Boomerang Race Leader reefing south of New Caledonia

by Rob Kothe on 9 Jul 2006 Day seven of the inaugural Queensland Government sponsored South Pacific Boomerang series and the leader in the 1850 mile Melbourne to Vanuatu leg was 16 miles north of the Isle de Pins at this morning's pre-dawn radio schedule report.

Andrew Short reports; ‘Its 430am Sunday morning and we are just going through Passe De Larcelle-the narrow inside passage through the coral reefs at the bottom of Noumea. We took this route to save eleven miles of distance compared to going out side the reefs.

’Its dark and we are surrounded by coral reefs flying along under 0.75oz
spinnaker shy reaching at 11-15 knots against two knots of set.

‘Just as well we checked the Admiralty charts against the electronic charts on the GPS before we got there as we found a variance of between a tenth and half a mile. When going between these narrow passages especially in the night, it can make a big difference between getting through and running aground.

‘They do warn you about this on the chart plotter screen when you turn the power on - that is the disclaimer you acknowledge and not many people read before it will let you view the screen. The actual entrance to Port Vila is a half mile due South West on the chart compared to the screen on the plotter.

'It’s been a great trip so far, we are fortunate to have a crew like the one we have on board Andrew Short Marine-Club Marine this race, there has not been any tension between any of the twelve guys and everyone is still putting in the extra yards to get the maximum out of the boat. With just under 300 miles to go, anything can still happen and we are going hard to try and get the double!’

Second placed boat on line honours is still Ocean Racing Club of Victoria Commodore Angus Fletcher. His Radford 45 Tevake II is 278 miles north of Lord Howe Island, just five miles ahead of Nautilus Marine Insurance Helsal II.
Helsal II reported very slow conditions overnight, with the wind at sked time coming from the south at just 3-4 knots.

Pat Guidice and Brian Pattinson on their modified Open 60 Gusto are 20 miles further back. With more than 700 miles to go to Vanuatu, there is still a lot of racing for this group.

On handicap Mark Welsh’s Alien leads the IRC division from Tevake II and Lady Godiva. On Performance Handicap, Andrew Short Marine-Club Marine is leading by two days on corrected time from Geelong’s Ocean Skins and Nautilus Marine Insurance Helsal II is third.

In the double handed fleet Ryssenbeek and McCole retain the lead on Runaway, ahead of Tristan Gourlay and Pip Girling’s Adam 11.9 Force Eleven. Gusto is third.

Robin Hewitt reported last night, that conditions were so light that the crew on his steel hulled Lexcen 50 Yoko 'that the crew enjoyed a roast dinner.' Yoko was 130 miles north west of Lord Howe Island this morning.

Further south David James and Rosie Colahan reported a damaged gooseneck fitting on Ingenue, but they have managed to stitch a solution together and are still racing north.

Full sked data at ww.melbournevanuatu.com