ORCV Melbourne to Apollo Bay (M2AB (not))

Bless 'em - Part II.

Bless the entire sailing community and especially those that partake in these wonderful events we hold.

Only a few boats managed to finish in the daylight, but thankfully, Rebecca Clancy was at SYC for the finish and got us these images of eXtasea and Spirit of Downunder.

eXtasea crosses for Line Honours and in doing so, also got the coveted IRC win, as well.

Ecky then popped in to drop off some crew, before making the haul back to her pen with our pals at RGYC in Geelong.

About ten minutes after Ecky, Spirit of Downunder went over the line in second place.

So now, we already saw this great image of Team BO and Ian Lindsay has sent us some notes on their trip. "Yes - the rums were good - and the beers. I also had a good chat with Stu Addison on the phone, as we exchanged congratulations for the wins."

"We had a conservative start (Ed. Is that an oxymoron when talking about Team BO???) across the line two sail reaching to shouts from George Shaw on the start boat of, 'Where's the bag??'. We had decided to pop the fractional Assy just before the first mark. Once we got a handle on the apparent wind down the Western Channel and had creeped in front of Spirit of Downunder (don't think they popped the Bag until after the channel), we peeled to the heavy square masthead and took off!!!"

"Also, we had a couple of gear issues, including a brace letting go, which resulted in the rather spectacular broach that Stu Addison spotted and reported on. We managed to get hold of the kite relatively quickly, hooked up a new brace and launched the kite back up off the foredeck (Ed. nice work lads...). We then settled down to 15-16 knots surfing, with lots of whitewater over the deck. There appeared to be a bit of indecision as to the location of P2 on eXtasea (Ed. Hey, wasn't Stu in charge of the smoke and mirrors that day?), but our Naviguesser, Bruce Hawken, was confident enough not to follow them right and head for his location for P2. We managed to round P2 just before SoD and I presume due to their issues finding P2, not a great deal behind Extasea. A quick check behind showed that there was nobody else with us, so with Extasea and SoD in relatively close company, we knew we had had a good run", explained Ian.

"Upwind Extasea and SoD got away a bit and SoD turned at PGB about 15 minutes in front of us. The second run wasn't quite as quick with the wind dying to probably around 15-20knots and so it was relatively uneventful."

"Two downwind runs and a lot of breeze always gives us a chance to do well and we were stoked with the result. Our Naviguesser has a jacket that might have been new when he did his first Hobart, 15 years or so ago. He is very reluctant to part with it, but he might be persuaded if he is the winner of the Gill OS1!"

Well Ian, according to me and the table below, you'll have to wrestle that old jacket off him, but you can probably let him keep his slippers - for now!

And then here is the prize itself.

Go HERE for the overall results.

Bless all nine starters who braved the elements....

© John Curnow, ORCV Media

Please contact me for re-issue rights.

Below is Tony Bull's shot from  onboard eXtasea during the  2010 event.
	Not a place to go into  in an Easterly or if you  draw too much. Plenty of souls around to ask  about that and there's also  the bombora out the front. Supertramp above looks bad,  but had storm boards in etc. Port was closed thereafter,  though... Don't even attempt to go in  with an Easterly blowing,  however...