Apollo Bay Race review

What a fantastic race we had in the 2016 Apollo Bay ocean race.  With a stiff north westerly breeze the fleet made short work of the exit from the heads, bearing off into a fast broad reach.  With boat speeds noted on the AIS up to 20K.  Lord Jiminy had a great debut, chasing down Peccadillo who had the advantage of an extra hull.  It was exciting to watch as they battled the gusty reaching into the finish. 

Well done to all, a special mention to Blaise Pascal and Norma Jeane who ocean raced with us for the first time, we hope you enjoyed the race and will compete again next summer.  Results are in, well done to those who achieved a podium position.

Winter isn’t the time to totally give up sailing, come out every second Sunday with the ORCV Winter series, starting the first Sunday in July.  Its fun fast sailing, a mixture of passage racing, triangles and windward/leeward.  The first race we have permission to set off flares, incl rocket flares, which is great training.

Thanks to our volunteers, Simon Dryden (Race Director) and assistants Ray Shaw, Martin Vaughan,  Bruce Reidy and Tracey Reidy.

Apollo Bay Weather Update

What a great time the sailors in this year’s Apollo Bay race are going to have. A cloudy start to the day with a sunny afternoon and a maximum of 21 degrees. The weather looks perfect for those who would like to stop in Apollo bay and enjoy the hospitality.

The Synoptic Situation

A high pressure system is moving across Australia centered to the north of Sydney. This will give us Northwesterly wind across the race course, moving more Westerly on Sunday.

The Race

The fleet will start in 10 to  15 knot Northerlies which will shift more Northwesterly as the day progresses at similar strength. The major different from Wednesday's forecast is the wind skip that existed from Lorne has now reduced so the boats will have the opportunity to sail the rhumb line.

One of the PredictWind models is suggesting that sailing south of the rhumb line could be an option. The PredictWind model suggests that a Beneteau 40 will finish by lunchtime, so the faster boats might have an opportunity to break the race record but the chances are fading unless the wind increases.

So sailors have a great race and your race management team of Martin , Bruce and Simon will be on hand to welcome you into Apollo Bay

2016 Apollo Bay Weather Outlook

Well it looks like the weather God’s are looking after us this weekend. The fleet of 29 yachts are looking at an easy race in warm conditions and if the weather holds there is a chance that Kaos’s 1999 race record of 5 hours and 24 minutes could be broken. The fleet will enjoy a very comfortable run down the bay on Friday night in warm northerlies

Looking at the race forecast we can see from the weather maps that there is a fairly stable weather outlook for the weekend. The Meteye shows a bit of a different outlook to Predictwind as it takes the topography into account, so there will some wind skip, as the fleet approaches Apollo bay. The fleet should have a comfortable reach for the race with the wind forward of the beam so boats with code zeros could shine.

So tacticians watch the weather closely, be wary of Predictwind, and the approach to the finish could tell all.

The Predict wind model below is based on the polars of a Beneteau First 40

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