ORCV Melbourne to Vanuatu (M2V)

Legs Eleven.

Bingo! It's official. The new Gusto (the old Xena), which is an MBD designed Open 66 (there we go with 'pick up sticks'), is the 11th entrant in the 2010 M2V. Now she certainly does have the legs to skip along and go chase the record, should the weather patterns allow it.

Jeremy “How Many Days to Go to the Start” Walton, who's entrenched with the campaign, said 'I tried to just slip the entry in while you were busy with M2AB, but obviously, not quite sneaky enough.' Thanks Jeremy, I resemble that remark. By the way, Jeremy’s wedding is just 26 days away, M2V is 48 days and V2M is 70 days. "PS Forgot to mention that the lovely Karen (Bride to be) was very pleased that in the middle of all this planning that the wedding got a mention !!!!" Editor - excellent stuff!

So it was back in The Treasure Trove Pt2 that I mentioned Brian Pattinson had bought another former Open 60 and there was a rumour that it would be on the start line for the 2010 M2V. Brian has put together an experienced crew for the race, which includes Gordon Bucan, Caroline (Caro) and Jeremy from RBYC, along with Tony Fowler and three of his crew from Ocean Skins, Anthony, Al and Ando, will also be on board for the trip.

Now after having had a few conversations with Jeremy via email, we know that the boat is currently lying in Brisbane (she was previously owned by the guy who has Blackjack) and is waiting for the new PBO rigging to arrive from overseas. Then the stick will be put back in. She also has a bunch of newish rags to play with too. “It is going to be touch and go to make it to the start line, as the rigging should be completed by the end of May and then Gusto will then be delivered down to Melbourne, where she should be here by mid-June”, Jeremy tells me.

“There is a lot of preparation for an entry for this sort of race and so Brian, who is currently in the US, has really put the crew under the pump to get the boat sorted and ready to go racing”, Jeremy added. He has already managed to get the boat registered, obtain a new sail number from RBYC (B660) and is madly completing the rest of the paper work for the ORCV.

Click HERE to go and enter the 2010 M2V online now and confirm that you'll be heading out of Port Phillip on July 4.

Extra pics with thanks to Sail-World.com

Anyway, if you wanted to see just what the tenth entry was all about, just click HERE.

By John Curnow

APC Logistics and the Entire Group have already backed the race with their kind assistance. Please contact George Shaw or John Curnow, if you would like to also provide a donation to this race.