Melbourne to Vanuatu race leader retires

by John Curnow on 8 Jul 2010 Melbourne to Vanuatu race breaking news.

Scarlet Runner has had to retire from the 2010 Melbourne to Vanuatu race, just as she had been doing exceptionally well and was well inside race record pace.

All of the crew are fine and the boat is safe and integral too. They are presently returning to Southport, which they should reach at around midday, Friday July 9. The crew’s next of kin have also been notified of the situation and been constantly updated, as the matter unfolded.

At just after 4pm EST on Thursday, the boat’s EPIRB was activated and hers alone. This signal was received immediately by AMSA in Canberra and together with the ORCV, all efforts were then made to contact her via HF Radio, email and SatPhone. A good sign was that none of the crew’s PLBs had gone off at the same time.

Alas, inability to communicate was the issue. Water damage has caused a failure of key electronic systems onboard. Scarlet Runner had been reaching across the Pacific at significant speed, in excess of 50km/h at times and it is the large amounts of spray this generates that is likely to have been the cause.

Accordingly, a fixed wing aircraft was dispatched from Brisbane to locate and establish communication with Scarlet Runner. At around 6.30pm, the crew of aircraft had indeed located her and made contact via Scarlet Runner’s hand-held VHF radio. It was at this time that they notified the aircrew of their problem and notified them of their withdrawal and intention to return to land, as this is the safest policy. She would have been at least 60% into the 1885nm race at the time of the withdrawal, some four hours before the evening radio schedule to check on the fleet’s whereabouts and progress.

We look forward to speaking with them on their mobiles, once in range and to enjoying their company again, just as we all did at the marvellous farewell dinner on Saturday night at Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron.

website http://orcv.org.au