ORCV Melbourne to Vanuatu (M2V)

Gone Drifting...

Samskara have experienced the very fluctuating and no doubt incredibly frustrating conditions that Bass Strait has produced for the starting sector of the M2V. They too have got into the food caper and are almost as deeply concerned about that element of the trip, as the iPod and the lack of tracks there on, so it would seem...

"Good morning all. It appears that Tevake has sneaked through on the inside of us during the night, from the map on the ORCV site after this mornings sched." In fact Tevake has about and 18nm lead over them now...

The green arrow shows where the boat was at 09:09 this morning and all onboard were OK!

"Another day of light conditions are expected with the breeze building from the West this eventing, so it is hoped that will translate into a great spinnaker run through Wednesday night when we should be around the corner of Gabo Island and into the Tasman Sea proper."

Just after lunchtime on Tuesday, Smaskara came in with a bit of an update on the scenario they are now facing. "48 hours of our journey complete and we are reassessing our finish times and dates. We covered a mere 74 nautical miles over the past 24 hours, with a day and night of fickle breeze, which often dyed out to nothing at all. Flat seas are making the good ship extremely comfortable, but certainly not fast! We are all still looking for the Palm Trees and margaritas! It was a cold night with clear skies allowing the milky way and a small moon to light the sky and give us some steering reference (unlike the eerily black night the night before)."

Hello - pic © and with thanks to Steb Fisher

"During many moments of drifting with the current, we were visited by pods of dolphins, who never seem to tire of playing on our small bow wake. The phosphorescence in the water makies them look like fluro dodgem cars, driven by teenage boys, as they play chicken and whip and weave with each other and us. Two seals were also given a sharp awakening this morning, as Samskara ghosted up to them and woke them from basking in the sun - they were not happy!"

"The sailing conditions are not ideal for making progress, but are certainly conducive to clearing the saloon and enjoying a super civilized, sit down, cutlery and serviette team dinner of delicious spinach quiche with home made pastry (ala Caroline Stoopman) and some not so successful rice (first attempt using the pressure cooker - not so flash!) cooked by me (Kimbo). Think primary school clag glue... thank god for soy sauce and chille flakes to mask the taste. Oh well, it has provided the source of many a joke since!"

"The evening was passed with a few card games, with James winning two out of the three games. Guitars strummed by Mike, Leon and Fo serenaded us over white castello cheese, salami and crackers at sunset. We are lapping up the good conditions while they last, as we are all aware of the changing conditions we are likely to face! It would be unheard of to do a passage of this length and not get a hammering at some point...." Point to Mecca and continue the absolutions, team...

This is Samskara, as she slotted out of the Heads in 2nd place. Not so now, they will have to work to get it back in the current conditions - pic © and with thanks to Steb Fisher

"Current status of The Crew: Leon steering, Mike, Stoopy and Fo on deck giving morale support and telling jokes - possibly tweaking some strings from time to time. Rick bunked in aft cabin reading "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". Jesse in saloon making a new play list on his ipod (we might find something later than the 80's!), James in starboard aft catching some zzzzz'sss. Me writing this update, must be having computer withdrawals from work - NOT!!!"

"The Ship: Still looking after us well, a gas alarm this morning created some scratching around in cupboards, not sure if wires have been cut or the issue fixed, but the alarm has stopped and no-one including resident plumber James is showing too much concern."

"What we have forgotten: Spare guitar strings. Oh dear! (Seems to me that extra iPod tunes is another item gone AWOL...)"

"Special Thanks To: Lisa Wheatley for the ships library - the books are being well read! Caroline, Louise and Megsy again for the food - more is certainly better than less with these conditions! Darren for routing our emails and updating our friends and families - you're a champ!"

That wonderful Steb bow wave again... - pic © and with thanks to Steb Fisher

"As I have begun to type the wind has picked up to around 10 knots and we have launched the big spinnaker and are finally making some way and averaging 8.2 knots - yippee! The last sched confirmed we had a shocker of a night, but it seems most of the other boats have had the same aimlessly drifting run, lets just hope they are having as much fun as us! Gotta fly, the Foo Fighters version of Kung Fu Fighting is on its 3rd time round on the iPod, need to try find some new tunes to suit the new conditions.. Will know more tomorrow about arrival times and dates when this weather pattern settles in, standby..."

Signing off on behalf of the Samskara Crew was Kimbo, The Ships Cat.

Goodbye and fare the well - pic © and with thanks to Steb Fisher

To see where the fleet are located and to look at the sked positions, please go HERE.

By John Curnow