Melbourne to Osaka Yacht Race 2013 (M2O) Double Handed.

I wrote these words over a year ago. “Melbourne to Osaka Yacht Race 2013,  I hear you ask, “I thought that race was dead and buried.”   Not at all.  It is very much alive and that is fantastic news.”

I live in Japan and am moored at Hokko Marina. I took this page off the net for 12 months while waiting to see anything official written in Japanese. This month Hokko Yacht club after working hard here in Japan and with delegations to Australia has put it together.  Hokko has announced the race in Japanese and this is great news.

Certainly the race has moved from a 2011 start to a 2013 and maybe the April start will move slightly to March start but it is back on and this time it looks like the race platform is official and energetic.

Both Sandringham Yacht Club and the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria have made announcements on their own club web sites declaring  that,  the race is on,  ”..it is in safe hands” and have fixed  the start date of 5th April 2013.  (05/04/13.)

As at today the 20th October 2010 I see seven boats have  registered and as I browse the names of the boats and owners I see only well known and trusted  names.   The scheduled 2011 race is definitely gone as stated by both Melbourne and Osaka City web sites.  However  it certainly looks to me that as far as the Australian side is concerned those who are able to make the decisions  have kicked life back into this fantastic race.

Both the Australian side and Japan side seem to have made it official now. The ORCV in Australia and Hokko yacht club in Japan both show that there will be a race. The start date has moved around a little but has not settled on April 2013. The ORCV web site states a start date for the Melbourne to Osaka (M2O) from 05/04/13 and is accepting Expressions of Interest now. In fact at time of writing I see owners have shown Interest to Race.

My Research on this yacht race found these home pages. To me it very much looks like the race is on but we do have a question on the Japan side Host Club.

1. MySailing.com.au has a photo Of Sandringham’s Philip Burn and Hokko’s Nakakita San meeting at Sandringham YC.

http://www.mysailing.com.au/news/melbourne/osaka-race-on-in-2013

2. Sandringham Yacht Club”s M2O, Melbourne to Osaka Yacht Race, Web site announcement.

http://www.syc.com.au/keelboat-racing/melbourne-to-osaka/

3. Ocean Racing Club of Victoria’s M2O, Melbourne to Osaka Yacht Race Web site announcement.

http://orcv.org.au./index.php?option=com_content&view=section&layout=blog&id=38&Itemid=477

4. Expressions of Interest  for 2013 Melbourne to Osaka  Double Handed OceanYacht Race being handled by Ocean Racing Club of Victoria here.

https://www.topyachtsoftware.com/db/aus/series_select.php?EventID=101

5.  Sail World Home Page.  Announces the 2013 Melbourne Osaka is on.

http://www.sail-world.com/NZ/Melbourne-to-Osaka–2013—Eighth-race-on-track/74726

6.  SeaBreeze Magazine says Melbourne to Osaka 2013 – Eighth race on track

http://www.seabreeze.com.au/News/Sailing/Melbourne-to-Osaka-2013-Eighth-race-on-track_4116457.aspx