vehicle for all the SSS courses, and a training vehicle for practical radio sessions, ORCV became a familiar site at many Club events.

Sadly, in April 2022 ORCV was used as a getaway vehicle - ladened with tools and materials from our Neighbour tenant - and later found at the back of Point Cook – totally burnt out. We’ve all seen the photos and I think at the time were both angered and shocked that our beloved van had met such an end.

However, as often happens, great things arise out of tragedy. Inspired by the many messages of support, the decision was made to “renew ORCV” and the fundraising campaign idea was hatched. After two months of campaigning, the overwhelming generosity of members, partner clubs and organisations, combined with the small insurance payout were enough to purchase a new van.

Then the real work began, to take an ordinary – but very nice! - van and turn it into what Grant regularly describes as “a vehicle fit for a super yacht!”.

When you see the van it looks simple – but there were a great many volunteer hours spent on making sure it was neat and tidy, looks great and is super functional.

And there was a lot to do for the new van was still merely an empty metal shell.

• Firstly there was a trip to Gosford to fit the lining, install rotating front seats, add an awning and the seats that turn into beds along with cabinets for our gear.
• Next was designing the fit out of the radios. Rik Head and Grant took on the radio gear selection, while the fit out was done by Leeton Hulley and his apprentice Callum.
• A table was made and assembled, and lithium ion batteries were installed thanks to BMPro.
• Grant even developed a few new Cad Design skills, 3D printing parts for HF radio collars, holders, and panel backs.
• And lastly, the van needed to be design (thank you Tim Godbert) and wrapped with a finish incorporating some great racing photos by Steb Fisher.
• We need to also thank Ray who will be providing a home and watchful eye over the van when it’s not in race mode too.

In the van is a plague of the names of all those who donated time or cash to make this happen. I’d like to read them out now to acknowledge our generous donors and the support of our amazing sailing community.

Test run done.  Photo ORCV

Donations over $5,000

Grant & Delma Dunoon, David & Elizabeth Findlay, Stuart Richardson, Sandringham Yacht Club, Holly Fletcher (in memory of Angus Fletcher), Glenn & Madison Fitzgerald (Glen paid for the van to be wrapped)

Donations of $1,000 to $4,999

Mersey Pharmacy, APS Foundation, Lisa Hennessy, Brian Pattinson, Steven Fahey, Charles Meredith, Peter Little, Philip Mclean, Bernard & Sarah Allard, Ronstan, Martha Cove Yacht Squadron

Donations Up to $999

Tim Boucaut, Greg Clinnick, Sinjen, William Potter, MB Drive School, David Helmore, Richard Beale , Lawrence Ford, Alex Macnaughtan, Neil Hawker, Harry Leggett, Richard Finney , Richard Beale, Adam Manders, Rosie Colahan, David James, In Systems Pty Ltd, Niesje Hees, Wendall Raven, David Sturge, Hugh Halliburton, , Amanda Lithgow, Industrial Diesel & Controls P/L, Robert Coco, Mancon Projects P/L, Luke McGregor, Aidan Geysen, Leo Cantwell, Antony Perri, Geoff Onions, Ben Frecheville, Catherine North, Tony Walton, Greg Winnett, Gus Dawson, Stuart Johnson, Gerry Cantwell, John Kint, Andrew Roche, , Mark Welsh, Acacia Consulting Services, James Heywood & Vanessa Twigg, Swanson Surveying, Barry Grogan, Damien King, Ann & Anthony beck, , Terry Van Iersel, Mark Cunnington, Jeff Sloan, Joanne Harpur, Richard Wolf, Fresh Aesthetics for Life, , Outdoor Living Direct Pty Ltd, Elique Douady, Andrew McConchie, Jason Close, Nicholas Brown, BR&SM Webber Pty Ltd, Peter Dowdney, Roman Machefer, Marinus van Onselen, Insight Building & Design, Andrew Lynch

Donations in Kind and Time

Rik Head, Ray Shaw, Simon Dryden, Tim Godbert, Don Fraser, Leeton Hulley, Calin MacLennan, Dennis Hambleton, Steb Fisher, BMPro,Grant Dunoon.

I invite you next time you see the van out there at a race, drop in and take a look please.  

Thank you again for your generosity!

How Good is your VHF Radio/AIS Installation?

1. Background

VHF radio has traditionally been thought of primarily as a means of communication for club racing due to its shorter range compared to HF radio. However, with the advent of repeater networks and significantly improved coastal networks, the role of VHF radio for coastal sailing has greatly increased. Likewise, AIS has become an indispensable tool for off-shore sailing. Proper installation and maintenance of both VHF radio and AIS systems is key to being able to fully realise the significant benefits of these technologies.

2. Underlying Technology

Marine VHF radio and AIS operate in the very high frequency radio band with VHF radio broadcasting at 156-157 MHz and AIS at 162 MHz. These frequencies correspond to wavelengths of about 2 meters, so the antennas are typically 0.5-2 metres in length. The propagation of these frequencies is essentially line of sight which means that the range of transmission and reception is critically dependant on the height of both the transmitting and receiving antenna above the ground, the higher the antennas the better. The important characteristic of both VHF radio and AIS is that, in addition to the basic RF frequency, the transmitter is able encode information onto the underlying RF frequency (voice information in the case of VHF radio and navigational information in the case of AIS) and then receiving stations are then able to decode, or interpret, this information.

Marine VHF radios have a maximum transmission power of 25 Watts which means at full transmission, they require something like 5 A of current, while more like 0.5A in standby mode.

AIS comes in two flavours; Class A and Class B. Class A, used by the larger ships, is able to transmit at higher power (12.5W) and has a higher priority than class B (2W power, average current of about 0.2A). They do this by communicating with all other nearby AIS systems the time when they will be transmitting and so “reserve” a time slot in which to transmit which other nearby AIS systems cannot override. Class B systems, typically used by racing yachts, have to “negotiate” to find a time slot to transmit that has not been “reserved” by the higher priority Class A systems in the area.

3. System Components

VHF radio and AIS systems can be broken down into three basic components:

• the electronics
• the antenna
• the interconnecting cables and connectors

Let’s look at each of these components in turn.

A. The electronics

The electronics of VHF radio and AIS are incredibly reliable and very rarely are the cause of poor system performance. They are usually housed in the navigation table area where hopefully the possibility of water ingress is very low. Power requirements are low, so battery power is usually not problematic but ensuring clean connections is still good housekeeping.

B. Antennas

The key objective of any antenna is that it be capable of transmitting into the atmosphere, all of the power sent to it by the transmitter. To do this, the antenna needs to be tuned to the frequency of interest and electrically matched to the transmitter and cabling. If either of these conditions are not met, the transmitted power will be lower with consequent reduction in range. There are ample commercial antennas that work well for both VHF radio and AIS.

When both VHF radio and AIS are involved, it is possible to use the same antenna for both functions using a device called a splitter to share the antenna but there are some aspects to consider. Firstly, a splitter, being an active electronic device is a potential point of failure so thinking about how one might provide VHF/AIS capability in that event is important. Secondly, antennas tuned well for VHF radio may not work optimally for AIS as the higher AIS frequency may well be on the edge of their tuning range with a resulting loss in performance. It is simple task for a radio specialst to test the tuning range of a given antenna. One advantage of using a single, presumably masthead antenna, is the extra range due to the height of the antenna. Another point to keep in mind is that the Australian Sailing Special Regulations require that a boat must be able to maintain all communication modalities (HF radio if being used, VHF radio and AIS) in the event of dismasting. So, one needs to carefully think through the antenna configuration both with regard to overall performance and redundancy.

B. Cable and Connections

Cables for VHF radio and AIS come in various sizes and levels of performance. The most common, and cheapest, 5mm diameter cable used for VHF radios, over a run of say 15 meters, can lose up to half of the power available from the transmitter, even when perfectly installed. There are some higher performing, more expensive, 5mm cables and even better thicker cables but they are heavier and racing sailors are always concerned about weight aloft so the bottom line is, don’t skimp on the choice of cable because you get what you pay for!

Invariably, a VHF radio (same comments apply to AIS) involves a number of connections; one at the radio itself, often one at the base of the mast (to allow for easy mast removal) and one at the masthead to the antenna. The bane of VHF/AIS performance is water getting into the connectors and cable. The water ingress and subsequent corrosion acts as big sponge to the RF power, all of it going into just heating the cable and less of it radiating out into space where we actually want it!  Make sure all of the connections (the one at the radio should not be a problem) are well protected by amalgamating tape (amalgamating tape is a rubbery tape that when stretched and wound tightly around a connector, bonds to itself and prevents the ingress of water into the connection) to prevent water getting into the connector/cable. For any connector at the mast base, not only tape it up well but support it in a way that it cannot fall into a wet bilge! These steps are very important!

4. Testing

A very good way to test an overall VHF radio is, on Port Phillip, to set the radio to VHF 82 (Arthurs Seat Repeater), low power (1W), international mode, set the squelch to the minimum to remove background noise, and then press the microphone transmit button to send a signal to the repeater and then release the button. If everything is working well, you should hear a splash of noise coming back confirming that the repeater has “heard” your transmission and is replying. One should be able to do the same sort of test using an AIS antenna though it may not work quite as well at the higher frequency. This test does not test everything in the VHF radio system but it does check for the most common faults.

Another problem that has come to light in recent times is the potential for LED lighting to interfere with VHF/AIS performance due to them radiating undesirable signals. The VHF radio can detect this interference and if strong enough, will reduce the sensitivity of the radio making it unable to detect the weaker signals from distant yachts and only the very strong signals from nearby yachts. The best way to see if this is a problem on your boat is, with all boat lights off, to set your VHF radio to a quiet channel, lower the squelch button until you just hear noise and then raise it until it just stops. Turn on your boat lights and if you hear the radio noise again, you have an LED interference problem which needs to be fixed!

5. Monitoring VHF Radio

The Australian Sailing Special Regulations and all ORCV Notices of Race require yachts to monitor VHF Channel 16 at all times. When sailing off-shore, your most likely source of assistance in an emergency will be from a nearby yacht and VHF radio will be the preferred means of communication. This can only happen if the radio is switched on and can be heard! VHF radios consume very low power and when set up correctly (squelch level set carefully etc.) they are quite unobtrusive. It is critical that the radio be audible under all sailing conditions. Most VHF radios allow for an external speaker that will typically be mounted in the cockpit area. The choice of speaker and its location are all key to ensuring that the radio can he be heard under all sailing conditions. Most speakers have magnets in them so be mindful of possible compass effects. It is the skipper’s responsibility to ensure the radio can always be heard and keep in mind that it might actually be your boat asking for help!