Melbourne to Port Fairy (M2PF)

Are we there yet Mum?

No. Not quite - just a little bit to go...

Extasea with Queenscliff in the background. Start 2008 M2H West. Pic courtesy Terri Dodds.

‘Extasea' have managed to just take a wee lead from ‘Isuzu Marine' who are well inshore at this time, perhaps looking for some katabatic winds off the hills in that area. They are just off Princetown, before the Port Campbell National Park and its Twelve Apostles, doing around 6kn. ‘Ninety Seven' is not right there with them presently, but has the best pace of the lot, so you just never know.

It's dark, so they won't be able to see these just now. Have to get them on the way back

The forecast is not good really and there is no wind at all presently at Port Fairy. BOM are thinking that it may go from SW, where it is now, to SSE. Given that it is not blowing hard, going from a reach to a run is only going to make them slower. First in looks like being a 0300 to 0400hrs job, but if you're prepared to gamble on that you really are a bit off with the fairies...

The big shaker and mover is the PFYC local, ‘Running Wild' who is now in fourth, having been way out the back in about 12th earlier as they trundled down the Surfcoast, so well done. Interestingly, this is the old ‘Extasea'. Other boats to be around the corner are ‘Bacardi', ‘The Secretary', Laurie, Dee, Neil and the crew on ‘Spirit of Downunder', ‘Mirrabooka' and ‘Geomatic Joker', doing well as continue learning the bigger boat.

‘Chikara Outlaw' is heading for Cape Wickham, which is on King Island. Clearly they want to improve on their performance from that last race (M2KI), so Bill and Jo if you're reading this, we're doing M2PF this time guys. The good news for them is that they are presently the last boat that is around Cape Otway, so to speak. Around a third of the fleet has let to pass that milestone actually. ‘Yoko' and ‘Pretty Woman' are still covering everyone's six, which is good of them. Ta. The other really good news is that the whole fleet is still going, so that is impressive. This delightful Autumnal weather will take all the problems away in its soothing warmth when they finally get there tomorrow - some time.

As it stands, in IRC ‘Extasea' has it from ‘Bacardi' and ‘Ninety Seven'. AMS is virtually owned by ‘Isuzu Marine', with ‘Extasea' and ‘Rogue Trader' in there. In PHC ‘Running Wild' has it over ‘Extasea' and ‘Bacardi'. Given their current positions on the track and that the weather is going to determine a lot here, it really is still game on. Giddy up eh Nifty?

It's going to be a long second night is all I can say. So as we sit down to steamed mussels and eventually a big flat bed, we'll remember our friends getting up for Dog Watch and then roll over. Bon Apetit.

Anyway, if you want to look at Yacht Tracker for yourself, it can be found at:
http://www.orcv.org.au/tracker/indexPF.html

By John Curnow