2024 Melbourne Devonport Race Updates

Line Honours claimed by eXtasea

eXtasea skippered by Dustin Popp has taken Line Honours, completing the 2024 Melbourne to Devonport race at 15:03:34 on Saturday 2nd November 2024.

2pm update, 2 November 

 

Extasea (G10007) is now just 9nm from taking line honours with land in sight! Multihull Peccadillo (S4) is flying home with Scarlet Runner, MRV, and Advantedge not far behind.

 

Winds have been building throughout the day, but with a significant drop predicted at 4pm, handicap honours may well be determined by who can get ahead over the next hour.

Follow the fleet here: https://race.bluewatertracks.com/2024-melbourne-to...

 

Image: Ahoy, there's land in sight Photo Angela on Peccadillo.

Whilst we await the fleet arrival - A link to history

The Frers 61 ‘MRV’, skippered by Damien King with crew member Grant Allen, has a legacy stretching back to 1991, when King and Allen won the Rudder Cup aboard Illusion where the average age was just 19!

 

Fast forward to 2024, and with decades of sailing experience between them, King and Allen are now joined by Henry Allen—a young but highly skilled sailor tackling his first Category 2 race—and Dan Conacher, embarking on his first ocean race.

They must be having an incredible time, competing for line honours and sharing in the mentorship and camaraderie onboard!

 

 From the start of the 2024 Melbourne to Devonport Race MRV Photo: Al Dillon

Introducing the Race Management Team

 

Always ready, monitoring, and alert before and throughout the race, we introduce our on-the-ground Race Management team, who are eagerly awaiting the fleet’s arrival this afternoon and evening.

 

Our team includes David Schuller (Race Director), Catherine North (Assistant Race Director), and Rik Head (Incident Management Lead), who are supported by remote incident team members Jo, Vanessa, and Vanessa. While the boats are being prepared, this team is actively monitoring and supporting the fleet, ensuring everyone’s safety until they return home.

 

David shared, "In addition to the two scheduled skeds this race, we’ve introduced a listening watch, enabling two-way communication and providing an opportunity to relay messages to and from the fleet."

Three cheers for this dedicated team.

 

Head over to the ORCV Instagram or Facebook page to see more updates and video content from competitors.

 

 

L-R Rik Head (back of photo), Catherine North, David Schuller (front)

 

2nd November 2024, 6am update - 93nm to go.

 

 

1st November 2024, 5pm Update – 3 Hours into the Race

4pm On Water Interview

2pm Race Start

They’re away! A beautiful day for racing saw 36 starters take to the line for a 2pm getaway after a couple of late withdrawals due to technical issues.

Follow all the action here: https://race.bluewatertracks.com/2024-melbourne-to-devonport-rudder-cup

 

Enjoy some shots from just prior to the start and head over to our social media pages for more videos and photos.

 

 

Aileron crew just prior to the start Photo Andy Lynch

 

Young guns, sailing royalty and double handers vying for prestigious Rudder Cup

Race analysts are predicting good weather and great sailing for the large fleet competing for the prestigious 2024 Melbourne to Devonport Rudder Cup (the Rudder Cup).

The Ocean Racing Club of Victoria’s (ORCV) Race Officer, David Schuller, is expecting to send the 38-boat fleet on its way from Queenscliff at 2pm on Friday 1 November in a moderate south-westerly breeze of 10 to 15 knots.

The breeze will be on the nose leaving Port Phillip Bay with crews then following the rhumbline as fast and as far as they can before they reach the predicted lighter breezes.

“There may be some light wind areas that the boats will need to avoid in the late hours of Friday night and into Saturday morning, but from about midnight, the wind will be working its way to the northeast and strengthening all the way through Saturday to around 25 knots, it will be great sailing and hopefully a really strong finish into Devonport,” said Schuller.

Advantedge and Ginan Photo Steb Fisher

Tasmania’s Andrew Jones, owner of the Inglis 47 AdvantEDGE, which will be skippered by his son Josh this year, is looking forward to the race but is cautious about his chances with the lull in wind likely to impact their final standing.

“We love hard reaching and hard running, and if we can get an Asail up, we’ll be pretty quick, but it’s not our ideal weather pattern,” said Jones.
Jones predicts strong performances from last year’s line honours winner, the Cookson 50 eXtasea, from the Royal Geelong Yacht Club, which will be skippered once again by Dustin Popp and his young crew, as well as Rob Date’s Scarlet Runner.

“The Cookson 50, eXtasea, will be hard to beat; Chutzpah [Bruce Taylor] is another well-campaigned boat, and Scarlet Runner will be tough competition, they’ve got that boat pretty well tuned up now,” said Jones.

In a fleet of contrasts, young guns are learning the ropes alongside seasoned ocean racing campaigners, national and world record holders, and a global sailing icon, and all are in contention for a win this year.

“I’m confident that our young and strong crew will do well.

“We’ve got Nick Smart doing the navigation, he’s already sent me through the weather models over the last few days, telling me which sails to put on the boat for the trip and the sails to leave behind, while Josh is handy on the wheel, on the mast or up the front, and Nick McElwee is not an Australian NS Champion for nothing,” said Jones.

Last year’s Rudder Cup line honours winner, eXtasea, has been very prominent in the Victorian offshore racing scene having won every offshore race over the past decade, the ORCV Offshore Championship four times, the 100th anniversary of the Rudder Cup, and has had considerable success in the Melbourne to Hobart ‘Westcoaster’ Race.

Extasea at the heads Photo Steb Fisher

Scarlet Runner is certainly coming in hot with the Carkeek 43 heading into the Rudder Cup in top form, fresh from a win in the 2024 ORCV Winter Series and with several other wins at her home club Sandringham Yacht Club, under her belt.
She is light, long, and racy with an all-black hull, specifically designed as a fast 40+ boat, and by all accounts, is truly humming and will be a line honours contender.

The Rudder Cup serves as a lead-up race to several offshore races this season including the Westcoaster, the Sydney to Hobart, and the 2025 Melbourne to Osaka Cup, a race also supported by the ORCV.

Global sailing icon Ken Gourlay OAM has come out of retirement for the double-handed Osaka Cup and will be testing out his newly revamped Adams 16.4 boat, Blue Moon II, with his son Tristan in this year’s Rudder Cup.

Gourlay is the fastest Australian to sail solo, non-stop, and unassisted around the world, raising over $100,000 for medical research along the way, while son Tristan has plenty of sea miles under his belt, sailing with his father from an early age and having competed in the 2018 Osaka race.
“We bought Blue Moon II in December 2023 and have spent eight months doing 15 years of maintenance on her.

“I enjoy sailing with Tristan - I like the comfort of the cockpit while Tristan is happy to be up the sharp end – we have definitely got our defined areas, but I have a lot of respect for Tristan’s sailing, so I am just happy to be along for the ride to support him,” said Gourlay.

While Blue Moon II will enjoy the reaching conditions, she may give some ground to the rest of the fleet as the team hasn’t sailed with spinnakers yet, with the boat only having been back in the water for a month, but local knowledge is always a good thing.

“We cut our teeth in offshore racing in Bass Strait – while we usually sail from the Tamar Yacht Club, Devonport is only 30 miles away, so we are pretty comfortable sailing there,” said Gourlay.

Janet Wilks and Robert D’Arcy are sailing their Northshore 36.9, Foggy Dew, double-handed in their first race together outside of Port Phillip Heads.

“It’s a little scary and daunting, but we have been practising a lot on the boat together - we’ve got a lot of experience and have a really good rapport, and I think we are going to do fantastic!

“We are looking for 10 to 20 knots, but the weather has been changing each time I look and is really hard to predict – I think there’s a bit of a swirl happening in Bass Strait on Saturday so we could get some really variable conditions,” said Wilks.

Yacht rigger Wilks has been keen to try double-handed sailing, and with D’Arcy’s regular partner unavailable, has grabbed this opportunity with both hands.

“Sailing double handed has been on my radar for a while.

“I’ve been lucky to be mentored by Rohan Wood, who sailed Mister Lucky in the Osaka race – he has been talking with me about so many different aspects of double-handed sailing, I just love it,” said Wilks.

Peter Fletcher, a long-time campaigner on the Reichel/Pugh 40, Chutzpah, thinks the team is in with a chance for line honours, with the boat primarily designed as a downwind / reaching boat.

“The race has a few pitfalls, mainly leaving Melbourne with the transition from Port Phillip Bay into Bass Strait being critical to get out into the more traditional breeze to gain distance on the remainder of the fleet, then the approach to Tasmania can also be difficult depending on the time of the day with either land breeze or sea breeze.

“Thankfully, this year the finish should be in daylight so hopefully we will have the sea breeze pushing us in,” said Fletcher.
Other contenders for handicap honours include the experienced crew of the J111, Ginan, under skipper Cameron McKenzie, while the Hick 10, Toecutter, skippered by owner and designer, Robert Hick from the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria, will be quick in the forecast lighter air.

The race record for the Rudder Cup was set in 1998 by Prowler, a 14.3 Elliot Fast Yacht owned and skippered by Joe Westerlo, in a time of 19 hours, 32 minutes and 56 seconds.

While the record is unlikely to be broken this year, if the northerly breezes come in strong, according to Race Officer Schuller, “there is always a chance.”

For more information on Australia’s oldest ocean race, follow the Rudder Cup here on the race tracker

Rush to the start of the Melbourne to Devonport, Photo Christopher Howe

Rudder Cup Glamour Fleet Will Turn Heads In Melbourne To Devonport

The energy and enthusiasm for offshore yacht racing has never been more evident with a large fleet entered in the 2024 Melbourne to Devonport Yacht Race, also known as the Rudder Cup. 

Close to 40 boats will be on the start line of this historic 195 nautical mile yacht race across Bass Strait from Melbourne to Devonport, which is conducted by the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria (ORCV) and the Mersey Yacht Club (MYC) on the north west coast of Tasmania.

The Rudder Cup Perpetual Trophy is awarded to the measurement handicap winner of the race. The race is also part of the ORCV Offshore Championship and is open to yachts fully crewed, 4-plus autohelm, and double-handed.

The race will start from the historic maritime village of Queenscliff, Victoria at 2pm on Friday 1 November with the fleet heading to a finish line at the mouth of the Mersey River in Devonport. 

Race organisers expect plenty of spectators along the shoreline and on the waters of Port Phillip Bay as Melburnians take advantage of the Melbourne Cup long weekend, and if the weather gods deliver a northerly spring breeze for the start, they can expect a spectacular kaleidoscope of colourful kites as the fleet sets off for the Apple Isle.

Thistle unknown source

While the 2024 yachts may look a little different to Thistle, the yawl-rigged yacht that won the first Rudder Cup held in 1907, what hasn’t changed is the collaboration, courage, sea safety and spirit that together form part of the very soul of ocean racing.

The Rudder Cup originated from a collaboration between a ‘leading spirit in the American yachting world’, Thomas Fleming Day, editor and publisher of the maritime magazine, Rudder, and his friend Commodore T A Dickson of the Geelong Yacht Club (GYC).1

Day, a leading American yachtsman with a penchant for cruising and offshore sailing, and an apparent dislike of professional club-based yacht racing, held a deep conviction that amateur sailors were equally capable of safely handling and navigating smaller boats over long distances.2

In 1906, Day founded (and won) the first New York to Bermuda Race, with three boats under 40 feet contesting the 636 nautical mile race, and with a 20-year-old female sailing on the smallest boat, The Gauntlet.3

Buoyed by the success of the Bermuda Race, Day took his efforts further afield to Victoria, and with the support of Dickson, the GYC, local sailors and the Tamar Yacht Club, the Rudder Cup was born. 

Day sponsored the race, and generously donated the magnificent and expensive Rudder Cup, (valued at 60 guineas at the time), for the inaugural race to be sailed from Victoria to northern Tasmania.

The 1907 race was open to cruising-sailing boats under 60-feet of any rig, from any organised yacht club in the Commonwealth.

Four boats lined up on the start line for the first race from Queenscliff to Low Head in Tasmania.

The 48-foot yawl, Thistle, skippered by Edgar Newlands, won the race in a time of one day, 11 hours and 30 minutes.

In an interesting twist, Edgar Newlands’ wife, who was on the winning crew alongside his daughter, hid the Rudder Cup trophy for over 60 years to discourage others from attempting the voyage across Bass Strait, but her efforts were in vain, and despite a gap of a few years between events, the race continues today.4

Fleets start Photo Michael Currie 

Fast forward to 2024 and the Rudder Cup serves as a qualifying or lead-up event for other ocean races including the Melbourne to Hobart ‘Westcoaster’ Yacht Race and Rolex Sydney to Hobart.

Terry Travers, Commodore of the MYC, has confidence in the skills and experience of the fleet as they prepare for the 2024 race.

“Bass Strait can be a daunting stretch of water but what’s so helpful is that the ORCV run educational courses that enable sailors to be well prepared to take on challenges such as the Rudder Cup. 

“We are thrilled to partner with the ORCV to enable this race to occur annually,” said Travers.

This year’s fleet will be chasing the longstanding race record set by Prowler (Joe Westerlo) in 1998 of 19 hours, 32 minutes and 56 seconds, however the long-range forecast is currently predicting a race length of closer to 30 hours.

Joe Westerlo yacht Prowler (Photo crew supplied, source unknown)

The ORCV has made a major contribution to the development and growth of double-handed sailing in Australia which is reflected in the 2024 entry list with six teams sailing the event double-handed and using the race as a lead-up event for the 2025 Melbourne Osaka Cup (Double Handed Yacht Race), a race between the sister cities.

ORCV Commodore and skipper of entrant White Spirit, Cyrus Allen, is sailing the race double handed with Lillian Stewart and is also entered in the Melbourne to Hobart and the 2025 Osaka Race.

“The Melbourne to Devonport is the perfect example of ORCV’s success in fostering amateur sailors to successfully race across Bass Strait and around Tasmania. 

“Our safety and skills development programs, run throughout the year, equip experienced and newer sailors alike with the capabilities to race over longer distances, and we’re seeing a rapid increase in double-handed sailing, with mixed crews and people of all ages,” said Allen. 

Safety at sea is a major focus of the ORCV and promoting a boat-safe culture a priority of the club. The ORCV regularly hosts safety and sea survival courses, keel and full boat inspections, and makes available a vast array of sea safety resources and training opportunities on the water and online for sailors.

The 2024 Rudder Cup has a special place in the hearts and minds of Australian ocean sailors. 

One would like to think that pioneering yachtsman Thomas Fleming Day would also be impressed with the evolution of sailing and the successes of small boats exploring new horizons through deep sea sailing today.

Race preview to come.

You can follow the fleet as they head to Devonport via the race tracker here https://race.bluewatertracks.com/2024-melbourne-to-devonport-rudder-cup

Image 2: Rush by Chris Howe

Image 3: Fleet by Michael Currie

2023 Rudder Cup Photography

Thank You and Prizes

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who contributed to the vibrant memories of the 2023 Melbourne to Devonport Rudder Cup! 

We are grateful to have received hundreds of images from the thrilling moments captured by supporters at the start and finish line to breathtaking drone footage expertly crafted by Tom Hodge Media, professional shots generously donated by Al Dillon, and many delightful skipper and crew snapshots shared throughout the journey. 

The photography over the weekend was nothing short of outstanding, with dolphins and whales dancing in Bass Strait, stunning shots of boats cutting through waves, the infectious spirit of crew shenanigans and camaraderie, and who could forget the magical Aurora Australis!

These memories define the essence of ocean racing and the Rudder Cup. Not only does your participation help strengthen the bonds that tie us together as a club and ocean racing community, but your visual narratives help to inject life and energy into our media page. For this, we are incredibly grateful.

With so many amazing photos, it was too difficult to select just one winner, so we have selected six winners for this round.

Congratulations to the following prize winners:

Australian-Made ORCV Branded Neck Warmer Made from Victorian Merino Wool:

• Tim Metherall
• Christie Hamilton
• Peter Dowdney

Rudder Cup 2023 Red Cap

• Chris Howe
• Belinda Duivenvoorden

2 x 4mm Soft Shackles donated by Sandy Soft Shackles and Rigging (locally made and owned in Victoria)

• Lillian Stewart

We invite everyone to join future WhatsApp photo-sharing groups for races. Keep an eye out on our race reminders pages for the details of these groups as they are created. The next group will be for the West Offshore Product Coastal Sprint Race on 25th November 2023. We look forward to seeing your images!

Dylan at the Helm of Faster Forward by Christie Hamilton