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2 March 2025

Sailonline.org is pleased and excited to have been invited to once again team up with the organising authority of the Melbourne Osaka Cup Double-Handed Yacht Race 2025 to offer online racers the opportunity to compete in a sophisticated simulation of the race in real-time 6-hourly NOAA weather updates.

The Melbourne to Osaka Yacht Race is a 5,500 nautical mile double-handed yacht race – the longest Southern to Northern Hemisphere race in the world. It encounters 4 different weather systems and seasons as it crosses the Pacific Ocean. The course takes the competitors into Bass Strait, up the east coast of Australia, into the southeast trade winds, and then through the ITCZ (Inter Tropical Convergence Zone – the Pacific Ocean Doldrums) on the equator. Finally, it heads into the northeast trade winds and on to the finish in the port of Osaka.

The race, first held in 1987 to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the opening of the Port of Osaka, is held approximately every four years to celebrate the City of Melbourne and the City of Osaka sister city relationship.

The 2025 event coincides with major events in both Melbourne and Osaka. 2025 is the centenary of the visit of the US Navy’s Pacific Fleet to Melbourne in 1925. Equally, the eyes of the world will also be on Osaka as Melbourne’s sister city hosts World Expo 2025. The Expo 2025 site will be on Yumashima Island in Osaka Bay adjacent to the Osaka Hokko Yacht Club and the finish line will be nearby.

The Melbourne Osaka Double Handed Yacht Race Ltd is the Organising Authority for the event, with the co-operation of the:

Ocean Racing Club of Victoria – on-water race management

Sandringham Yacht Club – host Club in Melbourne

Osaka Hokko Yacht Club – host Club in Osaka.

The real-life competitors will be racing in a great variety of boats, and will start in a staggered sequence over the month of March. Online, all competitors will start on March 16 at 06:00 UTC (17:00 AEDT) ‘aboard’ a Beneteau First 40, a popular yacht sailed in waters all over the world. This virtual design has been chosen as it is expected to be a good competitive match to the yachts entered in the real race, which we hope to be able to follow on-screen via the event’s tracking software.

The Sailonline race opens for registration and practice on Sunday, March 9, 2025 at 06:00 UTC (17:00 AEDT) to enable everyone, especially newcomers, to learn the ropes in time for the start.

Tracker

Sailonline thanks Blue Water Tracks for their help.

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