ORCV Melbourne to Vanuatu (M2V)

Das Kleine Krokodil.

Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron. Great hosts and very helpful. Thanks to Barry Fitzpatrick, Gerard Clarke, Danny and Ryan Sergeant (who got us a speedy little vessel to play with), we have two © Teri Dodds pics of the first boat out of Port Phillip Heads, just to begin proceedings with.

BTW, the title is all about the small crocodile - snap, snap, snappy - go deep or cheat and go HERE.

By John Curnow

ORCV Melbourne to Vanuatu (M2V)

They're off.

Yep. 10 miles down and just a mere 1875nm to go! WooHoo.

The two Jenneaus - Mirrabooka B429, who won the start and Ingenue (in front of orange flag on start boat), who was OCS. Scarlet Runner and the 51st Project charge into the line.

It was all smiles as the crews got underway from the Portsea Pier today. I did also notice a few tears on the Pier itself, however. There were two really sensational things that occurred during the pre-start today. The first was that all boats did a sail past to say good bye to their family and friends. The second was the number of people who had heard the broadcasts on ABC Radio and made their way down to the pier, to see these grand adventurers off.

One Gentleman from Rosebud told my Holly, who had decided to be on the quay, that "He thought the whole thing sounded great and would love to come down and watch it." He wasn't so happy when he found out that Holly had chosen not to be on the start boat. His jaw dropped in envy and said, "Why not? That would be fantastic!"

Unfortunately for Ingenue they were OCS and had the only individual recall of the day. That meant they were tenth out the Heads, but both Rosie and David have done this all before and were not perturbed, when we see goodbye to them out in Bass Strait, adjacent to Portsea back beach. Leading out the heads in the under 10knot Sou'wester was race favourite, Scarlet Runner. They would have been event further ahead, had it not been for a long patch of time sorting out their code zero. Second out was Samskara and then TevakeII.

Both Steb Fisher and Teri Dodds were out there, so we'll have an array of images shortly. MWS intel from the other end of the Bay to come, as well...

By John Curnow

ORCV Melbourne to Vanuatu (M2V)

More Four - Thanks Karen.

You can have Jeremy back for a little while.

Are you confused out there? Don't be. Four appeared on the site back on June 8 and if you go back there, it will explain a lot. However, the quick encapsulation was that it would be four days henceforth when Karen would in fact marry Countdown Jeremy. Below are the pics to prove it all. We have the shooter, Melissa Prior from Mount Gambier to thank for the images and the ability to run them here on the site. Cheers Melissa.

Now Karen probably thought she had to get very serious and lay down the law, but alas, she gets many more days now to bring Jeremy into line.

Out amongst the vines at the winery where they got married.

At the old Coonawarra train station.

Now of course Karen can have Jeremy back for just a little while, as Gusto is not able to make the M2V start today. Never fear, however, as Team Gusto are at it and have their eyes now firmly fixed on having a red hot go at the Melbourne to Stanley at the end of October and then the mighty Westcoaster at Xmas. If I can, I'd like to mention the M2G on 15 September, as a worthy starting point, too.

Countdown Jeremy got his name as a direct result of his original email back when it was 299 days to go to the 2010 M2V. He's just advised me, that as of today, Sunday July 4, there are 118 Days to Stanley, 176 until Hobart and 1464 days until the 2014 M2V - for the serious planners out there.

'The amount of effort put in by Brian and all the crew is a credit to them all. I am truly appreciative of the efforts made by Peter Baker from The Shiping Registration Office, for his help in getting Gusto registered as an Australian ship. Also to Peter Coleman, John Duffin and Susan Veal at YA for their efforts on Friday - John was phoning the numbers through, as we got them and Susan was running the numbers, as she got them. They certainly droped everything to assist us. I cannot really express how much I owe them for the extra effort they put in for us', Jeremy wanted to say.

Here's to the upcoming races!

By John Curnow

ORCV Melbourne to Vanuatu (M2V)

No Go for Gusto.

Despite their herculean effort, Gusto will not be on the start line of Australia’s longest Category One race on Sunday. Accordingly, there will now be ten yachts beginning the epic 3500km Melbourne to Vanuatu race on July 4 at 11:30am EST off the Portsea Pier.

The skiff on steriods and that sensational prodder.

The Ocean Racing Club of Victoria is very sad for this crew of determined and dedicated souls. Rear Commodore, Simon Dryden, was ‘The Committee are very disappointed for the entire crew. Watching them go about their business was literally, inspiring. Regrettably they have not been able to comply with certain requirements of Category One and as such, they have decided to withdraw. With their audits completed, they were looking good, but we understand their situation and believe it is best to stand by our safety policies.’

No-one could have tried harder, so Gusto’s crew are naturally completely devastated and not entirely looking forward to bidding their fellow racers farewell, as they make for the tropics on Sunday. Gusto’s crew spokesman, Jeremy Walton, was able to say that, ‘It’s a real shame and we’re pretty heavy hearted right now, as it only comes around every four years, but we certainly wish each and every competitor a marvellous, safe, fun and speedy journey.’

The start line will now consist of these yachts:

• 51^st Project
• Garisenda
• Ingenue
• Mirrabooka
• Samskara
• Scarlet Runner
• Slinky Malinky
• TevakeII
• The Secretary and
• Turbo

The race briefing took place on Thursday evening and Saturday morning sees the fleet clear customs. The farewell dinner is being held on Saturday night for all the crews, family and friends at Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron, on the picturesque Mornington Peninsula.

Phil Coombs showed us his then brand-new toy, back in January, 2010.

Another crew that has been working hard to ensure they are ready for the start, are the souls from Phil Coombs’ 51^st Project. They took the very first Beneteau First 50 in Australia and turned the production boat into a long-distance, Category One yacht, thereby ensuring they were fully organised and ready for a race of this distance and calibre. ‘We have a great crew and all of us are looking forward to getting away and having a fantastic sail together. Oh yeah. And getting a bit warmer’, said Lex O’Connor, the boat’s Navigator.

The 51st Project under reef, but still blasting through. Pic by Teri Dodds.

Rob Date behind the wheel of his Scarlet Runner. Dave Eichmeyer trimming main, just in front.. Pic © Steb Fisher.

The withdrawal of Gusto places Scarlet Runner firmly as the race favourite. She is a Reichel-Pugh designed, Composites Constructions 52, which given the right sort of conditions, is very much capable of breaking the existing record of seven days, seventeen hours and six minutes. Currently, Sunday’s start looks to be in reasonably soft breezes, but at this time of year, that is something you would neither wish to bank nor bet on.

Far easier to guarantee are the smiles the fleet will receive in Port Vila, once they have completed their chase across the South Pacific of the container full of humanitarian aid. Schools and communities throughout the islands of the happiest nation on earth, Vanuatu, will receive all manner of items from books to paper and clothes to generators, which the ORCV, Rotary International and the community at large have collected for them.

Scarlet Runner under power. Pic © Steb Fisher.

Keep and eye on the fleet through the M2V Tracker, which is HERE.

By John Curnow