ORCV Melbourne to Port Fairy

(M2PF as part of the MMOC)

Royal Children's Hospital Good Friday Appeal.

A total of $1500 has been pledged by the crews competing in the annual M2PF. Well done. It's a bit of a tradition for the annual Easter race, much like how the Boxing Day Test scores get broadcast after the radio skeds, during the races heading South in Summer. The Good Friday Appeal has now become so widely accepted that the Telethon is broadcast into other States and the funds raised do ensure the staff can continue to provide the level of care needed to very sick children and offer support to their families at this very sad time.

There is more breeze out there now in Bass Strait and the leader, Extasea, has completed just over 50% of the race. She is SSE winds of 15 to 19 knots and doing around nine and half knots across the water. Extasea are nine miles ahead of Ninety Seven, then there's Running Wild, Chikara Outlaw and The Secretary, who are a little over 12 nautical miles astern. The latter are clearly relishing the brisker breezes, which will allow her to utilise her displacement to charge along. Her crew will be enjoying a marvellous ride.

Extasea racing at Geelong earlier this year. Pic © Steb Fisher.

Extasea are presently enjoying a clean sweep of the board, with Line Honours, IRC, AMS and PHS leads. The Secretary is close on their heels in a couple of these divisions, as well. The Bus, aka Bacardi, is second on IRC, so perhaps those conditions out there are stronger than thought, allowing the older and heavier boats to push a bit of water out of their way.

The last boat presently is Spirit of Freya. The contender for My Galley Rules has "... delayed lunch due to the conditions!" So the skipper there clearly determined to have all souls on the rail. Just one and half miles ahead of her is local Port Fairy entrant, Chikara.

To see where the boats are, please click HERE and to see the standings, click HERE.

By John Curnow

ORCV Melbourne to Port Fairy (M2PF)

Spot me a Twenty?

You know I'm good for it. I'll even give you change... You see our mates at Tidetech have got a cracking deal. Two days for $19.00, seven days for just $37.00!

The detailed model, which was first released by oceanographic data specialists Tidetech for the Tassie Trio events at the end of 2009, with 2 nautical mile resolution and is available in 30 minute time steps. The image below demonstrates the detail of the data and highlights the benefit of knowing the direction and strength of the tides on the course to Port Fairy.

The Bass Strait Tidal Model has been produced by internationally recognised Oceanographer and Tidetech Director, Dr Roger Proctor. Roger was previously the tidal consultant to the UK Olympic Sailing team, where he developed advanced tidal models for Quingdao, Busan, Barcelona, Sydney and Atlanta. A senior scientist with the world leading, Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory, he helped develop the UK storm surge forecasting system and more recently, he developed the first tidal model for the Whitsundays in 2009.

The model is a fantastic new tool for yachts competing in the Melbourne to Port Fairy yacht race and other Bass Strait events. Used in conjunction with Tidetech’s Ocean Current products, competitors can sail the race courses with oceanographic data at their fingertips.

Competitors who subscribe to Tidetech can access:

• Ocean Current data from CSIRO.
• Sea Surface Temperature data from CSIRO.
• Bass Strait Tidal Stream Model - 2nm resolution 30 minute time intervals
• Tidetech presents its data in GRIB format which is compatible with the following navigation software:
• Expedition
• Maxsea
• Adrena
• Deckman (current only).

Users can also download our Free Viewer, for an easy method of accessing the files.

Tidetech is interfaced with Expedition, which means you can now download data from Tidetech, directly into the software. Tidetech is also a licensed Expedition dealer, so you can also contact us to purchase a full version of Expedition Navigation software. The cost of Subscription to Tidetech is:

Visit www.tidetech.org to subscribe before the M2PF race or contact them on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Now that's gotta be QED.

By John Curnow

ORCV Melbourne to Port Fairy (M2PF)

Nearly a cigar!

We weren't far off, as it turns out, with the piece on White Swan. If you missed out previously, you can go back and see it HERE. Tony Flecknoe-Brown emailed us in with, "Liked your story on 'White Swan' on the Port Fairy race page. She is an S&S design, 57 feet and was built in Finland (as all Swans are) in 1981.  I purchased her in California in 1987."

White Swan, S349, is out of RMYS. Thank you for emailling us Tony. We do indeed hope we get to see her pop her pretty little face out and join us soon.

All pics of White Swan in this article are © Steb Fisher.

Tony Flecknoe-Brown behind the wheel of his delightful, White Swan.

By John Curnow

ORCV Melbourne to Port Fairy (M2PF)

White Swan.

You may remember a wonderful sight glided through the Division Two and Three fleet during the recent Club Marine Series, Day Six. (See HERE for a reminder.) Anyway, it turns out she is one, White Swan, S349 out of RMYS. All pics of White Swan in this article are © Steb Fisher.

Here is the shot of White Swan again and it got us thinking about how she's obviously capable and no doubt seen a lot of things in her life as a Swan 50 (or thereabouts...) from, we think, the late 70's.

Anyway, we thought it would be cool for her to come out and play with her Big Sister, Independent Endeavour, (pictured above and below) for things like the impending Melbourne to Port Fairy or later in the year, Stanley and the Christmas time stuff. So, if you own White Swan and would like to do some of these events, call Sally or Dennis in the office on 9689 1622 and they'll help you arrange it.

Pictured below are some additional images of White Swan.

The Spinnaker Sock.

Has obviously been near a race track...

So you know us and we know what you look like now...

A truly delightful way to get around.

By John Curnow