ORCV Melbourne to Geelong (M2G)

Ecky and Bucky.

Tony Bull from Ullman Sails Geelong thought they had a bit of luck in their recent win, but as history is their judge, Team Ecky (eXtasea), which is Skippered by Paul Buchholz (Bucky) are always in the mix for every event they enter. Here's Tony's M2G report: -

Naturally all the crew of eXtasea were wrapped to win the IRC division of the ORCV's 2010 Melbourne Winter Series. We went into the final race 4.5 points behind Wicked and a lot of things had to fall into place for us to overhaul this lead - and they did. The stars were in alignment!

It must be said that Wicked were desperately unlucky to lose, the format of having the final race as a standalone event meant they could not drop their worst result. If they could have done so, they would have won, as they had a remarkably consistent series up to that point. Another thing that favoured us was the race panned out as one that where the leading boats kept sailing into the fresher winds and extending their lead over the smaller vessels. Lastly the DK46 is a great boat, but if it does have a weakness, it is sailing with the wind on the beam or ¾ reaching. It is a rare thing to have a passage race with predominantly square running, beating or just slightly cracked for most of the legs. So everything fell into place and the guys and gals on Team Ecky sailed very well to take advantage.

Team Ecky, as seen out on the water.

As for the race itself, we had a good start, but after a small altercation with Goldfinger, we ended a little further down the line than we would have liked, which meant we had to wait to get onto the right and favoured side of the course. We got to the first gate behind Calm and XLR8 and after a pretty messy spinnaker set, settled down for the long run in to the Carrum Bight. By the time we got to the mark, we were still not far ahead of Jazz Player and the other assorted 40somethings. Following this, we had a long beat out to P2 and this is where Calm really took off. We watched her distinctly coloured mainsail get smaller and smaller, until it was blip on the horizon. A quick whiz around on the Internet showed Point Wilson and the western shore had the breeze backing into the west, so we dug that way, which stood us in good stead. On this leg we were able to shake off the Colts a bit, but the persistent Jazz Player was hanging on. Rounding P2 it was off to Geelong and after a brief and unsuccessful try of the Code 0, we settled down. This was the leg where we did well, as we sailed into a freshening head breeze and we could see the masts behind us as near as vertical, as the Colts struggled through lighter patches. Rounding the Point Richards Channel Mark and sailing up outer Corio Bay, the flat water and quickly shifting breeze had a familiar feel as we closed on our home port.

Upon finishing it was great to get to RGYC and see the earlier arrivals from the other fleets already enjoying the convivial atmosphere on the front lawn. A few frothies went down well and then the news came through we had taken out the series, hurray!

With thanks to Teri Dodds for the use of this image.

Congratulations to Paul Buchholz and his crew. Bucky is one of the really nice guys and a keen supporter of all ORCV racing. His success lies in his meticulously prepared and maintained boats. Over the journey of his several eXtaseas, he has mentored probably 40-50 young sailors and this latest crew is no exception. It has a large contingent of young sailors, not only onboard, but in important positions. They are good bunch, apart from a few dubious social traits? But then that’s all well after my bedtime.

Well done guys! It was a pleasure to sail with you and a real joy to give Bucky a bit more congestion in his bulging trophy cabinet.

Congratulations to ORCV and in particular the website updates by John and Steb etc. I even get emails from overseas complimenting the all-inclusive nature of the coverage.

Here's Tony Bull - our author with ORCV Vice Commodore, Don Fraser.

Aw schucks Dool - but thanks!

Yep! You guessed it... There's more in it somewhere...

© John Curnow, ORCV Media

Please contact me for re-issue rights.

	The Colts (Sydney 38s) are having their own fight within the battle - many thanks to Ullman Sails for providing the prize.
We'll be seeing the team at Geelong, pretty soon indeed.		Thank you to Monica Tonner and Richard Hunter from SYC for ensuring Steb had a ride and we, therefore, have all that imagery, which just seems to go down an absolute treat.
	It is with thanks to our friends at PredictWind that we've been able to supply such detailled information throughout the entire 2010 MWS.