The Doyle Sails Gold Cup Series brought together four Auckland yacht clubs: Royal Akarana Yacht Club, Bucklands Beach Yacht Club, Richmond Yacht Club, and the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.
Led by RAYC, the series featured a mix of challenging coastal races, with four courses ranging from 35 to 48 nautical miles. The finale, the Balokovic Cup, steps up as a true offshore test, an overnight race of around 89 nautical miles that often proves decisive in the overall standings.
Gold Cup PHRF results
Under PHRF handicap scoring, Nirvana emerged as the overall winner, combining a race win at the Spring Regatta with consistent top finishes to end on a low net score of 14. Liquid Luck improved significantly on corrected time to take second, including a win at Bean Rock, while Equilibrium dropped to third despite strong line honours results, reflecting the impact of its higher rating. Apparition and Alegre completed the top five, both benefiting from solid, consistent performances across the series. The handicap results reshuffled the fleet considerably, rewarding well-sailed, mid-rated boats and highlighting how consistency and sailing to rating can outperform outright speed.
Gold Cup Line results
The line honours series was dominated by Equilibrium, which delivered a consistently strong performance across the regattas, securing the overall win with just 10 points and a net score of 6 after discards. Alegre followed in second, highlighted by a race win at Bean Rock, while Liquid Luck took third with steady mid-fleet finishes. Nirvana and Flying Boat rounded out the top five, both showing flashes of strong pace but less consistency overall. Further down the fleet, high DNC and RET scores had a major impact on standings, with several boats unable to maintain a full series, emphasising the importance of consistency as well as outright speed in the line results.
Multihull division
In the multihull fleet, Oceans Tribute delivered a standout performance across the limited series, claiming victory in both line honours and PHRF handicap results. After placing second to Wraith II in the Balokovic Cup, Oceans Tribute went on to win the Percy Jones Race on the water, securing the overall line honours result. Under PHRF, that race win proved decisive, giving Oceans Tribute the series victory on corrected time with a net score of 10. Wraith II, despite its speed advantage and earlier line honours win, finished second overall on handicap with a net score of 11.
Line Results: https://rayc.co.nz/sail-wave/2526_GoldCup_ResultsOverall.Line.htm#
PHRF Results: https://rayc.co.nz/sail-wave/2526_GoldCup_ResultsOverall_PHRF.htm#
Organisers expressed a massive thank you to Doyle Sails for supporting the series, also to their volunteers who stayed out all night on Akarana Parol finishing the boats and also to the competitors who made the series possible!
The 26-27 series dates are expected to be announced soon.
The team was really happy with the number of people who came to the prizegiving. Even though numbers were affected by RNI and some prize winners could not make it, there were not only winners but also boats that participated there to support as well.
Boating New Zealand coverage
Boating New Zealand had the pleasure of following the Gold Cup. Our congratulations to Nigel Hendy and crew on a fantastic Gold Cup PHRF win.
Find our 2025-2026 Doyle Sails Gold Cup Series articles at the link: https://www.boatingnz.co.nz/category/sport/sailing-sport/doyle-sails-gold-cup-series/
