Cunning Plan
by John Curnow, Editor, Sail-World AUS 11 Mar 2018 17:30 PDT
Leg 4, Melbourne to Hong Kong, day 15 Big smile on Grant Wharingtons face as the miles tick by and the lead remains on board Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag © Konrad Frost / Volvo Ocean Race
It's Australia's longest ocean race. The equivalent of like nine Hobarts back to back. The 5500nm two-handed odyssey has a staggered start from 15 March to 1 April, 2018. It traverses (not crosses) the world-renowned Bass Strait, asks you to sneak around the proverbial 'Got A Bit On' Island, crosses the horse latitudes, and the doldrums, and also offers a myriad of other challenges along the way, including Cook's 'beloved' reef.
One guy who used all that knowledge to perfection recently was Wharro on board Team Sun Hung Kai /Scallywag, when they did so well in Melbourne to Hong Kong leg of the Volvo Ocean Race. Grant Wharington commented the other day, "Yes I still hold the Melbourne to Osaka record from 1995 with Scott Gilbert. We took the Jim Inglis /Andy Dovell 50-footer, Wild Thing, which is now called UBS Wild Thing in Sydney, and covered it off in 26 days, 20 hours, 47 minutes, and six seconds."
"I was fortunate to be presented with the keys to the City of Melbourne as a result of this great event. I'm assuming it will be smashed this year by Chinese Whisper!" (Rupert Henry's JV62).
As famous as all that is and might yet be, it is quite possibly the great Richard Bennett's image of that Wild Thing roaring down the West Coast of Tassie that is the most remarkable. Now assuming the record will get smashed, and a lot of people think it will be, you have to remember that in order to finish first, first you have to finish.
One even completed the remainder of the track from PNG solo - a former Open 60 named, Gusto. Lisa Blair's Hick 50, Climate Action Now, is another craft to have done it, as Funnel Web. After setting off the husband and wife team realised they had no matches, and they took nearly all of the trip to solve that issue. So it was cold, dry food most of the way! They even holed her 32nm from the finish, just to keep it challenging. They did finish, and it along with Gusto's story sum up that unrelenting drive that is the cornerstone for these two-handed crews.
At one point they had a waiting list nearly as long, or longer as the actual 24-boat entry list for the race, with the lack of space at the destination (Hokko) the issue there. All that aside, when late entry Chinese Whisper with Rupert Henry and Greg O'Shea on board does take off as the backmarker on April 1, it will be interesting to see how smartly they can overhaul Joanna Breen and Peter Brooks' little S&S 34 that is getting away first on March 15.
Now the JJs are the unofficial World Championship for the 18s. It has been hard to read about the Kiwis doing so well, and it was good to know that a first time champion would get up no matter what, which was Honda and Maersk. Smeg took the last race and that meant Honda Marine became the first Kiwis to get the JJ Giltinan and take a win since 1973.
Importantly, you would have noticed their live stream on the front of the site when it was running. You too can have your feed up on the top of the site, just make contact with us ahead of time, and we can make it so. They did a sterling job of getting the codes to us well in front of commencement, and this was exceptional. Well done!
As is often the case with the premier Etchells Regattas around the country, they almost tend to take on an unofficial national title status themselves. Definitely sheep stations on the table there, and in this the year of the Worlds in Brisbane come October, it is even more heightened. 32 boats booked in for the Victorian Championship that is still in play now. Day One was sailed in the light, and as is often the case with Port Phillip, the wind blew in for the next day, so to be at the top is a sign of mastery of conditions.
The first day's two races saw Iain Murray, Richie Allanson and Aaron Cole on top, with some other very, very notable names on the podium, or nearby. Former World Champions, Iron Lotus, catapulted to the lead after the third race, but at that stage it looked like Martin Hill, Julian Plante, Mark Langford and David Chapman on Lisa had done the best job of getting the iron out and smoothing the creases out of their results with a 3, 7 and 8.
In fourth place at that point was, Our Thing, and you can read all about 'Their Thing', right here... Two third places on Day Two has them sitting in second place, six points astern of the leaders, Iron Lotus. Another bullet to Olympic Gold Medallist, Tom King, with crew of Ivan Wheen, Owen McMahon and David Edwards in the last race means it will be a special last day.
Five points further back is Chris Hampton's, Tango. He and crew of Sam Haines and Charlie Cumbley came from 11th place the previous day to hold third place before the last day's two races. There are crews like YandooXX, Gen XY, Northern Havoc, Lisa and reigning AUS Champs, Magpie, as well as others in striking distance of the podium, especially given the tumultuous times in the first two days.
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