Melbourne to Vanuatu - Legs Eleven - Guess who is going with Gusto?

by John Curnow on 17 May 2010 Bingo! It's official. The new Gusto (the old Xena, Grundig, AAPT, Sean Langman's much loved Skiff on Steriods), which is an MBD designed Open 66 (there we go with 'pick up sticks'), is the 11th entrant in the 2010 M2V. Now she certainly does have the legs to skip along and go chase the record, as set by the late Andrew Short, should the weather patterns allow it.

Jeremy ‘How Many Days to Go to the Start' Walton, who's entrenched with the campaign, said 'I tried to just slip the entry in while you were busy with Melbourne to Apollo Bay, but obviously, not quite sneaky enough.'

Thanks Jeremy, I resemble that remark. By the way, Jeremy's wedding is just 26 days away, Melbourne to Vanuatu is 48 days and Vanuatu to Mackay is 70 days and Jeremy's own wedding is just 26 days from Monday 17/05/10.

Brian Pattinson did the 2006 race two handed in the old Gusto, which funnily enough was another former Open 60.

He has put together an experienced crew for the race, including another Melbourne to Vanuatu veteran, Tony Fowler and some of his crew from Ocean Skins.

So, after having had a few conversations with Jeremy via email, we know that the boat is currently lying in Brisbane (she was previously in the same armada as Blackjack) and is waiting for the new PBO rigging to arrive from overseas. Then the stick will be put back in. She also has a bunch of newish sails to play with too. 'It is going to be touch and go to make it to the start line, as the rigging should be completed by the end of May and then Gusto will then be delivered down to Melbourne, where she should be here by mid-June', Jeremy tells me.

'There is a lot of preparation for an entry for this sort of race and so Brian, who is currently in the US, has really put the crew under the pump to get the boat sorted and ready to go racing', Jeremy added.

He has already managed to get the boat registered, obtain a new sail number from Royal Brighton Yacht Club (B660) and is madly completing the rest of the paper work for the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria.

Gusto intends to do the Melbourne to Vanuatu race and may well do the Vanuatu to Mackay race also, depending on the timing, as the boat is due back in Queensland for the next campaign at Hamilton Island.

After this, Gusto will return to Melbourne and be doing Melbourne to Stanley and one of the Hobart races at years end - just which one I am told that, 'We will have to wait and see.' They will be doing either the famed Westcoaster or the new and very popular, Eastcoaster.

One wonders if that will be enough to inspire some other of the Division Zero boats to make a race out of it, at the pointy end of the fleet. So what about it owners???

There's plenty of information available and online entry too, at orcv.org.au