Silent achiever

Chinese Whisper took out Melbourne to Osaka line honours, blitzing the fleet to set a race record.

24 April 2018

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Taking out Line Honours in the Sundance Marine Melbourne Osaka Cup at 3:21 am Monday morning JST 23 April was Chinese Whisper.

The last boat to start only just over 3 weeks ago, the two-man crew of Rupert Henry and Greg O’Shea brought the big boat passed the entire fleet to arrive in Osaka first and in doing so has broken the race record.

Having sailed hard to arrive at the entrance to Osaka Bay, they then had to be patient as the wind dropped back to almost nothing. In the darkness out on the Bay, it was extremely hard to see the huge sails and so photography was almost impossible.

“its pretty tough out there, but you deal with it, its a race not a cruise. We made the result a priority” reflects Rupert Henry. “We started a week after the main start. It was a challenge, but it was good to have boats to chase down. It kept us motivated right to the very end.

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“Going through the Pacific Islands was a great experience. It was pretty shifty up around that part of the world, and we found that we had to commit to choosing a side past the Island s and sticking to that as a waypoint.

Wether furling or winching or changing sails it was a physical challenge. Luckily me and Greg (O’Shea) were up it.”

The race is not for the faint-hearted, with the many of the crew facing tropical weather, hurricanes and physical exertion, with some crews having to withdraw from the race. Chinese Whisper were not spared.

“We hit up a log in the Solomon sea and snapped the bob stay. That was a major setback. Making a temporary bob stay in the middle of the Pacific was hard going,” says Henry.

In the end though, Chinese Whisper set a record finish in the race, despite starting a week after the official start.

“We got tantalising close. the last tow and half days were fickle shifty conditions. The last 30 miles were a pretty much a drift-a-thon, that was probably the hardest part of the race. Luckily a light breeze at the end brought us home.

The race was a fantastic challenge. We put pressure on ourselves to do well, so we are really happy with the result”.

After crossing the line, Rupert and Greg lit up the night sky with a light display before pulling down the sails and heading for their mooring and the presentation ceremony at OHYC club rooms.

melbourneosaka.com

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