ORCV Melbourne to Geelong (M2G)

Let's get this party started.

In order to get to the party at our friends down at RGYC, we first had to get started. Here then are some of Steb's pics from milling around beforehand and the guns that got us all underway.

And so, if you're going to have a party, why not invite some big name guests?

Here, Independent Endeavour and Caledonia swing past in front of the CBD.

Lovely.

A bit closer in.

And a bit closer in, again. Hello to Malcolm Mohr.

Magic and Jazz Player

Racing Division were going to be first off and everyone was in for the jostle. 42 on the line.

Yes. That is the pin in the foreground.

Somebody a little too aggressive in their positioning...

Ninety Seven also looking to wash a bit of speed off.

Mission accomplished for them.

Yes. There were quite a number late for the racing start, but that is one of the cruisers making her way to the next start.

Running out of track and that is eXtasea's bow appearing stage right.

Up! (Please).

Bow coming to Starboard.

Looks like around two lengths too early. Still. Better than four minutes late!

eXtasea now looking for a new gap.

Peregrine with the best gap of all...

You can see how much more of Jazz Player is exposed, as eXtasea have slowed up.

Ninety Seven starting to put some way on.

Start boat well visible and The Finger with plenty of Larry...

If we zoomed in, I bet you could see Leith's hand on the bow of Goldie pointing down...

Yep. Bow down again...

Well down.

Screwing back up to windward now.

Calm, with new prodder, takes off!

Peregrine with the Gucci start. Front row. YeeHaa.

I'm pretty sure it was Halcyon all the way down to the pin end...

If you're gold it's not good, but if you're white, this is a great image...

If it is Halcyon, then Chris Tucker has to buy this image. i don't remember them having sexy North Sails, so it must be Wicked, in which case Mark Welsh has to cough up.

Audacious, eXtasea and Chutzpah38 to windward. Now this really is Australian Crawl, hence hero pic status.

Ninety Seven getting squeezed out the back here.

Mille Sabords, Beyond Outrageous and The Bookmaker begin their journey.

The second row were glad the big end of town left, so they could get some breeze of their own. Upbeat, Stampede, Rogue Trader, Schüss and Magazan53 in this lot.

Nice start by Magazan, who are now disappearing, stage left.

It was at about the same time as the boats above got underway that Goldfinger had found clear room to turn and begin again...

When you're big and gold, you cannot hide and so they responded to their individual recall.

Oh dear. It never feels too good when they're all going the one way - and you're not. Still. On the positive side, Robin and Yoko are just about to begin and there's one even further back from that and they too suffer from the no hiding problem!

In Cruising, we have a far more orderly line. Out left it is Valiant and Tresor. The centre is Biddy Hu II with The Sav in behind and Escapade off on stage right.

The Sav, wound up now and coming through...

Red Rocks in on stage right behind Escapade.

Magic on the left, then Cadence, PYT and most likely, Ocean Safari.

IE (no, not the microsnot version) now appearing over on the right. Not sure who far right is....

IE (no, not the Latin for 'it is') - lovely bow wave.

Would you? OK, OK...

The full MWS results are HERE.

 

© 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.
Many thanks to John Kint, Brian Case, Dianne Rose and the many, many helpers at RGYC for making it such a great place for us to get to.		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.