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Sail-World.com : McConaghy Offshore Championship - Extasea and Chikara Outlaw win!
McConaghy Offshore Championship - Extasea and Chikara Outlaw win!
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'Teri Dodds took this image and she is one of the Extasea crew’s greatest fans. - McConaghy Melbourne Offshore Championship'
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Over the weekend, 11 boats persevered with some of the most frustrating weather yet encountered this season, to complete the final race of the 2009/10 McConaghy Melbourne Offshore Championship, which was Melbourne to Apollo Bay.
Any race where it was tide more than wind that pushed the fleet out of Port Phillip Heads was always going to be tough, but with so many overall results hanging on the final calculations, there were plenty of motivated crews out there.
27 boats got away at 0145hrs on Saturday, once some extra time had been added to the original 0100 hrs start, so as to allow for shipping. By 0300, Lonsdale VTS were back on the VHF getting the fleet to move out of the main channels to ensure the next three ships had a clear run at the Heads. The retirements started coming early on and kept going well into the afternoon.
There was a glimmer of hope late in the morning when it looked like Huey was going to push the first boat in at around 1330, but thankfully we all stood back and had a few breaths before we jumped to action stations. Breaths became the word of the day, for it seemed that was all the wind was ever going to achieve again. A couple of crews radioed in to say that they wish they could even find the breaths of wind!
It was nearly dark, but Extasea had done enough to lead the fleet home in the Melbourne to Apollo Bay race - 52nm in virtually 16 hours or an average of 3.25 knots. Magic, who was the last boat in, made an average of just 2.6knots, by the way. It is no wonder then, that the crew of Pretty Woman said of their retirement, ‘We just got sick of seeing the barnacles growing.'
Not to worry, as dusk and then night marched ever onward, Extasea finally made it over the line and Chikara Outlaw followed them, around half an hour later. Then it was Audacious, Alien and Bacardi, who arrived at the head of tight group of four that had Remedy, The Secretary and Slinky Malinky as the other constituents. Remedy, who went two-up deserve a mention at this point, as it was their first effort out in the blue and they did really well, getting the win in performance handicap, on debut. They pulled into Apollo Bay for a well-deserved sleep.
Beyond Outrageous were next. They started virtually in last place and were quite happy that the attrition rate kept pumping them up the scoreboard. Ian Lindsay tells me that, ‘It was an incredibly frustrating race (for all I'm sure). We, along with two other boats, got stuck in a wind hole over on the eastern side of the channel at the Heads.
There was a tide of around 1.5 to two knots carrying us out, a huge amount of slop and not enough wind (on the tack we were on) to get way and then tack around. It took us the best part of an hour to get the boat tacked and all the time we just watched on, as the rest of the fleet sail away. There wasn't much opportunity to make up time against the boats in front, so we just had to try and keep the boat moving, knowing that we had probably stuffed out chances of winning the championship on performance. Then boats started to pull out one after the other. A lot of inane talking occurs when it takes an hour to cover a nautical mile and we joked about a certain ice skater named Steven Bradbury.'
‘Beyond Outrageous spent the night in Apollo Bay with the only other boat from the race to stop in, Gigi, after we had some engine issues that required a trip to the local service station in the morning. We had a good look at our sister ship Addiction on the trailer, all ready to make the trip back to Melbourne and were very pleased to hear that she is being repaired. We got in at about midnight last night after a generally speaking, windless return trip home.'
Yoko arrived at 2228hrs and then the last boat, Magic, at 2325hrs. The crew of the race van would like to thank all the participants for their enthusiastic and effusive thanks and praise after you all had crossed the line. We all really felt for you and were so glad that you hung in. It sounded like you had a real sense of accomplishment. Certainly the crew of Alien did, because I could hear the tapping of the calculator buttons from where I stood at the end of breakwater, when Andrew radioed in their official finishing time. I know everyone would also like to thank Peter Clancy for his heroic efforts in keeping in touch with everyone from Barwon Heads and also Split Point.
And so, it is with great pleasure that we announce that as the winner of the Performance Handicap System of the McConaghy Melbourne Offshore Championship, it is Chikara Outlaw that wins the magnificent McConaghy carbon fibre wheel.
They were pretty happy with themselves when they won their first flag during the M2KI and at the time they said they were after the wheel - well, you've done it. Cheers to that.
‘We're excited', said co-skipper Jo Norbury, ‘we did our calculations last night. We are wrapped at the consistency and crew work. We must have done a thousand sail changes during this last race. You know it is all to do with the 50% girl crew that we have onboard', she added.
Bill Trueman, the other skipper, quickly chimed in with ‘I'm stoked. We'll have to paint the cabin top to match. We have Blake Anderson onboard and he wasn't even born when our number one headsail was made by his father Col, 23 years ago!' Col Anderson was known for the Hood franchise at the time, but also sailed aboard a certain boat known as Challenge 12, reputably the fastest conventional 12m ever made and the back-up plan for another famous boat, Australia II.
When I spoke with Jono Morris, the co-MD of McConaghy, he was just as thrilled. ‘We have been really delighted to see such fierce competition for the McConaghy carbon fibre wheel. When it came down to the last race and there had been one flag awarded to separate winners from the seven proceeding races, we knew that there would be plenty of motivation out there, in the anticipated light weather, to keep the crews going. How wonderful it is that Bill, Joanne and their crew from Chikara Outlaw have got the prize, when they so clearly and adamantly indicated they wanted it after their first win from the Melbourne to King Island race.'
‘Mark (Mark Evans is the other co-MD) and I hope that Bill and Jo get as much enjoyment from using it, as we and our team here at McConaghy have done in making and presenting it.'
The Ocean racing Club of Victoria's Committee is really enthused by the support of a brand and organisation like McConaghy's and wish to thank them for being so actively involved and for offering such a grand prize as to ensure the season was a nail biter.
Finally then, to the overall winner of the 2009/10 season, which is Extasea. They have sailed so well and as a result, even had the ability to not show up for the race to King Island. Yet they still won both IRC and AMS. What a marvellous effort! Congratulations ‘Team Ecky'. Three years in a row.
I got to speak with her Skipper, Paul Buchholz and he had this to say about their marvellous achievements. ‘Firstly, I would like to thank the Committee and all the people behind the ORCV, like Dennis, Sally and Peter who make it possible for all of us to take part in such a fantastic sport and also make it just so easy to participate - a job well done!!! Thank You.'
 | Extasea was first home and in the background you can make out Chikara Outlaw - McConaghy Melbourne Offshore Championship - Click Here to view large photo |
‘To say that we are 'ecstatic' in winning the McConaghy Melbourne Offshore Championship for a third straight year would be an understatement. I feel privileged to have a great boat and a fantastic amateur crew, who year in and year out, get on board and make things happen. All the 'Extasea' named boats have featured in the ORCV records and on the way home, after a very slow race, we recounted our quickest Apollo Bay race, of just over five hours, which we also won.'
‘We had a mixed start to the season with the Melbourne to Geelong event at the end of the Winter Series, when we encountered major engine problems. It was playing up a bit at the start and then wouldn't fire at all at the end of the race, which was when we needed it most. The weather, as you probably will remember, was atrocious (40+knots) and we were counting on the motor to get sails down. We blew out two headsails at the end, so all in all, it was an unmitigated disaster.'
‘The Stanley race was great. The very light conditions demanded a lot of concentration to sail the boat and get a good result. The Launceston race at Christmas time was also light to start with and the kite run home to the finish was exhilarating to say the least. We saw up to 16kts and surfing down waves with everyone on the stern quarter. What a great ride.'
‘We missed the King Island race due to a lack of regular crew, as this is a busy time of the year, which was a little daunting with the Championship at stake. Port Fairy was a great race. There was a great breeze that suited the boat until we got around Cape Otway, the half way mark and we cracked sheets more. Reaching is not the DK's best point of sailing and we knew there was a great gaggle of boats behind us that just loved reaching. We tried everything, stuck to concentrating on the job at hand and it paid off for us, just missing the record for the race by seven plus minutes, but winning on IRC.'
 | Addiction ran aground in the channel coming home from the Port Fairy race and was trucked out the same day the fleet went home. - McConaghy Melbourne Offshore Championship - Click Here to view large photo |
‘With the Apollo Bay race, we knew we had to make a stand here with a good result, in order to have any chance to improve our position in the standings and so, we gave it our absolute all. We had a hard time getting out of the Heads, but stuck to our game plan to stay offshore, hopefully in breeze, which paid off. Once again, concentration was the thing that got us through. We have a couple of guys that are experts in this area - light air sailing is probably the most frustrating and soul destroying, but we have managed to keep the boat moving through all of it. We couldn't shake the fleet off and everyone was very close at six hours into the race. Gradually, we gradually crept away with the wind dying, to secure another win.'
 | After the taste of their first winning flag, Chikara Outlaw pointed to the wheel and said ’Ours!’ - McConaghy Melbourne Offshore Championship - Click Here to view large photo |
‘Extasea, or at least all my boats of that name (the DK46 is the fourth), was born some 18 years ago and today there are still a large number of the initial crew sailing with me. We are a 'family' committed to sailing hard and getting the most out of the boats, having fun, motivating and introducing the younger members of Royal Geelong Yacht Club to ocean racing. We have often asked for concessions for taking younger sailors on these races. The mixture of the 'old guard' and new blood is fantastic to see and we are committed to keep introducing young sailors to his fantastic side of the sport, which we all love and cherish. I recommend every boat to take at least one 'new blood' each season if not each race.'
For more information, go to: www.orcv.org.au
by John Curnow
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http://www.marinebusinessnews.com/index.cfm?nid=69670
2:17 PM Tue 18 May 2010 GMT
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