As our last competitor finished earlier this week, it’s time to draw to a close, the Melbourne to Osaka Yacht Race for 2018. As the principal Race Director, I would personally like to thank the members of the race team for their dedication and persistence in trying times.
The 2018 race is considered a success by all involved, thanks to your efforts. It was considered one of the most challenging races ever run by many of the repeat competitors, serving up the wild weather in Melbourne, cyclones and monsoonal rain off Queensland and extreme wind patterns from glass outs to gales and storms across the latitudes of the 5000 nautical mile race. The race was relatively incident free which is a credit to the preparation and careful oversight by a great team.
The 2018 Osaka Race Team
The Oganising Authority
Ray Shaw (ORCV Commodore and Chairman), Rob Davis (SYC Commodore), Norio Utsunomiya (OHYC Commodore), George Shaw (OHYC Alternate Director), Kate Mitchell (Secretary and SYC rep), Martin Vaughan (ORCV rep and Org Committee rep)
Organising Committee
Martin Vaughan, George Shaw, Kate Mitchell, Dr Rosie Colahan, Julie Davis, Rob Tanner, Ian MacWilliams, Robyn Brooke, Simon Dryden, David James
Boat Compliance
Sally Williams
Boat Audit Committee
David James, Justin Brenan, Marissa, Rob Tanner, Michael Blair, Paul Buckholz & Marissa Chalkley.
Handicapper
Pete Chalkley
Entrance Guide
Lex O’Conner and Julie Davis
Race Tracker
Grant Dunoon
Race Directors
Simon Dryden (PRO) Ray Shaw, Martin Vaughan, Neville Rose, Don Fraser, Robert Tanner and Rik Head
The Weather Team
Robin Hewitt and Andrew Roberts
The Incident Management Team
Rik Head (Chair), David Taylor, Bruce Ready, Edel Doyle, Donna Foley, Georgie Mitchell and Robert Bradley
The Medical Team
Dr Rosie Colahan (Chair), Dr Lou Irving, Dr Marnie Irving, Dr Roger Wale, Dr Paul Buchholz (Dentist), Darren Edgar (Psychologist), Dr James Taylor ( Emergency physician), Dr Mark Preston
The International Jury
Paul Pascoe (Chair), Rob Ware, Lisa Mackay, Masaaki Tanaka, Leonard Chin and Katsuya Hashiba
The Osaka Finishing Team
Martin Vaughan, George Shaw, Ian Mac Williams, Robyn Brooke, Kate Mitchell, Julie Davis and all the members of the Osaka Hokko Yacht Club
Media Team
Ian McWilliams, Hiroshi Horiuchi, Alexis Wang and Amy Yang, Jun Kurosaki
Interpreting Team
Cat Nakamichi and her team of students
Thanks to all for a great effort
– Martin Vaughan and Simon Dryden