Three way race

1830 miles to go for race leader in two handed Melbourne Osaka

See the race tracker here

Another hot day in the tropics and 9 knot southeasterly breezes forecast for the Melbourne Osaka race today as Japan’s COCORIN interland leads Victorian yacht Alex by approximately 52 nautical miles this morning.

COCORIN interland’s crew are aware of Jock and Hamish MacAdie ( Alex) closing in on them, skipper Itaru Matsunaga confirming last evening: "We are enjoying a spinnaker run right now, but are very conscious about the movement of Alex."

However, the big schooner has made up some ground overnight, putting in the most miles with 135nm travelled in the past 24 hours. Alex, which was a close as 34nm yesterday, is now 52 miles in deficit - not a lot to catch up in the scheme of things.

Brian Pattinson, still sailing Gusto well east of the rest of the fleet in third place, has also stayed close, 72 nm away and only losing 6nm on the leader overnight after putting in 129nm. Impressive, considering the Victorian’s single-handed status.

Pattinson reported last evening: "Had a great day today, the breeze came in last night and has stayed all day..I am out of the doldrums, cruising along at 8-10 knots. I am just taking it easy and enjoying it - as much as you can 500 miles from anything!

"Saw my first bird/ living thing for five days. Finished my second book, now on to an old Wilber Smith adventure. Just cooked tea. Curried vegies, creamed rice and cordial - yum yum - just waiting for it to cool down."

Matsunaga spoke of his and John Bankart’s equator crossing: "At the equator, we took a photo of ourselves in front of the GPS. Since it was dark at the time, we made a toast after sunrise with a can of beer. We have only two cans left now!!" This could be the biggest threat to the two, as the crew will run out of ‘fuel’!

On a 320 degree heading, pointing to Guam, the two are sailing off the Truk Islands in the Caroline Islands under full main and full mizzen in a "fine easterly wind of 8 knots and boat speed of 10 knots," the COCORIN crew were happy with conditions.

With the Osaka finish line 1900nm away, and given some solid trade winds, the two could reach Osaka in under a week, although they will have to navigate the tricky currents in Japanese waters.

Only one change to the line honours status of yesterday. Queenslanders Campbell Reynolds and David Best ( Esoterica) overtook Wild Boar, the smallest yacht in the fleet, at dawn. At the tail end of the fleet again, Jun Kanda, co-skipper on Wild Boar said: "Sunday we had a good run, but the wind dropped at midnight and we are in calms now. In the night, we identified a masthead light ahead. It must be Southern Light, but couldn't confirm, as it was far ahead.

"At dawn, we saw a yacht passing us smoothly along the water to New Ireland Island. WHAT! Why are they sailing so smoothly while we cannot move! It must be Esoterica. We will make every effort to catch them up." Kanda was correct on both assumptions.

Less than a mile separates Southern Light and Esoterica, with a further 34nm to Wild Boar. The three are sailing to the east of New Ireland on its northern tip.

Asadori’s Shinsuke Nishi/Kyojun Fujita had another comparably lacklustre day with a 51nm run over 24 hours. Although they maintain sixth place on line, Queenslanders Murray Bucknall/Jon Sayer ( RYU-JIN – fgi) are on the warpath and put in 68nm - only 31nm astern of Asadori this morning.

From a droll Jon Sayer this morning: "Good night last night after a shocking day. We have 12 miles to equator now. I saw Murray getting his pink tutu ready - should be fun - plenty of sex – can’t wait! Jimmi (Doherty on Tamagomalu) had a big jump through the invisible gate and we are still plodding up to it."

In the ‘mid pack’ little separates Asadori, RYU-JIN, Hullabaloo and Ingenue. The four will cross the equator throughout today and into this evening.

From Asadori’s skipper, Nishi yesterday late: "We will have the ceremony of crossing Equator tonight, we hope....." However, that did not eventuate.

On board Ingenue, Rosie Colahan and David James are doing it tough, particularly in the food and refreshment department. Rosie emailed yesterday afternoon: "You will be pleased to hear (as we are pleased to inform) that Saturday we had a much improved day with distance made 77nm - back to our old doldrums form!

"Dawn arrived with a welcome rain squall, affording us showering and hair washing. The day continued with generally pleasant conditions of stable light winds and overcast skies, with rain squalls visible around us, but not causing any alteration in our course until a thunderstorm at dusk.

"The more temperate weather encouraged us to mount the BBQ back on the pushpit. We lunched in the cockpit under the bimini on BBQ lamb and rosemary sausages with Tuscan potatoes and Greek salad; all washed down with a very pleasant glass of Yarra Valley pinot.

"It was great news that Gusto is back racing after a pit stop in Honiara, but with Brian continuing solo. We are very sorry to hear that Patrick has not been able to continue for personal reasons. Gutsy effort to undertake running a boat of that size and complexity on your own. Go Brian!!!

"We wish him fair winds in his quest and look forward to catching up with him in Japan.
"Overnight we have had further squally winds which have certainly helped improve our daily log readings. What a surprise at dawn on Sunday to see solid ground ahead in the form of several islands - we have become so used to sky and sea, you tend to forget about land.

"Another overcast day with steady N-NE winds of 5-10 knots pushing us along, but too much north is definitely on the nose when you are trying to get across the doldrums by the shortest route.

"As we sipped our G&Ts at sunset, we watched a dramatic cloud curtain with a brilliant red sky peeping through, over Palie Island, to the west of us.

"As the lights ashore appeared, we dined in the cockpit on Rogan Josh with rice, fresh yoghurt and roti bread. A cleansing rain squall again later in the evening, from the north, sent us off westwards between two small islands - our theory about the shortest possible distance across the equator is being sabotaged by the northerlies!

"We have now logged over 2,770nm in 21 days, so we must be near halfway of our 5,500nm journey. Let's hope the daily averages improve for the remainder of the trip. Only 200nm to go to reach the equator now, and then we should get cracking again."

Meanwhile, Phil Coombs/Peter 'Pee Wee' Walsh, no longer carrying unwanted water below Dekadence’s deck, are trucking along having put in 89nm to remain fourth on line and now heading in a more easterly direction towards Gusto. Their nemesis, Tamagomalu has caught them up a little with 92nm run.

In a call from Victorian Coombs yesterday, he explained: "We’ve been busy with this annoying leak in the crash bulk head; however seem to have it under control - it isn’t continuing to flow through to the yacht.

"It’s somewhat annoying having to spend so much time on fixing this, as we would rather just be concentrating on sailing the yacht. Having said that, we are happy with our progress and feel we were lucky to get away with the light airs in the doldrums ‘very lightly’ so to speak!

"We are rapt to be sailing along in good pressure most of the time and getting along at 8-9 knots of boat speed is certainly comfortable!"

And this morning: "There is a story behind the 'Message in the Bottle'. When I sailed to Japan ( Squirrel) - I threw over four messages in bottles - one 5nm south of the equator, one 5 miles north of the equator and two on the equator. I got two replies - one ended up in Kiribati and the other in Kosrae. So we thought we would try our luck again!!

"We have been busy fixing the autopilot - yes, it failed yesterday afternoon just after we had finished fixing the crash bulkhead all morning). We managed to get the B&G unit fixed again and working, thank goodness. Will work on the Raymarine system today.

"Found ourselves a private little squall overnight with 30+ knots, so spent the rest of the night reefed down, but of course there was no wind and plenty of cloud for the remainder of the evening - unfortunately resulting in little progress in the last 24 hours.

"We are once again making progress to our destination this morning, as we are now 180 nm south-east of Truk Island and paralleling the rhumbline with assisting current. Only 2,000 miles to go!

"Sick of squalls night and day, however we have beautiful morning. Hopefully we can finish repairs easily and get on with the job of sailing the boat again."

Although retired from the race, Queenslanders Ken Down ( Wasabi) and Roger Sayers ( Pippin) have decided to head of to Osaka by plane. Down said this morning: "The Japanese brought a large contingent to Melbourne and were very supportive of the race, and competitors. Both Roger and I feel we should reciprocate, and also help welcome the finishers. I will be heading over on May 7."

In the meantime, Wasabi’s repairs, being undertaken at Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron in Sydney, should be complete today.

Down, who is yet to get over his disappointment of retiring from the Melbourne Osaka race, is hopeful of contesting the Sydney Mackay race and Audi Hamilton Island Race Week this year. He is also looking at competing in the second half of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Audi Winter Series.

Weather - Micronesia:
Wind: SE (130 degrees) 9 knots
Visibility: 15 miles
Sky conditions: Mostly cloudy
Temperature: 29.5 C
Heat index: 35.9 C
Relative Humidity: 79%

ARGOS tracker positions at UTC 22.00.00 (8am AEST & 7am JPN Tuesday April 17):
COCORIN interland (Itaru Matsunaga/John Bankart), Alex (Jock and son Hamish MacAdie), Gusto (Brian Pattinson), Dekadence (Phil Coombs/Peter Walsh), Tamagomalu (Makoto Hisamatsu/Jimmi Doherty), Asadori (Shinsuke Nishi/Kyojun Fujita), RYU-JIN (Murray Bucknall/Jon Sayer), Hullabaloo (Jim and son Joe O’Keeffe), Ingenue (David James and wife Rosie Colahan), Southern Light (Tom Crabb/Trent Justice), Esoterica (Campbell Reynolds/David Best), Wild Boar (Shozi Yuneda/Jun Kanda), 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).