6:42 AM Thu 11 Mar 2010 GMT
Mad Max did not set yet another new record in the 2010 APC Logistics Marlay Point Overnight Race held on Victoria's Gippsland Lakes last weekend. She and the entire fleet did have a truly memorable event, however.
This was in a large part thanks to the amazing weather that ran through SE Australia on Saturday evening.
The ugliest of weather was not enough to stop the event or Mad Max from taking Line Honours, but this year, she finished at around 0700hrs, whereas last year, she finished at around 2330hrs on the same day. That makes five straight Line Honours victories in a row for the team that sail her.
Usually with Mad Max it's a case of now you see her at the start line and then now you don't. Nothing was different from that this year, it's just that it was the weather that provided the screen and not the many nautical miles between her and her competitors.
'We held the race over an hour to let the worst of it go past and we're just happy all 165 boats had such a wonderful, if wet, time this year. It will certainly add to the uniqueness and magnetism of the event. No two years are the same and next year is the 43rd APC Logistics MPONR, so I can't see the changeability altering any time soon', said Lake Wellington Yacht Club Secretary, John Shepard.
The Handicap win might have eluded Mad Max once again, but the crew of George Owen, Gary Martin, David Beeby from Darwin and Dog Fuller from Round Mountain in Queensland certainly had time to think about a range of subjects, whilst seeking shelter under the mainsail. They had an amazing natural light show to watch and also undertake some speedy repairs to the plotters, which are kind of handy when you're going to be leading the way.
From onboard, George Owen tells us 'We whiled away the time by discussing the relative conductivity of aluminium and carbon masts. As the tallest rig there, the crew also discussed the survivability of a direct lightning strike on their rig. The delay was also somewhat fortunate for us, as the port hull plotter would not download the charts from the plotter chip and one of the soft keys on the starboard plotter would not move and had subsequently jammed the lot. A bit of frantic work by all freed up the starboard plotter, so at least we knew where we were going.'
'Starting in complete darkness was a challenge, for sure, but we made a clean, if a little late start at the committee boat end, passing our nearest competition, Indian Chief, who was in irons and on the wrong side of the line', he then added.
Those conditions were very interesting with the thunderstorms arriving in 25-30knots, only to be followed by light and variable breezes for the remainder. Everyone moved off across Lake Wellington in 5-8 knots but ranging through 45degrees in the SE quadrant. Mad Max was soon up with the leading sportboats, but as the breeze filled in, her taller rig allowed her to skip away. From there, the wind fell away to almost nothing as Plover Point came up, which is just before the narrows that joins Lake Wellington with Lake Victoria.
'Having avoided running aground for the last two years, we were quietly confident of entering the narrows without any drama. Wrong!!! While we were extracting ourselves from the sandbar, we saw Indian Chief slip by. What an insult - first-timers and they managed to get in without any drama', an exasperated George Owen told me.
They did finally get into the narrows and deployed the large screecher they have onboard. As a result, they slipped past Indian Chief and back into the lead. 'This was only temporary, however. For a short time later, we managed to hook onto a log under the water, which then stuck up into the front trampoline. Gary Martin went into the water to free the boat, while Doug Fuller tried to extract the log from the tramp. We got the boat off the log, only to then have a zephyr push the boat backwards into the ramp and pin it there. Once finally free of the bank, we had to then tack up the channel in extremely light air. We also found that the mainsail battens would not pop when we tacked. More swearing and by this stage a couple of sports boats had also passed us and Indian Chief was out of sight', George continued.
Mad Max did in fact get past the sportboats in the narrows and ducked under Indian Chief to leeward at the beginning of the crossing of Lake Victoria. The lead was back in their hands and they had to keep moving to separate themselves enough to get the handicap prize as well. At one stage there was a 50 minute gap to Indian Chief, but the storms had not finished with the fleet yet.
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And then Mother Nature had other ideas and said 'Now you don’t!' - APC Logistics Marlay Point Overnight Race - John Curnow
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'One minute we had wind from the North and were reaching along at 18knots with the small screecher up. Then the breeze stopped and we were back doing just one tenth of that, 1.8 knots. The breeze would then return from the South, so we'd tack the screecher and main and off we would go at 18 knots for a short time again, but once more it would all fall away. Then it would return from the West. Up went the masthead screecher, down with the small screecher, up with the daggerboards. A short time later, that breeze stopped too', George informed me.
That meant there were only Easterly breezes to go then and guess where the next lot came from? Yep. East. 'So it was down with the masthead screecher and daggerboards and up with the jib! This process went on the whole way across Lake Victoria to Paynesville. I think we did something like 50 sail changes', said George, by way of expressing his pain.
More pain was to come as their SOG got down to just 0.5knots. There was delight when they saw navigation lights behind them in the McMillan Strait, as it was moving so fast they thought it was a speedboat. Alas it was Indian Chief. The time it had taken Mad Max to get around Raymond Island had killed them for any sort of handicap honours.
So in terms of those handicap positions, Triple Time got it from Chilli and Dash in the multihulls. Division A was Fiz IV over Zanzibar and Delta. Division C was Redback, Just for Play and then Avante Garde. The sportboats was Y knot, No Name and Rush. Canberra Yacht Club got up for the club's trophy and the class team's trophy went to the Explorer 16s. The Castle 650 class trophy went to Ian Brokenshire on Redback and the Noelex 25 class trophy went to Rum Runner, Philip Clements.
Overall 167 boats entered, with 16 not starting and a further 15 not finishing. Interestingly, 36 boats were there for the first time, so that has to say something about the appeal of it all.
Nearly all will remember the 2010 APC Logistics Marlay Point Overnight Race as a very difficult race with many changes in wind direction and speed. And what could be better?
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Classic picture for car and boat nuts alike. Especially if you’re both! Boys and toys... - APC Logistics Marlay Point Overnight Race - John Curnow
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Indian Pacific got some time to practice before Armageddon arrived. - APC Logistics Marlay Point Overnight Race - John Curnow
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Even getting to the start line had some degree of difficulty. - APC Logistics Marlay Point Overnight Race - John Curnow
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by John Curnow
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Hogan Island, VIC
Foiling - Components (Wings,Masts,etc)
Kitesurfing - Kites
Stand Up Paddle - Racing & Downwind Boards
