2018 Melbourne To Port Fairy Race
Simon Dryden, PRO for the Osaka race and backup Race Director for the Port Fairy race, has produced a good summary of the weather situation for us on YouTube at:
As he observes, the models are coming into alignment now, with minor variations. The weather is influenced by the leading edge of an approaching high but it looks like it won't have any major influence on the race area except a general lightening of the wind towards the end of the race. Winds will initially be from the NW, swinging SW around mid-morning. There is a bit of divergence between models when it comes to the wind direction with some showing the swing from WNW to WSW, especially further out at sea. There may be a little rain about the same time but this should clear up fairly quickly.
Wind strengths are forecast to be fairly constant, mostly between 8-20 knots. So a good breeze for sailing.
The picture shows the current weather routing for the race using the four models described by Simon in the video. The position shown is as predicted for the first position sked.
Basically, we are looking for a finish between 1930 and 2200 on the Friday night.
While we will be conducting Sign On and Position skeds using the VHF Repeaters (82, then 80), you should be aware that there is now a 24 x 7 coastal VHF network run by Kordia and monitoring VHF Channels 16, 67 and 70. It is good to about 40 nm out to sea. If you find yourself in need of assistance please use this network.
Finally, we have traditionally used the Port Fairy race to help raise money for the Royal Children's Hospital Appeal. At the second Position sked, 1205, we will be asking each yacht for a pledge to the appeal. Crews should have a chat amongst themselves to decide what they want to donate.
