HIGHLIGHTS - NEW MEMBERS WITH YACHTS JOINING THE FLEET in July

Another Chapter
No Mans Land

'Another Chapter' for Greg Clinnick, Neil Sargeant and Greg Blanch.

As soon as lockdown is over, we will see some familiar faces of Greg Clinnick (prior owner of Audacious, Sydney 38) and Neil Sargeant (Mersea, Hanse 445) together with new ORCV member Greg Blanch join together to sail “Another Chapter”.

Another Chapter Crew

Wanting to slow down from the demands of one design keelboat racing but not to buy a slow boat, they settled on ‘Christine’ a Beneteau 44.7 now residing in Hobart. Christine rates only a little slower than the Beneteau First 45 and will do 7s upwind. She is relatively light for her length and comes factory fitted with a carbon mast and deep keel. She was built specifically for the Beneteau Racing team in France to help stimulate sales when the new design was launched in 2004 and went onto win yacht of the year (2004).

Christine came with a raft that was out of survey and it was due for a major, and costly, service. A little help from the ORCV Safety Gurus on what to look for and it was clear that a new raft with better safety features and a dedicated EPRIB was the way to go. We were then introduced to Harry Lewis from West Offshore who was super obliging in locating and up-specing a second-hand, refurbished 10 man Zodiac raft for less than the cost of servicing the old raft, plus the 20% discount as an ORCV member was the icing on the cake.

The boat will be renamed to 'Another Chapter' as the door opens again for the boat and crew.We plan to compete ‘Another Chapter’ locally and interstate and sail in a mix of inshore and offshore events. The ORCV longer format of racing appeals to us after 9 years of short course racing in Audacious. Covid willing, she will return to RBYC in early September.

Another Chapter and not the last for this crew.

Photo: 'Another Chapter' for Christine and new owners. Photo Steb Fisher

No Mans Land skippered by Sal Balharrie

Sal Balharrie’s No Mans Land has been making waves in the ORCV fleet, as the all-female team grows and builds their skills together to take on ocean racing. Sal purchased No Mans Land, Bruce Taylor’s Chutzpah38, and put together a team a little over a year ago by posing a simple question to the potential crew; “Would you like to learn how to sail?” Fast forward to the recent ORCV winter series races, and No Mans Land has been pushing their Sydney 38 rivals and constantly building their ability as a tight-knit crew.

No Mans Land Crew - Photo Nadine Tabak

Purchased with the goal of bringing more women into sailing, No Mans Land has been as much about building a culture as it has been about winning races; the focus of the boat is always about doing things safely and well and setting a new personal best every time the boat heads out on the water. After finishing 23 minutes behind the next Sydney38 in the first race of the ORCV Winter Series, Sal set the mission statement to her crew for the second race – riding on their hip all day was the benchmark. Achieving this goal alongside a great mid-fleet result and a steadily growing mark of respect amongst their competitors, Sal commented that the nights away on the boat and mingling with the crew from other boats was a real highlight of the longer format races.

No Mans Land is focussed on ocean racing moving forward, as the sea miles and experience of those on board steadily increases with every race they compete in. They are looking forward to the remaining race of the ORCV Winter Series, as well as the ocean events throughout the fast-approaching summer season. The goal remains to always improve on the previous result, and edge ever ahead on the water and in the results!

No Mans Land Winter Series Racing Photo Michael Currie

ORCV Newsletters

Past copies of our club newsletters

2021 July

2021 June

2021 May

2021 April

2021 Feb / March

Celebrating 170 years of Ocean Racing

We invite you to be part of the history of the ORCV and join us on the upcoming anniversary races in 2022 and 2023.

Ocean racing is alive in Victoria with three iconic races approaching significant milestones and we invite you to be part of these iconic races.

50th Melbourne to King Island (starts 11th March 2022)
50th Westcoaster - Melbourne to Hobart (starts 27th December 2022)
70th Apollo Bay - (starts May 2023)

Please get behind and support these races by Expressing your Interest in being part of these races here.

Weather Forecast for Race 2 and Women Skipper and Navigators Race

Weather Predictions for Sunday's race - Women Skipper and Navigators Race

For the 16 boats entered in the Women Skipper and Navigators race on Sunday (Blairgowrie to Sandringham), the predictions are starting with a W-NW at the start which will move to the W around the middle of the day before turning SW in the early afternoon. Once again, we will enjoy another great day our racing.

Weather Predictions for Saturday race to Blairgowrie

Looks like Simon is in need of a new beanie. It's going to be a little windy from the West which will make for a fast race and comfortable race if predictions stay good. Pack your ORCV beanies or pick up one in Blairgowrie. 

Instructions on berthing and arrangements at BYS are here

Sailing Instructions and Notice to Competitors here too

ORCV Winter Series sees Rush to the line in light winds 

 ORCV Winter Series kicked off with 45 competitors out on Port Philip enjoying some close racing after the conclusion of the lockdown period last Saturday. It was a race of 17 nautical miles sailed in tricky light-winds where boat speed can make any sailor a tactical genius, and the aim of the game on Saturday was certainly to settle the boat and pick the right sails. 

John Newbold’s Reichel/Pugh 51 'Primitive Cool’ made it home first for Line Honours, mixing old and new crew for a great result after a one-year break from racing.  John Patterson’s Farr 45 ‘Rush’ - finished next to take both the overall and AMS division wins, followed by Gerry Cantwell’s Marten 49, ‘Carrera S’ only a minute behind, picking up first on ORCC. There was some great racing across the entire fleet, with the doublehanded fleet jostling for position and being won by Dan Morrow on 'Affirmative Action’ (11 Metre One Design) in AMS and Richard Ekberg’s Sunfast 3300 ‘Ragnar’ in ORCC. John Strahan took out non-spinnaker division, aboard his Bavaria 44 yacht ‘True Colours’. 

Rush overall winner in the first winter series passage race Photo Dave Hewison

The race course featured a longer leg out to the spoil grounds and back to mark T14, which saw boats who initially led off the line fighting to maintain their lead as the pack behind them carried better breeze across the bay. Gerry Cantwell commented that his Carrera S had a great race with Rush across to the spoil ground and right through to the finish, and that they enjoyed mixing with some fast boats as they look ahead on the racing calendar towards a Hobart, as well as next year’s 50th Anniversary King Island race. John Patterson from Rush also commented that the fleet stretched and then compressed again in the latter half of the race, as boats dodged around holes in the breeze and eroded the lead of those ahead. Overall Rush sailed a great race, making some good ground going upwind on the right hand side of the course, before fighting to keep those gains against the Marten49 whilst chasing hard for Primitive Cool. 

Great racing onboard Carrera S Photo Dave Hewison

Damien King’s Frers 61 Margaret Rintoul V was mixing with the front runners in her first race since moving to Melbourne less than three weeks ago, after a busy week preparing the boat with the help of Simon Dryden and Lowa Paszko. Damien along with four crew worked hard to keep their 20-ton yacht pushing some of the lighter boats in the field, enjoying the chance to power up the boat and get some data to compare against before the arrival of a new suite of sails later in the year. Damien intends to race the boat against many of Saturday’s competitors in this years’ Hobart, crewed by a lifelong group of friends who have grown up together racing cadets, 420s and 470s on the bay. 

Congratulations to all boats and crew who took part in the first race of the ORCV Winter Series; the second race is scheduled for the 3rd of July and will see the steadily growing fleet racing to Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron. Get your entries in now, and find more information here: https://www.orcv.org.au/winter-series 

Top Results:

Overall Winner 1st on AMS Rush (B45), 2nd Carrera S (AUS49005), 3rd Vertigo (R935)
ORCc 1st Carrera S, 2nd Wicked (SM4), 3rd Ragnar (SM33)
PHS 1st Carrera S, 2nd Rush, 3rd Primitive Cool (S777)
DH (AMS) 1st Affirmative Action (AUS216), 2nd Godzilla R111, 3rd PP1 (AUS31)
DH (ORCc) 1st Ragnar(Sm33), 2nd PP1, 3rd Maverick (Sm3600)
DH (PHS) 1st Affirmative Action, 2nd Godzilla, 3rd PP1
Non Spinnaker 1st True Colours (Sm444), 2nd ANA (R94B), 3rd Alliance (Sm4646)
Line Honours Primitive Cool
Full results on this race can be found here https://www.orcv.org.au/results/2020-21/2021MWS/series.htm?ty=10359 

Sam Harrington /ORCV Media