Go out “Beyond the Bay”
“Live the dream with confidence”

Ideal for Cruisers and Racers

Have you often thought about what it would be like to sail across Bass Strait or head off to Queensland or the Pacific? It could be just around Westernport for the weekend, or around the many fascinating islands off Tasmania, or to venture further up the east coast to warmer waters in the winter months.

Have you contemplated joining fellow club members who venture out past the heads in various ORCV Ocean Races over the warmer months to Apollo Bay, Port Fairy, King Island and even further to Devonport or Hobart in late December? Perhaps you dream of competing in the Melbourne to Osaka race.

Is the only thing holding you back the uncertainty of what you need to know to get your boat and crew ready, or the additional things to consider as a skipper?

The ORCV "Beyond The Bay" program is designed to give you the necessary information and practical skills to help you plan and complete an overnight cruising passage or participate in a race. This includes exiting and returning through Port Phillip Heads, with the assistance of a guiding mentor, and includes organised sailing and training events, including the Overnight Navigators Challenge and a Bass Strait Coastal Passage.

Prior participants to the Beyond the Bay course have gone and lived onboard throughout Queensland, competed in Ocean Races with one getting on the podium at Osaka and another winning the Offshore Championship. They enjoyed the program and it gave them a huge amount of confidence plus the opportunity to participate with support not far away.

By the end of the course, you will be able to:

Describe how you would go about planning a coastal offshore passage
Plan and carry out an exit and/or entry of the Port Philip Heads
Describe how you would contribute to safe management of crew offshore
Describe how you would contribute to monitoring conditions and weather forecasts offshore and/or at night, then manage the boat accordingly

Participant Requirements:

Intermediate knowledge of sailing
For skipper / boat owners you need to be able to berth and have good boat handling knowledge
Have some knowledge and strong interest in weather, tides, basic navigation and radio operations
Navionics Software on a tablet or iPad
Boat owners/skippers will need to get their boats to cat 4+ and this will be covered very early in the BTB course.
Need to be a member of the ORCV or an Australian Sailing affiliated club

Course and Dates

The next course is planned to run in 2025. The format below may change although gives an indication of the topics / practicals offered in the past.

Add your name here to be the first to know about the next course

Date	Event	Venue
To be confirmed	Session 1 - Introduction and hypothetical coastal passage	RBYC
To be confirmed	ORCV Safety and Sea Survival Course	Wesley
To be confirmed	Session 2 - How to use Navionics	Online
To be confirmed	Practical Navigation Session 1	Online
To be confirmed	Practical Navigation Session 2	Online
To be confirmed	Winter Series Race - Blairgowrie Passage Race (Optional)	Port Phillip Bay
To be confirmed	Weather Course Module 1 Part 1 (Optional)	Online
To be confirmed	Weather Course Module 1 Part 2 (Optional)	Online
To be confirmed	Weather Course Module 1 Part 3 (Optional)	Online
To be confirmed	Session 3 - Practical Radio Course	State Sailing Centre Albert Park
To be confirmed	Session 4 - Skippers session Boat & Equipment. Preparation for overnight and coastal passage	RBYC
To be confirmed	Winter Series Race - Geelong Passage Race (Optional)	Port Phillip Bay
To be confirmed	Session 5 - Route Planning / Boat Preparation / Crew Preparation & Provisioning for upcoming passage	RBYC
To be confirmed	On Water Event - Overnight Port Phillip Bay Passage (Link to Race Page)	Port Phillip Bay
To be confirmed	Session 6 - De brief for Overnight Event / Preparation for Bass Strait Coastal Passage / Heads Exit Training	Online
To be confirmed	On Water Event - Bass Strait Coastal Passage (with mentors)	Queenscliff Start / Portsea Finish

2022 Costs (Subject to change)

Adult Price

Existing ORCV Members fee: $795
Non- Member’s fee: $995 (inc course as above plus ORCV membership)

Youth Price (16 – 25 years old)

Existing ORCV Members fee: $595
Non- Member’s fee: $745 (inc. Course as above plus ORCV membership)

Payment can be made in full (via visa, PayPal or Amex) or by instalments (Paypal only). To pay by instalment - Select Paypal at the shopping cart and login to your Paypal account to select pay by instalments. Paypal will then take payment over 6 weeks in 4 instalments.

BTB2

"Essential for anyone intending to sail beyond Port Phillip Bay” says past student Neil Sargeant.

ORCV Beyond the Bay Course runs every 2 years and next Monday May 6th the first of a series of educational evening sessions, supervised weekend on water sailing events and mentoring by experienced ORCV offshore instructors starts. Don’t delay living your dream! Spaces available. Book now.

"Live the Dream"

Neil Onboard

"The ORCV Beyond the Bay and the Safety at Sea Survival Course is essential for anyone intending to leave the confines of the Port Phillip Bay” says Neil Sargeant and more than 200 others who have attended the course.

The ORCV Beyond the Bay program is a series of educational evening sessions, supervised weekend on water events and mentoring support. Course has started although workshop 1 will be repeated at a time mutually agreed on for those still wishing to attend. Book your place here

YACHT RACING OUTSIDE THE BAY - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

First of all I am a newcomer to ocean racing and I would like to share my experience having completed our first ORCV race - Melb to Devonport. Neil Onboard

Having sailed all my life I only progressed to owning my first “real” boat; a Hanse 445 (B455 Mersea) about 3 years ago.

The learning curve was rather steep in the first year or two. As expected I know I will never stop growing in experience and with it the confidence of being able to handle the boat in varying conditions.

After buying the boat I immediately enrolled on the ORCV Beyond the Bay programme which included the overnight challenge (a navigation and watch keeping exercise around the bay) then culminated in the lattitude race out of the heads.

The fact that each boat had an experienced mentor on board for BTB made it very enjoyable and really helped pull all the classroom theory and much more together.

Since BTB I have have also completed the sea safety survival course - which teaches you heaps and is absolutely essential if you intend heading “out there” !!!

Thereafter we started venturing out of the heads on a semi regular basis - Wilsons Prom and the Kent Group, Sydney Pittwater, King Island and Apollo Bay.

As a “newby” all I can say “for me” is that it is a different and very special world once you leave the confines of Port Philip.

It’s not easy to describe - “adventure, freedom, anticipation and the unknown” are some words that spring to mind.

One thing for sure is that all the normal and sometimes mindless buzz of work and daily life issues completely and I mean COMPLETELY disappear

So on to ocean racing - I was very lucky in that my regular crew are very experienced and tight knit coming from a recently sold Sydney 38.

If as a skipper you are new to Ocean racing I feel it is very important and in fact I would say “essential” that you have experienced crew members that you get on with and trust, for two reasons; it gives you confidence to relax and enjoy the experience plus you quickly find out things that you didn’t know that you didn't know :)

We made the decision to do Devonport about 6 months prior to the race and had to do a few mods and provisioning to move the boat up from Cat 3 to Cat 2 Race Flag safety plus we got the boat measured and weighed giving us an AMS rating.

The race itself was great, even the planning and anticipation was a significant and positive part of the overall experience. Yes there was quite a bit of work to do but mostly it was a once off stuff - and there are plenty of people out there willing to help get you to the start line.

Cruising was and still is fun and mostly relaxing as you can pick your weather windows and have multiple options up your sleeve if conditions change.

But for me Ocean Racing takes the whole experience to another level - the weather cannot be pre-booked - the adrenaline is pumping - you are out there with likeminded people who are there to compete but also to offer advice and assist in the event of a "bad situation” developing.

The race was exhilarating both mentally and physically and the camaraderie, race tactic discussions along the way all added to the experience.

After the race arriving in Devonport about 3am in the morning presented the only scary moment of the crossing when trying to do a tight turn in the fast running tidal flow to get to the pontoon mooring our steering locked and we were sure we were heading for the mud.

Luckily an errant winch handle in the rope bag that jammed the other wheel was found to be the culprit just in time.

Moored up we were greeted by, yes at 3am!! by club members delivering each boat with cold beer, hot pies and a jar of the infamous Tassie pickled onions - what a welcome!!!

In closing, all I can say if you are a boat owner and are considering doing an ocean race - get out there and do it - you won’t be disappointed - feel free to give me a call and have a chat - I am currently deciding which race to do next :)

Neil Sargeant RBYC

0439885971

2015 Beyond the Bay Registration closing soon

After the success of last year’s programme, we are conducting this course again in 2015.
Incorporating five seminars and two on-water events, this is an opportunity to gain the necessary skills and confidence for venturing Beyond the Bay to “Live your dream”.
Programme starts on Monday 11th May 2015 and there are places available so don’t miss out - REGISTER now.
More information HERE.

Go out “Beyond the Bay”
“Live the dream with confidence”