Tough but fun Classic

DESPITE STIFF HEADWINDS, current race record holders Team Vodafone Sailing put in a respectable effort to win this year’s PIC Coastal Classic yacht race. The big red trimaran took out line honours for the third year in a row, with a time of 9 hours, 23 minutes and 13 seconds.

The fastest monohull in this year’s race, Volvo 70 Giacomo, arrived in Russell well after dark, crossing the line 13 hours, 11 minutes and 23 seconds after the start. But her time wasn’t enough to win Division 1a on handicap - that honour going to Kerikeri boat Rikki, owned by Bay of Islands local Ray Haslar.

The strong north-west breeze meant New Zealand’s most iconic yacht race was too much of an uphill battle for many of this year’s competitors. There were 20 withdrawals before the start, and a further 49 ‘Did Not Finish’ (DNF) results, either through mid-race retirements, or boats simply not making it to Russell before the midafternoon cut-off time.

In another of this year’s races-within-a-race, Sir Peter Blake’s Whitbread-winning Steinlager II came in a couple of hours ahead of the older and slower Lion New Zealand, which took a wrong turn at the Hen and Chickens Islands, costing them a lot of time. Both yachts were sailed by amateur crews of youngsters, many of whom had never tried sailing before, but enjoyed a character-building ride aboard these iconic round-the-world racing yachts.