1850 mile Melbourne to Vanuatu race starts Sunday

by Rob Kothe on 28 Jun 2006 The inaugural Melbourne to Vanuatu fleet will set sail from Portsea Pier (Mornington Peninsula, Victoria) at mid-day this coming Sunday, 2nd July. The race is almost three Sydney Hobarts' long - 1850 nautical miles to Port Vila, Vanuatu.

More than half this fleet will back up for another 1150 nautical mile race to Mackay, Queensland on August 1st.

Mr Andrew Fraser MP, Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier and to the Minister for Health, will represent Queensland Premier Peter Beattie and start the Melbourne-Vanuatu-Mackay Yacht Race. The Queensland Government is the sponsor of the South Pacific Boomerang series.

Sandringham Yacht Club outgoing Commodore Phil Coombs said this morning; ‘The Ocean Racing Club of Victoria has once more advanced the cause of offshore racing. They have provided excellent pre-race support and education for the 23 boat fleet. This is a perfect precursor to the double handed 2007 Melbourne to Osaka race.'

‘My own boat Dekadence will be in 'Osaka mode' when Peter Walsh and I hit the line on Sunday. This race provides us with the opportunity to test all our systems.'

The same sentiments were expressed today by some of the other double handed crews, Matt Hannaford and Carl Schmidt on the Cookson 12 No Fearr, James Ryssenbeck and Andrew McCole from the Sayer 10 metre Runaway and Brian Pattinson and Pat Guidice on the Open 60 Gusto.

Brian Pattinson said, ‘we are all gearing up; we’ve been doing Melbourne to Hobarts and all kinds of Bass Strait races. But an 1850 nautical mile race means you have to switch gears to energy conservation and boat preservation.’

It’s an interesting fleet with a mixture of sizes and types. Andrew Short’s Volvo 60, the former djuice and now Andrew Short Marine, has to be line honours favourite. However if conditions are right Gusto, the former Liberty IV, could surprise and Bill Rawson’s Nautilus Marine Helsal II would love to see some hard reaching, almost as much as David Currie’s Swan 60 Lady Godiva. In the mid-sized fleet Don Fraser’s Beneteau 47.7 Elektra will be looking for fast reaching conditions.

If the breeze is more aft then the 'little' Sayer Runaway, the former Team fgi could grow in length and surf through the fleet. Other downwind fliers like ORCV Commodore Angus Fletcher’s Radford Tevake II, Tony Fowler’s Inglis 47 Ocean Skins and Jeff Otter’s Mummery 45 Icefire and Ray Semmen's Sayer 44, will all be advantaged. Peter Coleman and Iain Gartley with part crew, on the Hick 39 Just a Minor Hickup will also enjoy a fast ride.

Lots of stories in this race; Ken Gourlay and his wife Wendy will be racing double handed on Spirit Silver Edition, trying to beat their son Tristan Gourlay and his partner Pip Girling on their Adams 11.9 Force Eleven.

Robin Hewitt’s steel hulled Lexcen 43 Yoko, after 24 Melbourne to Hobarts, will enjoy the trip to warmer climes.

George Shaw and Robin Hewitt (who started this series, with her shivering comment 'Take me somewhere warm, George' after a Bass Strait race last year, are on track for another excellent long, double handed race on the beloved BOOTS (By Order of the Secretary).

Current weather forecasts for Sunday suggest that there could be some testing conditions for the race start, with a strong southerly change coming through on Saturday. As always with the weather, timing is everything, so it will be a tense wait for the fleet ahead on Sunday's race start.

For more information www.melbournevanuatu.com