Hullabaloo completes Melbourne Osaka race

by Di Pearson on 2 May 2007 Jim and Joe O’Keeffe from Yamba in NSW have ‘blown in’, the second finisher today and eight on line in the 2007 Melbourne Osaka double handed yacht race, finishing at 12 hours 51 minutes 59 seconds AEST on May 2 (01H 51m 59s UTC) with an elapsed time of 38 days 22h 51m 59s.

Sailing Hullabaloo, their Adams 13 metre, the 57 year old skipper and his 20 year old son finished just over 11 hours behind Southern Light which, along with Asadori, they had sailed in a group with for a good part of the race after dropping off an earlier group with Dekadence and Tamagomalu.

On stepping ashore, Jim told: 'Yesterday was quite uncomfortable; it blew in the 40s for six to seven hours. When we came through the current it was amazing, it was so turbulent, worse than a washing machine. The waves were vertical, but at least we were running and heading towards the finish line.'

His words agree with what Asadori’s Shinsuke Nishi reported last night: 'Cloudy with 25 knot sou-sou-east wind. We mean to head for Cape Muroto, but it is difficult! Today's storm was tough! At noon, we gave up sailing. All sails down, but the boat still sails 7 knots bare poled!

'Until 9am the wind was 25 - 30knots. It rose to 30-40 knots I witnessed the speed metre indicating 49knots in the blow some time ago and the boat speed exceeded 15 knots several times. Wave height was 8 metres - I felt scared when I was steering. I haven't had this feeling for a long time! I am wondering when this storm will end…….'

Due to arrive imminently, the storm is no longer a threat.

'The whole idea to begin with was to sail conservatively so we could finish the race – and in one piece. Joe wanted to push harder at times, but then we reasoned things out and kept to the original plan.

'It was disappointing to drop off the first pack, but as I said to Joe, don’t worry, we’re up with the boats in our class, we’re OK.' The pair beat their Racer B class mates, Asadori and Esoterica. During their time with Southern Light and Asadori, the three regularly traded places during the race.

Jim says he and Joe enjoyed the race immensely and got along well, confiding: 'Joe hasn’t done much ocean racing, so I was worried during the first part of the race, it wasn’t very pleasant, but Joe handled it really well – he got better and better every day.'

The Yamba yachtsman said there were a couple of times he wondered if they would finish the race. 'Early on, I fell and damaged my shin when we fell off a wave – you could see right through to the bone. I cleaned it up and bandaged it and took antibiotics, thinking if we had to drop out, there were lots of places along the Australian coast.

'When we crossed the equator, Joe was steering and I felt a thump and Joe screamed to me. We’d hit a log of about 50 feet side-on. It slid along the rudder and put the steering out. We took water through the gland and it took a while to stem the flow of water, but we managed.

'That was a long, long race – people talk about the Sydney Hobart (which he’s done), but this is such a long hard race. We are both very happy to be here.'

Once Asadori arrives, Ingenue (Vic), Wild Boar (JPN) and Esoterica (Qld) will be the last three yachts to finish the 5,500 nautical mile race.

Weather from Roger Badham:

070501 0530Z
Winds are average winds at 10m – no gust.

GALES
TUE 01
A region of gale force SE-S-SSW winds of 35-45 winds, north of 29N, will clear to the east of the rhumb line by tomorrow morning. Wind turning SW-W/20-30 behind.
SAT 05
SW winds of 30-35 knots expected ahead of a front to cross the rhumb line north of 31N and clearing to the east that night.
SUN 06
S-SW winds of 30-40 kts expected to cross the rhumb line north of 26N. The gale force winds clearing to the east that night with NW-N/15-25 behind the front.

Argos tracker positions at UTC 02.00.00 (12pm AEST & 11am JPN Wednesday May 2):

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) FINISHED 01H 43m 41s (AEST) May 2
Hullabaloo (Jim and son Joe O’Keeffe) FINISHED 12H 51m 59s (AEST) May 2
Asadori (Shinsuke Nishi/Kyojun Fujita), Ingenue (David James and wife Rosie Colahan), Wild Boar (Shozi Yoneda/Jun Kanda), 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).