ORCV Melbourne to Port Fairy

(M2PF as part of the MMOC)

Snapperazzi.

Here's some pics of our winner, Extasea, who were just seven minutes outside the old, old, old record of Quasimodo set in the early 80's. 14:26:20 was the time to beat and they were 14:33:04. Dooh!

Extasea approaches the line under kite. Must have been doing 11knots or so...

It was getting quite artsy out there...

And the kite came down for the quick hitch up to port to put the nose over the line and take the prize. May have done enough to get the IRC prize too.

The next pair in were Ninety Seven, on the left and Chikara Outlaw on the right, who ended up just one minute and some 15 seconds behind their opposition. In ocean racing, this is like the photo finish at Flemington! Please excuse the graininess - this was shot in the dark...

Now the Artsy word came out just a couple of shots ago and so that sounds like a marvellous segue into the next series of shots, taken as the light sunk very low indeed. It last had its first outing at the inaugural M2G last year in Artsy Fartsy and then popped up in Rear Window from the recent M2KI - see HERE for the reminder on that.

Extasea had finished and was just waiting for the very helpful PF Rescue vessel to take a couple of souls off, before returning back to Geelong. The other vessel is Ocean Safari, who have been with us to Geelong last year at the end of the MWS.

Open up.

A little more shazam.

Beaming in to the finish. Litterally.

As we go to air, at 2145hrs, 2/4/10, the finishing order is Extasea, Ninety Seven, Chikara Outlaw, Running Wild, Addiction, Beyond Outrageous, The Secretary, Geomatic Joker, Yoko, Bacardi and finally Alien at 21:33:36.

To see where the boats are, please click HERE and to see the standings, click HERE.

By John Curnow

ORCV Melbourne to Port Fairy

(M2PF as part of the MMOC)

Oscars.

Coming live to you from 'downtown', yet incredibly delightful Port Fairy, is the ORCV's penultimate race of the 2009/10 offshore season.

This is the Centurion (Black Amex) row at Port Fairy.

This is us, however. Better view (we're right next door to the Port Fairy SLSC)

And so then. On to the other important stuff. Drum roll please!

The winner is?

Extasea. They have just radioed in to say they are approximately 30 minutes out, which will bring them in at 1900hrs, give or take a few minutes of change. Great effort.

Ninety Seven and Chikara Outlaw are fighting it out right now, about an hour behind them. The Secretary, Bacardi and Yoko are also securing places on the various scoreboards. The Secretary are in 15 knots coming from 169 degrees and Spirit of Freya have delayed dinner as well. This appears to be due primarily to the swells that have made it a little bit like a washing machine for them, as they have ventured down the Surfcoast. They are in 12 knots out of the South, with chop on top of the swell. At least it is all now going in a similar direction to their destination here at the mouth of the Moyne River.

The very famous and easy to take in boardwalk that Port Fairy is famous for.

Boats just bobbing around and a drop of sunshine to add marvellous highlights everywhere.

To see where the boats are, please click HERE and to see the standings, click HERE.

By John Curnow

ORCV Melbourne to Port Fairy

(M2PF as part of the MMOC)

Royal Children's Hospital Good Friday Appeal.

A total of $1500 has been pledged by the crews competing in the annual M2PF. Well done. It's a bit of a tradition for the annual Easter race, much like how the Boxing Day Test scores get broadcast after the radio skeds, during the races heading South in Summer. The Good Friday Appeal has now become so widely accepted that the Telethon is broadcast into other States and the funds raised do ensure the staff can continue to provide the level of care needed to very sick children and offer support to their families at this very sad time.

There is more breeze out there now in Bass Strait and the leader, Extasea, has completed just over 50% of the race. She is SSE winds of 15 to 19 knots and doing around nine and half knots across the water. Extasea are nine miles ahead of Ninety Seven, then there's Running Wild, Chikara Outlaw and The Secretary, who are a little over 12 nautical miles astern. The latter are clearly relishing the brisker breezes, which will allow her to utilise her displacement to charge along. Her crew will be enjoying a marvellous ride.

Extasea racing at Geelong earlier this year. Pic © Steb Fisher.

Extasea are presently enjoying a clean sweep of the board, with Line Honours, IRC, AMS and PHS leads. The Secretary is close on their heels in a couple of these divisions, as well. The Bus, aka Bacardi, is second on IRC, so perhaps those conditions out there are stronger than thought, allowing the older and heavier boats to push a bit of water out of their way.

The last boat presently is Spirit of Freya. The contender for My Galley Rules has "... delayed lunch due to the conditions!" So the skipper there clearly determined to have all souls on the rail. Just one and half miles ahead of her is local Port Fairy entrant, Chikara.

To see where the boats are, please click HERE and to see the standings, click HERE.

By John Curnow

ORCV Melbourne to Port Fairy (M2PF)

Spot me a Twenty?

You know I'm good for it. I'll even give you change... You see our mates at Tidetech have got a cracking deal. Two days for $19.00, seven days for just $37.00!

The detailed model, which was first released by oceanographic data specialists Tidetech for the Tassie Trio events at the end of 2009, with 2 nautical mile resolution and is available in 30 minute time steps. The image below demonstrates the detail of the data and highlights the benefit of knowing the direction and strength of the tides on the course to Port Fairy.

The Bass Strait Tidal Model has been produced by internationally recognised Oceanographer and Tidetech Director, Dr Roger Proctor. Roger was previously the tidal consultant to the UK Olympic Sailing team, where he developed advanced tidal models for Quingdao, Busan, Barcelona, Sydney and Atlanta. A senior scientist with the world leading, Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory, he helped develop the UK storm surge forecasting system and more recently, he developed the first tidal model for the Whitsundays in 2009.

The model is a fantastic new tool for yachts competing in the Melbourne to Port Fairy yacht race and other Bass Strait events. Used in conjunction with Tidetech’s Ocean Current products, competitors can sail the race courses with oceanographic data at their fingertips.

Competitors who subscribe to Tidetech can access:

• Ocean Current data from CSIRO.
• Sea Surface Temperature data from CSIRO.
• Bass Strait Tidal Stream Model - 2nm resolution 30 minute time intervals
• Tidetech presents its data in GRIB format which is compatible with the following navigation software:
• Expedition
• Maxsea
• Adrena
• Deckman (current only).

Users can also download our Free Viewer, for an easy method of accessing the files.

Tidetech is interfaced with Expedition, which means you can now download data from Tidetech, directly into the software. Tidetech is also a licensed Expedition dealer, so you can also contact us to purchase a full version of Expedition Navigation software. The cost of Subscription to Tidetech is:

Visit www.tidetech.org to subscribe before the M2PF race or contact them on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Now that's gotta be QED.

By John Curnow