Tuke seeks some Kiwi comforts
Surfing and diving were on the mind of New Zealand yachting ace Blair Tuke as he savoured a surprise podium finish in Auckland on the latest leg of the Volvo Ocean Race.
Tuke’s Spanish boat Mapfre made up around 130 kilometres on the leaders on a dramatic final day of leg six from Hong Kong and managed to storm into third place.
That preserved their overall race lead and kept Tuke’s chances of yachting’s golden hat-trick alive. He has won a gold medal at the Rio Olympics in late 2016, won the America’s Cup last year and is looking to cap that with Volvo Ocean Race glory.
His good mate Peter Burling has the same opportunity but that looks to be disappearing fast with Burling’s Dutch boat Team Brunel coming into Auckland at the tail of the fleet and now lying sixth overall, 19 points behind Mapfre at the halfway stage of the famous race.
After almost 21 days at sea on what has been the longest leg so far, and not being home since last September, Northland-raised Tuke said he was looking forward to soaking up ‘‘as much Kiwi-ness as I can’’ over the next few weeks before the fleet departs for Brazil on March 18.
‘‘It’s been a while since I’ve been back here. First and foremost I want to see friends and family,’’ he said.
But it seems you can’t keep him away from the water.
‘‘I’ll get up to Kerikeri to relax a little bit, do some surfing and free diving and try and grasp as much Kiwi-ness as I can for a few weeks and then we are back to the Southern Ocean.’’
Tuke said he was proud to be a Kiwi as Mapfre received a warm welcome into Auckland yesterday morning behind leg winner AkzaNobel and second-placed Scallywag. Only two minutes separated the first two boats and
there was just 25 minutes between the first five boats after a dramatic day of racing down the eastern side of the top of the country.
‘‘It’s a pretty amazing feeling. I’ve always followed this race
growing up and then to be involved in such a close finish … just a crazy day really,’’ he said.
‘‘It started by seeing the Three Kings right at sunrise this morning and then down the Northland coast, catching the front three boats and then a super close finish.
‘‘I’m really proud to be a Kiwi. To sail in here and to see all my friends and family is pretty special.’’
Tuke said the close racing that characterised this leg which was punctuated by a slow slog through the Doldrums, had been draining on all the boats and crews.
They had been in match racing mode with Dong Feng throughout, tucked in behind the top three boats for most of the leg, before making their bold run home.
‘‘It’s been the longest leg and a really hard fought battle with Dong Feng. We’ve been side by side, literally within sight of each other, for three weeks and that takes its toll. It makes it tiring
being right by a top boat like that,’’ Tuke said.
‘‘So it was really pleasing to beat them and also slip up on to the podium, passing one of the other boats [Turn the Tide on Plastic] right in the entrance to the Hauraki Gulf.’’
Tuke said they hadn’t given up hope despite their unlikely position heading towards the top of New Zealand on Tuesday. History showed there were always chances on the final phase of the leg.
‘‘We always know the approach here can be tricky. We thought we had lost our chances. We knew there was going to be a little compression but the front boats were quite far in front. But they really slowed down along the Northland coast and we managed to keep moving OK and caught them up.
‘‘We almost had a chance at the lead at one stage.’’
Kiwi sailors Justin Ferris and Brad Ferrand were aboard leg winner AkzoNobel.