ORCV Melbourne to Port Fairy

It's all new!

Right Oh. We're nearly at the sort of fleet size we have come to expect for the delightful Easter time jaunt down and then across in to the wonderful Western Districts of Victoria and end up at Port Fairy.

To do that, you'll need to get the latest intel from the Brass. For your immediate perusal, there are:

• Updated NOR
• New Sailing Instructions and 
• The all important Dash Back Sailing Instructions 

To get them all, simply go HERE, right now.

Time for everyone to barrel out the Heads again. At least this one is closer to daybreak than previous years... Pic © Teri Dodds.

A wonderful harbour that sort of has an East Coast North American feel...

You could even have your own little picnic at this bench.

So. Are you packed, yet?

 

© John Curnow, ORCV Media

Please contact me for re-issue rights.

	This is one hell of a tourist destination! Bring the shore crew - they'll love you for it and you'll get leave passes whenever you want from then on. No. Really. Promise.

ORCV Melbourne to Port Fairy

Getting more enjoyment from your racing.

John Owens is part of our Seamanship Poster Crew - the mighty Slinkies from Hobbos. He's been one of the intrepid sailors trialling the Sea Biscuit bands that we offered to you all in Heave Ho.

Here's what he has to say so far. "I wore the band for 2 days prior to the KI race and during the race and ever since. Normally I usually get a little queasy in the first 12 hours or so of the ocean races, occasionally 'feeding the fishes' and then get over it and 'sail on'."

"This time I wore the band as above and felt minor queasiness  for about 10 mins only  and no sickness!!! - so in this race it worked for me.  The weather was a bit calmer than usual and so may have had an effect as well? - don't know. Anyway, its just one race and there are two more to go (M2PF and M2AB), so will report in again after these for an update", said John.

"Am wearing it constantly now (for 19 days) and do notice an improvement in my general energy levels."

 

Thanks John for being a pioneer and keeping us informed. Do hope it works for you. I have been trialling a normal EF band, which Damian gave me. I did incur the flu like symptoms after just 24 hours and they lasted for at least five days. I had been warned this was the case as the body re-adjusted. Thus far I have not had increased energy levels, but have the band back on to check it out. Stay tuned.

Right. There are a few Sea Biscuits still available for trial - read about them HERE and then call the office - 9689 1622.

 

© John Curnow, ORCV Media

Please contact me for re-issue rights.

	This is one hell of a tourist destination! Bring the shore crew - they'll love you for it and you'll get leave passes whenever you want from then on. No. Really. Promise.

ORCV Melbourne to Port Fairy

Why I enjoy ocean racing.

David Richardson sails aboard Jason Close's, White Noise, the new Beneteau First 35 that just made it into the drink in time for the 2010 Melbourne to Launceston race.

He's been inspired to send us his onboard imagery, as a result of seeing Craig Shepherd's collection from his run to King Island aboard, Biddy Hu II, which you can HERE. We all like to get out there for an array of reasons from the peacefulness, to the enjoyment of nature and friends and of course, every now and then having to take on man's oldest challenge, the sea.

These images and captions are from David's voyage in the 2010 M2L.

Bass Strait and the Hand of God - Ed. Well I always going to run with that as the hero pic.... Even Michelangelo would be in to it.

Good clean helming by Alister, whilst Tony observes.

Now here's Tony and wow, Alister giving He of the Loud Shorts a run for his money here with a can of black being consumed and a straight line. If he had a dart, he may have just taken his mantle...

Kite run to Low Head with Jason Close at helm of his brand new B35, White Noise. - Ed. I think that's triple bonus points for a pic, at sea no less, with the ORCV race gear on. Nice work lad!!! Brass are going to love you long time...

The serenity of the evening at Beauty Point with David Richardson in control.

Beauty Point with Tony at helm.

Sunset in Bass Strait with ship to left of solar disc - Ed. Equally, what a good way to finish a nice set.

These images are from White Noise's run to King Island in March, 2011.

Hugh Halliburton, on a quiet day in Bass Strait. - Ed. Always happy to run a pic of "HUGE".

The silver highway

Jason Close, The Boss - Ed. All right. Quadruple bonus points then!

Alister, the studious one - Ed. After a few cans of Black, he probably can use his supreme focus!

A fine summer's evening - Ed. Mate. Well make an artist out of you yet. Well Done Centurion!

Sunset

Sunset from the galley

L to R: unknown, Alister, Hugh "Hughie" Halliburton and Peter "Hewie" Hewitson

Serenity at Grassy

Peter "Hewie" Hewitson at helm of White Noise

One friendly dolphin

Perhaps another friendly dolphin

One friendly and three shy dolphins

Two friendly dolphins - Ed. Good work as these little suckers are hard to catch in images...

So there you have it. Get out there, get inspired, start snapping and we'll run it. We'd be appreciative, as I do not think White Noise is going to make the run to Port Fairy. At any rate, many, many thanks to David for making the effort. Always appreciated. Note to self - Must get back out there soon................

 

PS. There are a few Sea Biscuits still available for trial - read about them HERE and then call the office.

 

© John Curnow, ORCV Media

Please contact me for re-issue rights.

	This is one hell of a tourist destination! Bring the shore crew - they'll love you for it and you'll get leave passes whenever you want from then on. No. Really. Promise.

ORCV Melbourne to Port Fairy

Warmer? Yes. Wetter? No.

Do you remember, Warming?

Then there was a thing called, Widespread?

A good friend, Andrew Roberts, read them and got to thinking. Being an Environmental Scientist, he then applied some of his skills an knowledge to the debate.

This is Andrew, with Caitlin Poulton, in the van at Apollo Bay.

He said to me, "Saw your 'Warming' post in the ORCV news about the benign Bass Strait weather for races. I've been doing a study on a site on Flinders Island over the last couple of years, which has involved some climate data analysis and thought some tech graphs and data might be of interest, see attached. The dataset is from the BoM Flinders Island Airport weather station, representing that part of Eastern Bass Strait. In our study, we had to look at climate data from the 1950's-2000's, including wind, temperature and rainfall:"

Temperatures - Mean minimums and mean maximums for two 25 year blocks, 1957-1982 and 1983-2008. "Mean maximum and mean minimum temperatures have slightly increased being consistently higher in the period 1983-2008 compared to 1957-1982."

Rainfall - average rainfall for two 25 yr blocks, 1957-1982, and 1983-2008. Average Rainfall is generally lower in the period 1983-2008 compared to 1957-1982. The higher temperatures and lower average rainfall shown in the dataset is consistent with modelled climate change predictions for SE Australia.

Winds - Mean Average wind speeds for 9am (green graph lines) and 3pm (blue graph lines) over 20-30 year blocks between 1962-2010. "The data shows average 9am and 3pm windspeeds between 1962-1990 that are actually lower than the average windspeeds recorded between 1981-2010 by around 5-6%. This is not consistent with anecdotes of a softer Bass Strait, maybe Huey has just gone soft around race time (although there are differences between October and January), or this is peculiar to East Bass Strait only, or the data range is too coarse although they do cover a fair range of the recent offshore racing periods." Ed. Yep. Huey hates us currently...

Andrew then added, "I am sitting here at Jan Juc, writing this to you and at the moment we have a howling SW gale outside and about a 4m storm swell running - it is classic Bass Strait tonight!!!" (March 24, 2011)

We have not seen Andy since Xmas, when he was on Tilting at Windmills, as he's got a baby due soon. He has managed to indulge his other passion, surfing, a bit of late, Getting some good waves though, so managing to stay in the soup, one way or the other. "Interestingly, an article appeared in The Age on March 25 about research that has found a significant increase in ocean winds and waves since 1985", Andy added the next day. You can go HERE to read it or a small snipet appears below.

Bridie Smith reports on an Australian study that has found the wind is blowing harder and the waves are higher across the globe. Published in the journal Science today, the research — the most comprehensive of its kind — used satellite data collected from 1985 to 2008.

The study was compiled by Professor Babanin,  colleague Stefan Zieger and Australian National University Vice-Chancellor, Ian Young. The trio established that between 1985 and 2008, global increases in wave height were most significant for extreme waves, which increased by an average of 7 per cent over the last 20 years. In equatorial regions the rise was 0.25 per cent a year, while in higher latitudes the rise was up to 1 per cent a year.

Professor Babanin said, "Temperature changes the global patterns of the pressure, pressure defines the winds, winds define the waves. It's all connected." 

So there you have it. It's windier of late - just not for us.... Many thanks to Andy for all his efforts to prepare this material for us.

 

PS. There are a few Sea Biscuits still available for trial - read about them HERE and then call the office.

 

© John Curnow, ORCV Media

Please contact me for re-issue rights.

	This is one hell of a tourist destination! Bring the shore crew - they'll love you for it and you'll get leave passes whenever you want from then on. No. Really. Promise.