Vanuatu Cruising Yacht Club releases 1st Bulletin for 2008

Welcome to the first issue of the M2V 2008 enews. To assist owners and crew with their preparations and to provide land crews with anopportunity to be involved, regular bulletins will be published on the Web and emailed to members and others who have registered their interest in the series. Information, ideas and questions are welcomed through the ORCV web forum which will be activated shortly. Register your interest Add yourself to the M2V info mailing list to receive e-news or to register your interest. The launch of M2V 2008 race series took place at Royal Brighton Yacht Club on Tuesday 27th November. The evening was well attended and information about Vanuatu as a tourism destination was presented by Tracy (Orient Pacific) and Silvana Kirkham (Iririki Resort). The door prize of a holiday for two in Vanuatu (Air Vanuatu air fares and accommodation at Iririki Resort) was won by Graham Ryan (Tevake I) who travelled from Port Fairy for the night. (Silvana makes Graham’s trip from Port Fairy worth his while) Neville Rose and Simon Dryden entertained the audience with their experiences from last year’s race on HELSAL II – very useful information for anyone who hasn’t sailed this route. A spontaneous raffle on the night raised $250which will go to a humanitarian project in Vanuatu. Humanitarian Aid in 2008 The Humanitarian Aid effort associated with the inaugural race was a great success. Robyn Brooke suggested a similar project for next year, based on observations while cruising BOOTS through the islands between races, and the experiences of others. It is proposed that we again provide much needed school supplies as a race project. Shaz Fowler (Ocean Skins) is seeking some information as to what will be most needed and volunteers to assist with this project are most welcome. Schoolhouse in Northern Pentecost Ocean Skins. The fisho antics on ‘Ocean Skins’ in the inaugural 2007 Melbourne to Vanuatu race were only one of the many highlights that have enticed Tony Fowler to rack up his beautiful Inglis 47 again for the start of the second M2V this July at Portsea. Here’s what he had to say about his experience last year and preparation for 2008. ‘It was a fantastic trip, to go offshore for so long, to leave sight of Australia and travel to a different country, a different culture. For a bloke who has never had a boat before, to be a pioneer in this inaugural race was an opportunity I couldn’t ignore. I’ve had Ocean Skins for three years but know so much about her now. Imagine, one day you clock up 311 miles and the next only 26. You learn a lot about your boat in this race, a lot of it before you even get to the start line. I was confident that the boat was well prepared. It took us about three months to get her ready and all the crew contributed. We stripped everything, every nut and bolt, to eliminate any surprises. Apart from one torn spinnaker, we arrived in Port Vila without any broken gear. We had calculated about nine days for the race and I was hoping to do a lot better than fifth over the line so our result (twelve days) was a bit of a disappointment. Looking to beat that this year. We couldn’t get away from Gabo in the light conditions. She just didn’t seem to want to leave Australia! Ocean Skins was already equipped for Cat 1 races which is half the battle. The raft was in survey (the annual check is about $1,000) and I probably spent about $15,000 which is about $3,000 on top of our Christmas campaign. I took seven crew and they chipped in $500 each for food and fuel. We had four helmsmen on board and we needed them all, especially on the day we clocked 311nm. I would have liked to take the same crew all the way but it’s difficult for everyone to get the time off which I suppose is inevitable with long races. To avoid too many crew changes, I decided to take on a couple of less experienced guys who had taken long service leave to do the trip. We had a good breeze to get through the Heads but one of the newbies was suffering badly and when we were approaching Flinders a few hours later I was faced with the decision of whether to land or continue. As it happened, the wind eased and we were able to keep going but I remember thinking “I’ve made a mistake”. My advice would be to use only tried and tested offshore crew. Manage crew changes rather than settle for availability. It certainly helps if inexperienced crew can take on a role down below to keep the food and drink going and share the workload, especially when the wind picks up. There might be room for a newbie with personality, endeavour and a strong stomach on a long distance race in good conditions but not even George can predict the conditions, so it’s a risk. If this is the first long-distance race you’ve done, I’d recommend talking to experienced yachties. Everyone you speak with has had a different experience and they love to share their stories. The opportunities are there to get the info so take advantage of it. Another dilemma if you don’t have crew on board who know the boat or are experienced offshore racers is your performance is compromised. You have to sail a bit more conservatively, within their capability. We were strict about reducing sail in anticipation of a change rather than wait to see what was dished up but were caught out once when we left our ¾ asymm up a little too long. Our existing sail wardrobe was good for the race but for next year I have added a new half ounce mast head kite and replaced the asymmetrical ¾ we destroyed. Unfortunately the good wind at the start shut down near Gabo and we were close inshore. If the wind looked light I’d be tempted to stay offshore next time but finally we turned the corner. What a joy to head north and slowly peel off the layers of clothing as the temperature increased. I’d recommend steering well clear of the atolls and reefs. No extra points for close mark roundings in this race. Middleton Reef and Elizabeth Reef, north of Lord Howe - don’t go there. Tevake II went east and was stuck around the reef. Yoko was sucked into Elizabeth Reef. Don’t go anywhere near them and be mindful of the currents which can suck you in. I remember it taking ages to get past an atoll one windless night. I went off shift and it was still there in the morning! We caught a lot of stripey tuna using a game fishing rod lashed to the pushpit and we caught well doing about seven knots. We were also blessed to have a chef on board. Dave Lancefield cooked us up unbelievable slabs of tuna. A hint to anyone thinking of going this year – take condiments to cook a variety of tuna dishes. You will catch plenty. We had converted the ice box into a freezer and installed a microwave for the race. For our additional power needs we installed a wind generator which worked uphill OK but not downhill. It didn’t drive us nuts but the Booby Birds tried to mate with it. Apparently someone in Vanuatu had an incident when a bird flew into their wind gen and damaged a blade. Don’t know what happened to the bird! We’re looking at solar power for next year. My wife Shaz took on the job of provisioning for the race and precooked all our main meals, packing them into take away containers which were washed and stacked after use. No garbage, no smells and no space issues. We found 75 meals was the perfect amount which was lucky, as that was all that could fit in the freezer! Underway we enjoyed lamb roast, beef roast, apricot chicken, burritos, cottage pie and beef stroganoff, as well as our regular catch. Additional separate daily ration packs kept supplies dry and stopped any snack sneaks while rations of dehydrated meals were reserved for emergencies. A reminder that you need to factor in the additional water tore constitute the dehydrated meals – any shortcuts can have serious consequences. While we’re on supplies, if you have smokers on board make sure they take double what they anticipate needing. Nothing worse for them and the rest of the crew than going through nicotine withdrawal at sea. We had one guy making bets we’d get in before dark – luckily we did. He’d run out of smokes! The slatting of sails in the windless swell is frustrating. We found it was less painful to drop the sails completely in these conditions and wait for the puff. The heady was back up in no time with the hint of a breath of wind. To break up the boredom at these times we found cards a good distraction but it was our fishing rites which marked the cultural crossover to our approaching south pacific experience. One particularly frustrating, near windless day we had a strike. Now a word of advice: You can’t start stabbing at freshly landed, slippery barrel tuna with knives when you’re sailing barefoot in the tropics. We needed a heavy, blunt object and the closest and most obvious tool at hand was a winch handle. It did the trick in a quick, humane way but this particular occasion was messy and once that blood started spraying, something came over us. With bloodied faces and raw fish between our teeth, we ‘crossed over’ to the South Pacific and from then on, our focus was on our destination. Once we had cleaned away the slippery mess – which was no simple task, it became a different race with our thoughts clearly on the finish line. The flying fish were spectacular and like squid, are attracted to the instrument lights at night. That smell? It may well be the crew but more likely to be a stowaway flying fish that wedged itself into an inconspicuous corner, a few hot days and nights ago. Leave plenty of time for customs and immigration formalities. We arranged our own in Geelong for the way out and although it went smoothly, it still took a good half day. Don’t arrive in Port Vila on a weekend or public holiday (as if you have a choice) because you’ll have to stay on board, at anchor, until the officials have time for you. If you do happen to get in at the wrong time, make sure there is a party stash because you’ll feel like celebrating.’ Port Vila is the capital city. Because of the French and English connection and the 24 hour fresh food market, there is no shortage of supplies and the quality is great. Lovely people but five days in Port Vila was more than enough for us. It is hard to plan not knowing when you’ll arrive but there’s plenty on offer and it’s easy to organize at short notice. Unless you are cruising around the islands, it might be worth leaving your boat at anchor and taking a flight to one of the outer islands. ‘Berthing facilities in Port Vila are quite primitive compared to what we are used to. We reversed in to the sea wall with the other competitors but unfortunately bottomed out onto our rudder at low tide from the wake of a motor boat. I suspect this incident may have caused an undetected hairline fracture which was to plague us down the track. We had a great win in the in-port race at Port Vila and set off in high spirits on the race to Mackay. 120 nm from Yepoon we were just about to pass Tevake II, sailing really hard to the inside of the reef for the last leg up to Mackay, there was a bottle of rum on it, after all. We had 25-35 knots of breeze with a powerful following sea. I had just gone off shift when there was a gut wrenching “thunk” which could only have been a very large ‘fish’. Our rudder brackets collapsed and that was it, race over. It happens, just like that! You’ve got to make sure that your backup rudder is 100% and you know how to use it. That was definitely the lowlight of the race for me, damaging the boat when we looked like getting line honours. It was the hardest we’ve ever sailed the boat in challenging conditions, only 150 miles to go and my birthday! We shipped Ocean Skins back from Yepoon, all the way back to Ocean Grove where my rigger is. He’s incredibly thorough and because our Hammo campaign was over before it had begun, with the mast out it gave him time to go over the entire rig. I ended up with a list of 100 things that needed to be brought to my attention. Pulling the keel off has made Skins stronger and better. The rig is strong, the hull is strong, the keel is strong and I’ve spent lots of money on the right rudder brackets. I know so much about the boat now and I’d trust her anywhere, anytime. It’s a comforting feeling. My new insurance premium is $5,700 but I’ve had a significant claim since the previous year. This time I’m anticipating the preparation costs to be about $12,000. We continued on last Christmas to win in our division in the Hobart race with very little preparation. Again, nothing broke so the costs of prepping the boat are shared across the two campaigns. A final aspect of our race, and one that I’m particularly proud of, is our major contribution to the humanitarian aid project by our crew, Paul Anderson. Through his work at the Gordon Institute in Geelong, Paul arranged for a donation of 40 fully equipped desktop and 20 laptop computers to be given to the Technical College in Vanuatu. The success of this project necessitated George Shaw, the race organizer, to work out how to get them there and luckily the generous sponsorship of the Queensland Government enabled the ORCV to pay for a container and the shipping costs. The container was quickly filled with 12 tonnes of other useful items which were distributed to various institutions and charities in Port Vila. Paul has recently arranged another 30 computers to be sent over.’ We’re hoping to repeat this effort again next year and after speaking with locals and seeing the need, Shaz Fowler has suggested an ‘Adopt a School’ project. Vanuatu schools received nothing from their supply lists submitted to the Education Department in 2006. No pencils, exercise books or text books. We hope you will encourage your crew, their friends and family to get behind this project for next year. ‘We plan to finish what we started last year and this time hope to go on and do Hammo after the return race to Mackay.’ If you are interested in joining the fleet for this adventure to warmer waters in July, contact the ORCV on 9689 1622, email orcv@orcv.org.au or register your interest at www.orcv.org.au