Record out of reach

With 1,350 miles to go for race leader

See the tracking here

All 14 yachts remaining in the Melbourne Osaka double handed yacht race have now crossed the equator, Queensland’s Esoterica and Japan’s Wild Boar crossing last evening and a couple of changes have occurred in the line honours order.

Come 1.00pm AEST today, the fleet will have spent 25 days at sea and Grant Wharington/Scott Gilbert’s race record of just under 27 days will remain intact with COCORIN interland still 1424 nautical miles from the 5,500nm finish line in Osaka.

Settling nicely into the race, having put in 249nm in the last 24 hours, Itaru Matsunaga and his Queensland co-skipper John Bankart have put in four extra miles between them and second placed Gusto, with fellow Victorian entry, Alex, a further 17nm away. Conditions near Guam are expected to be lighter today.

Yesterday Matsunaga, who has had a close association with the past three races, but is on his first as a competitor, reported clocking up boat speeds of 12 knots in a 15 knot easterly, sailing with No1 Genoa, main with one reef and mizzen. Positioned on the east side of Guam, they are heading just west of north. To come up with a line honours win would be a dream come true for the yachtsman who won both the 2005 Ogasawara Race and the 2006 Toba Pearl Race.

Matsunaga said: "Tuesday we fixed the broken gooseneck to be ready for the strong winds near Japan. Yesterday I cooked ‘cold Chinese noodles’ (which sounds like Chinese food, but is a genuine Japanese-born menu similar to Chinese) for John. I started teaching John one Japanese phrase every day. Today's phrase is 'Hayossu', which is precisely 'Ohayo' in broken Japanese. I really look forward to what will happen when John speaks in this type of Japanese when we get there!" Back home in Japan, Itaru's sister Kaori, a competitor in the 1991 Melbourne Osaka, says she feels very sorry for John having Itaru as his sole Japanese teacher...

Brian Pattinson, sailing Gusto (Vic) singlehanded continues to do a remarkable job. At this morning’s sked he was 85nm from the leader and has opened up a 16 mile advantage over Alex’s Jock and Hamish MacAdie. Still furthest east of the fleet, his present north-westerly course has brought him into closer contact.

Pattinson reported last evening: "Perfect day today. Strong trades and Gusto is loving it. I have to keep slowing Gusto down, as I still have that broken gooseneck. The bracket is still standing up fantastically, but I want to make sure we get to the finish. I have two reefs in the main. I logged 235 miles today from 6pm to 6pm. Not a storm in sight today, so laid around, slept and read. A real holiday. Hope it keeps going this way."

Dropping back to 310nm from COCORIN, fellow Japanese entry has overtaken Melbourne’s Dekadence as the two continue their cat and mouse game. Just six miles separate the two which are on course for Guam, Dekadence the more easterly of two.

On Tamagomalu, skipper Makoto Hisamatsu reported yesterday: "All well with the boat and crew. The wind is fairly good and we are sailing at 7-8 knots right now."

In the next group, Murray Bucknall/Jon Sayer ( RYU-JIN – fgi) leads Asadori and Hullabaloo by 50 and 65nm respectively, sailing amongst the Northern Mariana Islands.
Shinsuke Nishi on Asadori reported: "Having crossed the equator, the winds are getting better, but there is a lot of rain! Where is the top group?"

Southern Light at 745nm from COCORIN, Ingenue (786nm), Wild Boar (842) and Esoterica (846) are behind, sailing in the Caroline Islands east of the East Caroline Basin, Wild Boar having overtaken Esoterica.

Southern Light’s Tom Crabb and Trent Justice should be justifiably proud of their achievements thus far. The South Australian entry managed to overtake Ingenue, crossing the equator around noon AEST yesterday.

Both shipwrights, Crabb, from Adelaide and Justice, from Brisbane, spent some time in port early in the race making repairs to a damaged rudder. The miles that separated them from the leader and the rest of the fleet would have daunted lesser people; perhaps even made some give up, but not these two.

A triple celebration on Wild Boar, as the two have crossed the equator, moved out of last place and today skipper Shozi Yoneda celebrates his 60th birthday - an important milestone in Japanese tradition. From Wild Boar’s Jun Kanda yesterday: "We encountered a squall last night and sailed at around 5-6 knots, but the wind died this morning. We listened to TasCoast Radio to identify the positions of other boats, but it was too weak. It is much different from the Penta Comstat in the last race in 2003. We will definitely cross the equator today!" And they did - last evening.

On Esoterica, skipper Campbell Reynolds told last night: “Yep, we crossed (the equator) this evening too. As Dave put it: ‘We found some wind underneath us to get there, but hey, it’s a sad-sack who can’t rejoice’ (relating to the last on line position). All going well here, but sail damage happening. Had some light winds, then some blows. Caught a beast of a fish that looks like a prehistoric monster that just became extinct! We haven’t eaten it yet, but hope it doesn’t taste like it looks...viciously ugly!" Perhaps they will save it to celebrate Best’s 46th birthday tomorrow.

From Rosie Colahan on Melbourne entry Ingenue: At 1136hrs AEST Wednesday April 18, Ingenue crossed the equator into the Northern Hemisphere - at last! After another star studded night at sea, the wind picked up around 0530hrs and stayed in, giving us reasonable boat speed and direction.

"As we approached the equator, King Neptune had a treat in store for us, with a few squalls lined up waiting in the wings to shower themselves upon us. We toasted his good health with a glass of gold leaf sake, compliments of the WISC girls, and gave Neptune a wee drop as well. He in turn rewarded us with 20 knots breeze and driving rain which made Ingenue pick up her skirts and surge along at 9 knots for a while - very exciting after the last few weeks in the doldrums! We celebrated our crossing with a delicious lunch of pumpkin and feta risotto cooked by David. Food preparation and cooking is a bit more difficult when the wind is in, but the galley strap does help to keep you close to the bench.

“By 1800 hrs this evening, we have clocked up 3,000nm in just over 24 days at sea, an average of 125nm daily. The challenge now is to complete the remaining 2,500nm in another 15 days, so we need daily average speeds of 7 plus knots to make more than 170nm daily.

"Hopefully the northwest Trades will be steady. Next waypoint is in the Caroline Islands, 330nm north-west from our current position, so we anticipate threading our way through the islands there in the next 48 hours."
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Weather:
Guam – Wind: East at 5 knots
Visibility: 10 miles, overcast
Temperature: 26.7 C, Relative Humidity: 84%

Micronesia – Wind: North East at 14 knots
Visibility: 15 miles, overcast
Temperature: 29.0 C, Relative Humidity: 75%

ARGOS tracker positions at UTC 22.00.00 (8am AEST & 7 am JPN Thursday April 19):
COCORIN interland (Itaru Matsunaga/John Bankart), Gusto (Brian Pattinson), Alex (Jock and son Hamish MacAdie), Tamagomalu (Makoto Hisamatsu/Jimmi Doherty), Dekadence (Phil Coombs/Peter Walsh), RYU-JIN (Murray Bucknall/Jon Sayer), Asadori (Shinsuke Nishi/Kyojun Fujita), Hullabaloo (Jim and son Joe O’Keeffe), Southern Light (Tom Crabb/Trent Justice), Ingenue (David James and wife Rosie Colahan), Wild Boar (Shozi Yuneda/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).