King Island....beautiful one day and simply perfect the next

2018 King Island

Well it's been exciting from the very begining, starting earlier in the week when the Race Director Simon Dryden made the Screen Shot 2018 03 10 at 4.20.25 pm call to move the start time from 2.30am to 1.00am. Unfortunately with such light conditions in the few hours leading up to the start, a further review of the race start was required, as light winds and current were presenting challenging conditions to get outside of the heads. In a first ever move, the race startline was moved to off Ocean Grove.

The start was problematic for the rear of the fleet, missing the winds which were actually chasing the leader boats down towards King Island. Moving from 0 - 4kts, initially and then picking up to 15 - 17kts, we now have an exhilerating race to both compete in and to watch on the tracker.

2019 King Island race - Less is More - Results The premier measurement handicap division, being the most populous, is AMS and first place has gone to UNDER CAPRICORN followed by VERTIGO and MAVERICK. It’s interesting to note that UNDER CAPRICORN was sailing in the new 4+ autohelm category and MAVERICK was a double handed entry which goes to show sometimes less can be more. A special mention to Tim Olding picking up a second on VERTIGO’S first ocean racing venture, he’ll have to keep coming back now. In the IRC division MAVERICK has picked up first place followed [ ... ]

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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. 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 [ ... ]

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2018 King Island Well it's been exciting from the very begining, starting earlier in the week when the Race Director Simon Dryden made the call to move the start time from 2.30am to 1.00am. Unfortunately with such light conditions in the few hours leading up to the start, a further review of the race start was required, as light winds and current were presenting challenging conditions to get outside of the heads. In a first ever move, the race startline was moved to off Ocean Grove. The start was problematic for the rear of the fleet, missing the winds which wer [ ... ]

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King Island Race Start The current outlook for start of the race to King Island this weekend is looking a little problematic! The current BOM wind forecast in the Heads is for very, very light winds. The maximum ebb tide is just after midnight so for a start at 0200hours, there will still be some help from the outgoing tide. It all could change over the next 36 hours but to give race management a full range of options to make sure that that the fleet safely navigates the Heads, two changes to the Sailing Instructions are being made: Move the start forward to 0100 to take maximum a [ ... ]

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The magic that happens – the race fairies you never really see I love the King Island race, having done it many times on my own and on friends boats. Gee it’s a lot of work to get the boat to a start line isn’t it ? Provisioning, fuel, safety gear, audits, repairs, compliance paperwork, crew details. How good is it to start a race and better still to finish one. Arriving at King Island you pick up a mooring, get picked up by the inflatable, head to the bar for a drink, grab a steak then stand around the fire chatting till all hours and listen to the band. [ ... ]

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How to update you boat and Crew details on the Tracker

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King Island - fantastic destination for an ocean yacht race is now open to yachts without HF marine radio. Top things to do when visiting King Island. ONLINE ENTRY The ORCV is always keen to explore the latest technologies and has been a long campaigner for reducing barriers to ocean racing and sailing. For the 2018 Melbourne to King Island Category 2 ocean race, the ORCV have again received approval from Australian Sailing for yachts to use satellite phone and VHF with DSC in lieu of HF marine radio. Cost savings will be several thousand dollars for any yachts new to saili [ ... ]

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King Island Race weather Update Looking at the overall picture the weather is pretty unusual for this time of the year with warm moist air over Victoria and a large blocking low pressure close to New Zealand. There is a low pressure developing over Adelaide which will wet the sailors late on Saturday. This is going to mean tricky sailing conditions for the fleet, the four models have the wind from South to East and with lots of wind holes in between. So the fleet will have pleasant condition down the bay this evening and a challenging race. The first boats are expected in King Island by 10oc [ ... ]

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The Tracker for this weekend’s race to King Island has been set up. Before Christmas, we have made a number of improvements the tracker website and this is where I need your help. • If go to the ORCV web page and if you look on the top left-hand side you will see a blue button that says King Island Tracker, if you click that button the tracker website will open.
• If you click on the Crews tab and then select your boat from the drop down box you will see the boat and all the crew
• What I need you to do is email me a picture(Head shot) of you and a short bio of your yachting experience
� [ ... ]

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The Melbourne to King Island Race Weather update The PredictWind models are in broad agreement but the Australian model is not agreeing so we will have to wait later in the week for a more accurate forecast. The Predictwind models are forecasting winds from the South starting at 10knots and increasing to 25 knots as the yachts approach King Island. As there will be some tacking involved, your location east or west of the rhumb line will be all important. The Predictwind models have a Beneteau first 40 finishing at 7 pm on Saturday night. The Australian Access model has the wind from the east [ ... ]

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2016 King Island Protest

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