Melbourne Osaka fleet hit by gales

by Di Pearson on 1 May 2007 Six yachts have finished the 2007 Melbourne Osaka double handed yacht race with six remaining at sea and the top three have been hit by gale force winds which are expected to continue through the week, giving no let up to the yachts which will have been at sea for 37 days come 1.00pm AEST today.

Affected are the lead group of three, which are in the middle of southerly winds that are expected to veer east and west of south during the day and rise to a peak of 45 knots on steep seas.

Southern Light, Asadori and Hullabaloo are in what has to be the worst weather conditions of the race so far. In the Pacific Ocean, with the southern most tip of Japan abeam but well to their west, the fleet leaders, Tom Crabb from Adelaide in South Australia and his co-skipper, Trent Justice from Brisbane (Southern Light) have sailed just 26 miles in the period between 6.00pm AEST last evening and 10.00am this morning. It is a telling sign of what the Adams 11.9m, which still has 147 miles to sail, is going through.

Further to the east and 27 miles behind, Asadori has made the most ground, the Iain Murray 43 sailing 31 miles. Spare a thought for co-skipper Kyojin Fujita, who is celebrating his 58th birthday in such conditions.

Wanting so much to celebrate his birthday at home in Japan, it will be little comfort to he and skipper Shinsuke Nishi to know they have overtaken Hullabaloo’s Yamba NSW father and son crew, Jim and Joe O’Keeffe, by two miles.

The last three in the race, Ingenue (David James/Rosie Colahan), Wild Boar (Shozi Yoneda/Jun Kanda) and Esoterica (Campbell Reynolds/David Best) aren’t fairing much better, but have the opposite problem, with winds reportedly light in the 9-12 knot range.

Ingenue, having sailed 20 miles, 532 miles away from the finish line, is between Taiwan, well to the west, and the Volcano Islands to their east. Four miles behind and to the east of Ingenue is Wild Boar with a 16 mile run, while Esoterica, a further 184 miles astern, has just left the Mariana Islands and has sailed a paltry 9 miles.

Yesterday, Ingenue’s David James imagined they would be in Osaka by the weekend. That scenario is not likely as they sail towards gale force conditions which are not expected to abate over the next few days.

Weather from Roger Badham:
070430 0530Z
Winds are average winds at 10m – no gust.

GALES
TUE 01
A region of gale force SE-S-SSW winds are expected with a front that is expected to cross the race rhumb line during Tuesday 1st May with SE-S-SW winds of 35-45 kts – the strongest winds expected between 30N and 33N immediately ahead of the front with W/25-35 behind the front.

AREAS AND WIND
TUE 01 29N to 33N and 132E to 139E SE-SW/35-45 kts
WED 02 north of 30N and east of 140E S/35-45; ie front clear to the east of the rhumb line

SUN 06
A following front on Sunday 6th may have near gale strength S-SW winds of 30-35 kts between 30N to 33N and 132E to 140E, that front crossing the rhumb line during the day and clearing to the east that night.

Argos tracker positions at UTC 00.00.00 (10am AEST & 9am JPN Tuesday May 1):

Alex (Jock and son Hamish MacAdie) FINISHED 07H 12m 02s (AEST) April 27
COCORIN (Itaru Matsunaga/John Bankart) FINISHED 14H 51m 22s (AEST) April 27
Gusto (Brian Pattinson) FINISHED 03H 52m 13s (AEST) April 28
RYU-JIN (Murray Bucknall/Jon Sayer) FINISHED 17H 58m 44s (AEST) April 29
Dekadence (Phil Coombs/Peter Walsh) FINISHED 09H 56m 03s (AEST) April 30
Tamagomalu (Makoto Hisamatsu/Jimmi Doherty) FINISHED 16H 16m 12s (AEST) April 30
Southern Light (Tom Crabb/Trent Justice), Asadori (Shinsuke Nishi/Kyojun Fujita), Hullabaloo (Jim and son Joe O’Keeffe), Wild Boar (Shozi Yoneda/Jun Kanda), Ingenue (David James and wife Rosie Colahan), Esoterica (Campbell Reynolds/David Best), Cadi (John and son David Netherton, retired), Wasabi (Ken Down/Shane Gaddes – retired), Runaway (James Ryssenbeek/Andrew McCole – retired), Pippin (Roger Sayers/Anthony Bown – retired).