Melbourne to Vanuatu Ocean Yacht Race

The ORCV ocean yacht race from Melbourne to Port Vila, Vanuatu is a 1,885nm Category 1 which starts off Portsea, Melbourne Victoria, inside Port Phillip Bay, proceeds across Bass Strait and the Southern Pacific Ocean, around New Caledonia to the finish at Port Vila, Efate Island, Vanuatu.

The Vanuatu archipelago of 83 islands is a truly beautiful part of the world and after Past ORCV Commodore George Shaw visited there on a cruise, an ocean race, the Melbourne to Vanuatu, was proposed to introduce other sailors to this paradise on Earth. As a result, in 2006 the ORCV held the inaugural Melbourne to Vanuatu Ocean Yacht Race – and what a race it was! There are still people talking about it at various clubs now.

The race was successfully run again in 2010 and now it is all happening again with the 2014 Melbourne to Vanuatu Ocean Yacht Race starting at 0900 hours on 29 June, 2014.  In 2014 a Rally division has been introduced.  This race presents some unique tactical and navigational challenges, including when to tranist the South East Australian current, through the "Horse Latitudes" an into the South Easterly Trade Winds.

To help participants prepare themselves, the ORCV conduct an extensive set of seminars covering all aspects of such long distance racing. Topics covered included areas such as Health, Provisioning, Repairs, SAR, Salvage and Customs and Quarantine.