Across the weekend as news came in, we posted several times on Facebook with updates on a few of our competitors who were undertaking qualifying passages for the Sundance Marine Melbourne Osaka Cup 2018. Here’s a summary of the weekend along with a few photos.
We reported last week on Utopia 2001’s trip down to SYC from Mooloolaba and by Saturday morning, they were well west of the Prom and had an ETA for their arrival at the the Heads and up the bay to Sandi. Conditions for much of the voyage had proven to be quite different from the forecasts, mostly lighter than predicted and the last day for Utopia wasn’t much different. A photo came through of a hearty breakfast that had been prepared. A report from skipper John was that both guys are multi-tasking in all sorts of crucial areas and from what we’d seen, cooking is pretty important aboard Utopia 2001!
Around the same time, 08:00 Saturday, Meltemi with Ian and Lyn was closing on the Heads. They’d departed SYC about 03:00 and were under way on their qualifying cruise, destination Sydney. On AIS we could also see Escapade her way to Port Phillip Heads. A quick check revealed that Robert Bradley was under way with his qualifier for the Melbourne to Hobart west coaster, set to start on December 27. He had a full crew on board and would be out in Bass Strait all day in order to get up the miles to qualify. Co-skippers Robert and Joey are planning their double handed qualifier in March when they do the King Island race and of course even though they’ve sailed to Osaka double handed before, each crew has to sail a minimum of number of miles within six months of the start of the race to qualify. You can see the rules pertaining to this at the bottom of the page.
While short distance communications allowed, an HF radio schedule was set up with Meltemi for 20:30 on Saturday night and Utopia 2001 was informed of the schedule as well. She was set to transit the Heads at 21:00 on Saturday night, with an ETA at Sandringham of around 3am. John on Utopia reported seeing another of our competitors Electra out in Bass Strait as well. Chris Wilson and Geoff Graham were out doing their qualifier for the West Coaster as well. It certainly was busy out there!
At 8:30 the transmission from Meltemi could be heard loud and clear on 4483 mhz aboard two boats at Sandringham. Ian reported that they’d had a great day’s sailing and had just finished off a roast chicken dinner. They expected to pass the Prom around 4am. Utopia 2001 came up briefly on the radio sched as well and reported that they were busy setting up to pass through the heads a little earlier than planned and would now be at SYC about 01:30 Sunday due to a nice breeze that had sprung up from the SE.
John and Steve pulled into Sandringham on time and were met by race committee members George and Ian. With liquid refreshments having dried up on board a few days earlier, they were pleased to toast their arrival with a couple of drinks that George had brought along. Both guys had made it in time for the ORCV West Coaster briefing to be held on Sunday afternoon.
By Sunday morning, Meltemi could be seen on AIS east of Wilson’s Promontory making about 6 knots. They’d had a great first night and reported that they’d settled into a routine. Escapade and Electra had both returned to the bay at the end of the day having completed their qualifiers for the Hobart event.
Melbourne Osaka Cup Appendix B of NoR list The qualifying passage – race Melbourne to Hobart or ocean passage of not less than 400 nm with approval of the OA. The NoR for the Melbourne to Osaka Cup Appendix B list 4 races as qualifiers.
Alternatively with approval a non stop ocean passage of not Less than 24 hours may be agreed.