4:17 AM Thu 24 Dec 2009 GMT
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'Reigning McConaghy Melbourne Offshore Champions 'Extasea' - pic ? and with thanks to Teri Dodds. - Kidder Williams Melbourne to Launceston'
John Curnow
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Only Huey, the wind God, can really answer this question and he's keeping his cards close to his chest, right up until the start of the Kidder Williams Melbourne to Launceston on December 27th.
However, what we are really looking at here, is the fact that David Currie's 60foot 'Belle' certainly has waterline length, a slippery Simonis-Voogd design and yards of experience, but there's a couple of wolves in the pack that they'll want to be very, very sure of, as they chase down line honours and a possible $1000 prize for breaking the record. The record stands at 19:55:43, as set by Cadibarra (VIII) in 2003 and the wolves are reigning Melbourne Offshore Champions, 'Extasea', with their DK46 and one, 'Akatea'. The latter is a Cookson 40 that looks for-all-the-world like a scaled down version of her red-hot bigger sibling, the Cookson 50. Competitors along Australia's Eastern seaboard have seen the bigger model, first as 'Living Doll' and for the moment, as the Melbourne 'Shogun'. The new 'Shogun' is a Judel-Vrolijk penned TP52.
So if there's one thing to say about Australia's oldest ocean race, it's that there's plenty of life in the old girl yet!
Also, one would not want to discount the larger, more cruiser boats from featuring in a handicap position. These are first-timers Malcolm Mitchell and the gang on 'Caledonia', 'Schuss' and 'Vantage'. Last year's winner, 'Turbo', is there too, keeping a covering watch over them all, especially if there's a spinnaker involved.
The smallest boat, by a foot, hitting the seas in an Ocean Racing Club of Victoria race this Christmas, is 'Avanale'. The S&S30, which is just half as long as the IY60 'Belle' and from another design universe all together, may take a bit longer to get there, but they'll be chuffed none the less...
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The dark horse in white - 'Akatea'. We're going to be watching closely now... - Kidder Williams Melbourne to Launceston - John Curnow
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'Avanale' is 30 feet long. One foot shorter than 'Godzilla' who are off to Hobart via the East Coast. - Kidder Williams Melbourne to Launceston - John Curnow
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'Caledonia' has already been to Hamilton Island and back - Melbourne Latitude Series John Curnow
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Big and pretty powerful - the IY60 'Belle' - Kidder Williams Melbourne to Launceston - John Curnow
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by John Curnow
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