The Race Committee formally confirmed the 2026 Solo Trans-Tasman Challenge will start as scheduled at noon Saturday. Sixteen solo sailors will leave the Bay of Islands for Southport Yacht Club on Queensland’s Gold Coast, 1,170 nautical miles across the Tasman Sea. It will be the first time the event has started from Opua Cruising Club..
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he weather briefing was delivered by French forecaster Arnaud Monges, PredictWind’s in-house meteorologist, via pre-recorded video, with Keryn McMaster, a two-time Volvo Ocean Race veteran and the lead Customer Support/Routing Expert at PredictWind joining by video call to answer questions. Monges has used PredictWind to determine that at the noon start, boats can expect 15-20 knots from the northeast in the Bay of Islands, building as they push northwest toward the cape. By Sunday midnight, as the fleet rounds Cape Reinga, winds of 25 knots and seas of 2.5 metres to 3 metres are forecast. Twenty-four hours after the start, a frontal system arrives: north winds of 25 to 30 knots, gusts to 35/40 knots, seas 3.5 metres to 4 metres.
You could feel the entire room grimace at that thought.
After the front, lighter westerly conditions give some relief before a second low-pressure system mid-week brings more rain and 20 to 25 knots from the west. The fleet will be heading upwind by then, and the routing model flagged significant bow slamming as a factor for that stretch. Overall, the models estimate crossing time at six to seven days, 70 percent reaching, 30 percent upwind, with a race average of 15 to 20 knots and maximum gusts to 40 knots.
A departure planning tool was run to check whether delaying might help. Leaving Sunday or Monday would be no better, with similar or worse gusts. Only a Tuesday departure would see meaningfully reduced conditions. The Race Committee stood by their Saturday midday call. An updated forecast, prepared overnight by Monges in France, will be distributed to competitors before the start Saturday morning.
Kuparu, the potential floating hazard off Ahipara
Deputy Harbourmaster for the Northland region, Peter (Pete) Thomas, advised the fleet of historic World War II Harbour Defence Motor Launch (HDML) Kuparu, now an abandoned vessel which could potentially be on the course. The HDML Kuparu, a 72-foot World War II wooden patrol vessel, lost power and was abandoned approximately 70 nautical miles off the Northland coast. Although some commentators surmised the vessel would have sunk given the weather conditions, Thomas was able to confirm that HDML Kuparu is still afloat. Its last known tracker position, Monday afternoon, was 23 miles off Ahipara on the west coast. Since then its tracker seems to have lost battery power, and its location is unknown. Its current owner confirmed to Thomas that aviation was being arranged to search for it. It remains a danger out at sea, to the Solo Trans-Tasman competitors as well, and skippers were asked to report by radio if they sighted it.
Is this the tragic end of a legend? WWII veteran launch ‘Kuparu’ abandoned off Ninety Mile Beach
If something goes wrong at sea
The team from the Rescue Coordination Centre joined by phone to walk through what a mid-ocean emergency actually looks like. The New Zealand Search and Rescue (SAR) region covers 30 million square kilometres, roughly half the distance between Opua and Australia. The operations room runs 24 hours, but resources are limited. Out in the Tasman, if one of the skippers gets into trouble and needs to be rescued, it’s not a quick operation. Rescues can take hours. Distance and location make it difficult for any rescue. Rescue options are an Air Force aircraft, a diverted ship, or the nearest Challenge competitor. And it’s not a boat towing operation. If a skipper is rescued, their boat will not be.
The miss-sked (missed-schedule) protocol was covered in detail. Two consecutive missed skeds spanning 26 hours with no response to the Race Committee’s contact attempts will trigger escalation to the RCC. At that point the response is a full-blown rescue. Competitors were reminded that fellow sailors may in many cases be the closest resource available.
Safety, the start, and the rules
Safety Officer Ian Templeman, who completed inspections of all boats over the past few days, gave three pieces of advice: 1. Never leave the cockpit without your harness clipped on; 2. If you think you should reef, reef; and, 3. If you think it might be time to shake the reef out, make a cup of tea first.
The start channel off Opua Cruising Club will be cleared of other vessels under Northland Harbourmaster’s direction starting from 9:30am up until 12:30pm, half an hour after the race starts. The channel is deep enough for the fleet’s maximum three metre draft at dead low water. A live discussion at the briefing addressed motor use at the start: the race director and protest officer agreed that safety takes precedence, and an amendment to the sailing instructions will set out a discretionary penalty for any sailor who uses their engine to avoid a collision in the channel.
Follow the fleet
The race tracker goes live at noon on Saturday. Boating New Zealand has the tracker embedded along with all the latest Solo Trans-Tasman Challenge coverage at https://boatingnz.co.nz/sttc.
Race Start — Saturday 30 May (12:00pm)
Join the crowd and give the fleet a send-off they will never forget! The best vantage points are Opua Wharf or the Opua Cruising Club.
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