Plenty of newcomers enter 2025 Melbourne to Apollo Bay Yacht Race

Multihull, Peccadillo © Al Dillon

Competitors in the 2025 Melbourne to Apollo Bay Yacht Race (M2AB) will start this final offshore event of the season under the eerie cover of darkness at 0400 hours on Saturday the 24th of May.

The 52 nautical mile sprint is the final race of the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria's (ORCV) summer sailing program and is also the deciding race in the ORCV Coastal Championship Series and the ORCV Double-Handed Championship.

Race Director, Ryan Blackstock, is expecting an exciting early morning start, relatively calm conditions on Port Phillip and a challenging sea state once the fleet is out of Port Phillip Heads.

"We have a good-looking fleet with a mix of boats, some new ones, and lots of experience.

"I expect we will have a bit of breeze during the race with the lead boats likely to reach Apollo Bay by lunchtime," said Blackstock.

The fleet will be looking for more wind than last year, none more so than the current Coastal Championship leader Ginan, skippered by Cameron McKenzie and Nigel Jones, from the Mornington Yacht Club.

The highly experienced and disciplined team will be pushing the sleek 36-foot racing boat hard along the coast in their quest for a third Coastal Championship win in a row.

The battle for line honours will be an interesting affair, with several boats in contention.

Local legend Damien King is sailing his Frers 61, MRV, in this year's race, with the elegant 18.5 metre sloop the biggest boat in the fleet and widely tipped to take line honours.

The versatile Chris Dare, who sails everything from 20-foot sportsboats to TP52s, is campaigning his new Botin Carkeek GP42, Ambition, in only her second race under Dare's ownership, and is certain to have an eye on the line honours prize.

Dare, representing the Derwent Sailing Squadron, has brought together a Tasmanian / Victorian team of talented sailors, including his son Lockie, to give the highly modified boat purchased from Fremantle only a few months ago, an airing.

"We are just keen to put our nose outside the [Port Phillip] Heads to see what she's like offshore," said Dare, who is also looking forward to competing in the ORCV DYSC Marine Supplies Winter Series as he prepares for some longer races over summer.

Following a successful first offshore race to King Island earlier this year, Danielle Fraser has the Jac Hoi band back together and will be sailing the Solaris 47 short-handed in her first M2AB race, with the boat also tipped to be up there on line honours.

Talking from the boat as she finalised preparations for the race along one of Victoria's most stunning coastlines, Fraser said she put it out to the crew who jumped at the chance to participate in another ORCV offshore race.

"We did so well in King Island and thought, well this is the last opportunity this season to do an offshore race, so we added Apollo Bay to our program," said Fraser.

Fraser believes in shaking things up a bit onboard, and for this race will relinquish the helm role to Etchells team mate, Chris Manton, while Fraser will take on bow duties, and Jamie Bennett will be on tactics.

Charles Meredith will also be keen to pick up a line honours win on Peccadillo, as the only multihull entered in the race.

Meredith sails his Chris White 46 catamaran consistently well and for this race welcomes onboard a new crew member, Chris Edwards, a sight-impaired sailor who has been sailing since he was a kid.

The M2AB sprint is a race that introduces newcomers to offshore racing, with the relatively short event offering a taste of the fun and the challenges of ocean sailing.

Other new boats entered in this year's race include Peter McFarlane's Loch Sloidh 3, Allan Guntar's ORA, The Jackal, skippered by Matt Setton, and The Kraken Groove, skippered by Ryan Walker.

Rod Smallman, skipper of the double-handed entry Maverick, will have a new partner in crime for the race; David Blake.

Blake has sailed with international hotshot Gary Jobson in overseas regattas from Antigua to Cowes, and was a crew member on the USA entry, Jubilation, in a Sydney to Hobart Race under American sailing legend, Paul Cayard.

"While I've done a lot of sailing and had three Melbourne to Hobart races under my belt by the age of 23, I have been looking forward to another challenge with double-handed racing really appealing to me.

"In preparation, I've completed a few ORCV courses including the Long Range [Radio] Operator Course, First Aid and the Safety and Sea Survival Course, which I think was one of the best courses that I have ever completed.

"It will also be the first time I've started a race in the middle of the night, that is quite unique for me," said Blake.

Tacticians will need to be mindful of the challenges the stunning Victorian coastline can present, with the area known for stranding boats in holes with no breeze if they venture too close to the dramatic cliffs and headlands.

The race record for the Apollo Bay race was set in 1999 by Peter Blake sailing his Jones 37, KAOS, and stands at 5 hours, 24 minutes and 4 seconds.