Vertigo wins ORCV Bass Strait race.

Tim Olding's Summit 35 Vertigo, won the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria (ORCV) 55 nm West Offshore Products Coastal Sprint Race on a perfect sailing day.

Sailing under beautiful sunshine with a 10 knot SE wind, eleven yachts competed in the Bass Strait race that started off Queenscliff just before dawn on Saturday 23rd April.

John Chipp’s, Dehler 46, Hot Chipps took line honours in 7 hours 37 minutes and 17 seconds crossing the line ahead of Vertigo and Peter Davison’s, Archambault 40 R C Arcadia.

The win puts Vertigo in second position behind Jeff Sloan’s Archambault A35 Archie in the ORCV Coastal Championship Series leading into the final race, the popular 52 nm Apollo Bay race on 14th May.

Olding commented “We had a really good upwind leg, having taken a gamble to head left and inshore to maintain boat speed. We led the fleet at the bottom mark but couldn’t hold Hot Chipps on the 2nd downwind leg, with an extra eleven feet of water length, they just took off.”

Olding went onto to say “I share the helm now with my daughter Clare. We really like the Coastal Sprint format as it’s great for building crew confidence and identifying sea sickness and how crew operate before embarking on a longer ocean race. In preparing for the upcoming 50th Melbourne to Hobart ‘Westcoaster’, these coastal races in Bass Strait are great training for us. Racing in Bass Strait is sometimes challenging, but always a lot of fun.” he went on to say, “We head to Queenscliff on Friday afternoon and have a great pub meal and good night’s rest which is key when ocean racing.”

There was also good news for the growing Victorian ocean sailing fleet with Garry McCarten’s, Jeanneau 44 DS Skullduggery joining the race. With a couple of new crew members McCarten commented “these races really do extend the fun and provide a great experience for our cruising type boat outside the bay. We used the Code 0 in the first leg and were really happy with how that worked making good ground against Robert D’Arcy’s, Northshore 369 Foggy Dew, that was until we needed to duck a ship.”

McCarten added with a smile on his face “We’re not always competitive against the pure racing boats, but we really do enjoy the experience of ocean sailing and we do really like that we’re home Saturday night.”

Results for the ORCV West Offshore Coastal Sprint Race 3

AMS 1st Vertigo, 2nd Archie, 3rd Alien
ORC 1st Archie, 2nd Maverick 3rd Alien
PHS 1st Vertigo, 2nd Archie, 3rd Maverick
DH Maverick
Line Honours Hot Chipps

About ORCV Coastal Sprint Races

An initiative by ORCV in response to skippers wanting more Category 3 races. The races have been designed as short distance ocean races to provide a crew development pathway for longer ocean races and as a stand-alone coastal racing program. Each race is approximately 55 nm and aims to have skippers and crew home Saturday evening.