Boating New Zealand first crossed paths with Guy Chester during the 2025 PIC Coastal Classic. Chester had sailed his 35-year-old Crowther trimaran, Ocean’s Tribute, to New Zealand for the summer with a simple objective: race some of the country’s iconic offshore events, enjoy a Kiwi summer, and prepare the boat for another Tasman crossing.
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It was hardly a small undertaking. Since she was last in New Zealand waters, Ocean’s Tribute had logged more than 40,000 nautical miles, including plenty of hard racing, and the maintenance list stretched well beyond 100 jobs.
We’ve run into Chester repeatedly since the PIC Coastal — at the 2025 Doyle Sails Cavalli Islands Race, the 2026 Balokovic Cup and the 2026 Route 66 Coastal Yacht Challenge. Between races, Opua has become something of a temporary home port.
While in New Zealand, Chester has also been promoting the newly announced Race Around Australia 2028 — a double-handed offshore marathon covering more than 7,000 nautical miles across five legs, four stopovers, two sprint stages and two pit stops.
To put that into perspective, the official Solo Trans-Tasman course measures just 1,170 nautical miles — assuming you don’t divert around weather systems.
Chester brings half a century of sailing experience and more than 120,000 nautical miles at sea, including multiple circumnavigations. Much of that mileage has been logged solo aboard Ocean’s Tribute. At a little over half Chester’s age, the trimaran has developed a personality of her own.
New Zealand, Chester reckons, is one of the best places in the world to prepare an offshore boat properly. Much of the heavy work was completed at Marsden Cove, including antifouling, saildrive seals and a full rig pull. Ocean’s Tribute also received new shrouds, updated safety gear and a refurbished mainsail.
KZ Raceboats rebuilt the furler and top swivel on the forestay after pitting and signs of crevice corrosion were discovered in the diamond pins. Replacement parts from France carried a 15-week lead time, but KZ turned the job around in just 48 hours. Doyle Sails overbraided the Aramid forestay, while, on the morning of Thursday’s briefing, Chester was still installing new Enertech lithium iron phosphate batteries and reprogramming the alternator controller.
For a solo sailor running radar, AIS, satellite communications and navigation systems continuously, power management is a constant exercise. The boat draws around 15 amps underway. A Watt & Sea hydrogenerator provides most of the charging capacity at sea, producing 10–15 amps at speed, with solar panels making up the balance.
The hydrogenerator itself recently returned from a rebuild in France.
“No small cost,” Chester says with a laugh. “You could buy a car for that.”
Even so, he remains impressed by the support available here.
Chester expects to tack out of the Bay of Islands before bearing away inside Ninepin Rock and heading north toward Cape Reinga. From there, the forecast suggests a fast but demanding run.
Based on the latest PredictWind models, he expects to round North Cape in 22–25 knots before passing the Three Kings around 8pm Saturday evening. Winds are forecast to build into the mid-30-knot range by early Sunday morning before the fleet runs into the associated front, bringing gusts above 40 knots.
What concerns Chester is not the front itself, but what comes after it.
For a racer, that creates its own challenge. Rather than leaving the boat heavily reefed overnight, the conditions will likely demand multiple sail changes through the dark hours as the breeze fades unevenly.
And Ocean’s Tribute, he says, is never shy about expressing an opinion.
Ahead of the race, Chester deliberately shifts his sleep cycle, waking himself through the night to prepare his body for what lies ahead offshore.
Once underway, sleep comes in tightly controlled 20-minute grabs. Radar, AIS and course alarms remain active beside the bunk, while a beanbag in the cockpit gives him a direct view of the plotter whenever conditions require closer attention.
A forecast light patch mid-crossing may provide the opportunity for proper rest — but Chester knows better than to count on it.
His advice to the rest of the fleet is simple: sleep whenever you can, reef early and reef often.
Once across the Tasman, Chester plans to remain aboard Ocean’s Tribute for a full Australian racing program, including the Gold Coast to Mackay race, Airlie Beach Race Week and potentially the Groupama Race in New Caledonia next June.
Much of his time, however, will increasingly be focused ashore as race director for the Race Around Australia 2028.
