ORCV Melbourne to Vanuatu (M2V)
The New Hebrides.
Ceased to be on July 30, 1980, as the archipelago regained its independence and became, Vanuatu. About a hundred years earlier, both Britain and France had claimed part of the country. Interestingly, in 1906 they formalised their arrangement to jointly control and run the country, so named the New Hebrides by a certain James Cook, all the way back in 1774.
The date, the 1980's one, is important to another date. Rob Date, to be precise. Rob was part of a race back then to Vila, from Noumea, New Caledonia, which lies some 300nm to the Southwest. Today, Rob Date is the owner/driver of Scarlet Runner and on July 4, 2010, he's heading back to Vanuatu. The 2010 M2V is no island jaunt for him, however. He and the crew are dead set going after the record of seven days and some change. His Reichel-Pugh penned, Composites Constructions 52 is certainly capable of doing it, given the correct weather systems, as their recent computer modeling has shown. You may remember that they set their eyes on the COB record last year too. They managed to take 10 minutes off that, so their calls are not vacuous.
Now luckily for us, Rob is very good at keeping notes and when I saw the scans you see below, I got to ask him, "Well there are some amazing get-ups in those shots and I see a certain Ile Ola did the race too! (Apart from her many adventures, that boat is probably most famous for having a piano onboard!!! Yes piano...) What were you on and what are your memories of it all?"
"The yacht was Jo d’Affaire a 46 ft Carbineer ketch. Laurent Giles design I think... Very well fitted out (see pics of Sister ship, above and below). She is still owned by Peter Welch and is at the end of his jetty in Mooloolaba, Queensland. He is about 80 now and his wife, Maria, would be in her late 60’s. Jo d’Affaire was launched in 1979 and this story was from the Winter of 1981", Rob tells us.
"We sailed from Melbourne to Sydney four up. Peter, Maria and their then, 18 year old daughter. I was 29 at the time. Sailing into Sydney, the South Head sewerage pipe was pumping and we sailed through thick brown water (Ed. Oh, just nice...Did you have to tell us that part?) to get inside the Harbour, where we went to the CYCA. Now of coursed, all navigation at this point in time is with log, sextant and compass."
"For the Sydney to Noumea race, we had a crew of eight from RYCV. It was about noon, with glorious sunshine and a 15 knot Easterly. That meant that we were beating out, which was fine as we sat in the cockpit, eating sandwiches, watching the choppers film from above... Then we all started to get seasick. One by one. As night fell, the wind went Sou'west to 30+ knots. We had a full main and polled out genoa up, surfing down waves at 9+ knots, which was all good fun, UNTIL, durning the night, when we did our Chinese gybe. The gooseneck and vang got broken and we stripped the mainsail out of the track from the bottom, all the way to the top. The boom was swinging wildly side to side. ALL HANDS ON DECK."
Rob goes on to detail for us, "I stuck my head out the hatch and threw up, which is still a vivid memory for me. We retrieved the boom and sail, then continued to do 9+ knots under headsail only. So she was obviously at hull speed. Who needs a main anyway? The next morning, I was sent to the top of the rig to get the main halyard. it was still blowing 30 knots, we were still doing 9 knots and yes, it too is still a vivid memory. Many cuts and bruises later, I was back on deck. We rebuilt the gooseneck, caught some fish and arrived in Noumea some eight days later."
"Noumea is a vague memory. Club Med, partying and girls I think... The next race was from Noumea to Port Vila, which was a downhill run all the way, with a very light patch in a strong current between the bottom of the main island of New Caledonia and the Isle of Pines. We were concerned about the rocks and actually started the motor at one stage. Third over the line was enough for us to win our division. We backed up against the sea wall and headed to the Rossie Pub, all of two to three hundred metres away."
Nice shorts Rob! Warrick Capper would be so proud - sorry, I had to. Plenty of others survived the 80's too, you know.
This is Rob today, big smile from behind the wheel of his flyer, Scarlet Runner, below. Pics © Steb Fisher.
"Port Vila. No girls - not even on the other boats, so I can remember that it was markets, jungle walks and some inshore racing. All very sunny and fun. We, as in the Date family, actually went back twice for family holidays in late 80’s and early 90’s. I also remember, at the end of one race, when only a stones throw from the beach, we dropped the anchor. 100m of chain did not hit the bottom! We then motored in until we touched the sand and then tried again. Yep. Success!"
Rob continues, "Some time later we sadly left Port Vila and headed Sou'east to Ouvea, which is an island with a fringing reef and huge lagoon. Beautiful. Stayed a week. Only four onboard again and then we sailed towards Noumea, via the Isle of Pines. Coral reefs and bommies everywhere. When we found ourselves high and dry once, we cleaned the bottom and waited for the tide to return. There was lots of navigating from the spreaders." (Ed. Argh, Hardy me lads...)
Now that hair and those eyebrows were always going to get a feature - from a time when smokes were not bad for you... and the actual Marlboro Man was alive
"From Noumea, we then headed towards Lord Howe Island, as I had a Job at Thredbo for the remainder of Winter, that required my attendance. We left Noumea with storm warnings etc. The second night out, we had bare masts and 65 knots behind us, which meant surfing the 20 tonne girl down the faces of waves at 16 knots! It was an experience that I do not want repeated. We had all the gear we could muster tied to long ropes over the stern, just to try and keep her straight. Naturally, just short of Lord Howe it went to the south west at 25 knots. You've got to love that!"
"We lined up the leads to the harbour and could only see surf in front of us. Over the radio, we were assured all was OK. So, with the 6 cylinder Diesel at full power, we surfed through, only to bounce on the bottom once inside. I left the boat there, caught a small plane and went to work at Thredbo. Over the years I have continued to sail on Jo D’Affaire - Sydney to Fiji, Brisbane to the Solomons, Townsville to Port Moresby, but I missed the around Tassie race, the first Melbourne to Osaka race and the Tahiti jaunt too."
Want to see what Scarlet Runner looks like? Click HERE.
You can also download the original scans from the Voice of Vanuatu:
- Click HERE for the Cover Page
- Click HERE for the Boat Pics
- Click HERE for the Intro Page
- Click HERE for the Port Pics
- Click HERE for the Operations Page
- Click HERE for the Radio Operator Page
- Click HERE for the Results Page
By John Curnow
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