ORCV Melbourne to Vanuatu (M2V)

A certain James Cook...

...wrote in his logs (after standing atop the hill on Lizard Island, which went on to be known as Cook's Look), something along the lines of, "..those insufferable SE winds". Today, we know them as the Trade Winds and if you're racing to Vanuatu, they are very handy indeed, as they set you up for a lovely reach across the South Pacific. All of that means you get to your destination quickly and do not spend vast amounts of time trying to dispatch of the horse latitudes that lie between the tropics and the more temperate zones of Southern Australia.

I'd like to make a big thank you to Richard Mollard, whom we refer to as the Admiral, for showing me Cooktown and Lizard Island, which brought all that wonderful history to life, in the most magnificent fashion. Cheers to you, sir.

Now our very good friends at PredictWind are in the Beta test phase of their new routing software and have kindly passed on some very interesting models for us to review, as the situation in Tasman and South Pacific continues to develop and unfold, with the significant low pressure system operating in the area.

The first route looks at the two wind models for a 52footer, much like our race leader, Scarlet Runner. The second is for a Beneteau 44.7, which is just a little bit smaller than Samskara (she's a 47.7).

52Footer: Importantly, the different models go either side of New Caledonia in this one and whilst the distance travelled isn't hugely different, the seven hours you could be in front by, is very, very important!

Beneteau 44.7: As the slightly smaller, more cruisier boats will experience a different phase of the wind, the two models have both chosen the same route around New Caledonia. The distances are effectively identical, but there's the matter of the six hours difference in elapsed time that remains crucial to making your choice. Nothing like a bit of seamanship to help you with that one...

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

By John Curnow