This race has hit a milestone. Guy Chester on his Crowther trimaran Oceans Tribute has passed the halfway mark — 715 nautical miles sailed, 523 to the finish, the Tasman more than half conquered. Sharon Ferris-Choat on Vixen Racing has done the same, 636 NM behind her and 588 to go. James Foster on the Mumby 48 catamaran Electron is right behind at 608 NM sailed, crossing halfway as this is written. All three are ahead of where the calculator said they’d be.
Chester’s night wasn’t entirely peaceful. “It was a not-relaxing 30-knot rain squall. Afterwards I had a Milo to warm up and celebrate where the fish meet the fish.” He’s been dodging rain squalls in an otherwise starry sky, moon up in the predawn. “Early this evening there were lots of fishing boats around — guess they like to go fushing.” A man comfortable with the Tasman at his most playful.
Sharon Ferris-Choat is drinking in the morning after a rough night. “What a contrast to last night. It’s been a stunning sunrise. We had thunderstorms and all sorts of things going on.” After days of fronts, squalls and headsail dramas, a sunrise like that would feel earned.
On corrected time, the PHRF standings have shifted significantly. Vixen Racing has moved to first, with a corrected elapsed of 5d 9h 51m against Sarau’s 5d 16h 58m — a gap of 7 hours and 7 minutes. This is a reversal from previous updates where Sarau held the lead, Vixen‘s superior pace on the water finally translating through the handicap calculation. Sarau is making just 113 NM per 24 hours against Vixen‘s 187 NM — that pace difference is now showing clearly in the corrected standings.
On General Handicap, Electron leads Oceans Tribute by 6 hours on corrected elapsed — 4d 17h 37m against 4d 23h 31m. Oceans Tribute leads on the water by 81 NM and is projected to finish nearly 18 hours ahead of Electron on elapsed time, but the rating gap still favours the catamaran.
Oceans Tribute‘s 24-hour DMG of 239 NM is the standout number in the fleet, the trimaran pulling further clear as the breeze returned. The gaps tell a two-speed story, but the subplot is Camellia. Ben Ball has quietly moved through both Catnip and Nautilass overnight, and now sits 1 NM ahead of Catnip with the pair covered by just 6 NM. Roaring Forty and Wave continue their close-quarters battle, 6 NM separating them — almost exactly the same gap as last evening’s 7 NM. These two have been sailing in near-perfect lockstep across the Tasman. Fair Seasons is posting just 11 NM in 24 hours. She has 962 NM to go. There is 439 nautical miles of open water between first Ocean’s Tribute and last Fair Seasons.
Kevin Le Poideven on Roaring Forty described the purgatory of the wind hole with vivid detail: “Three knots of unstable breeze and I can coax about 1.5 knots boat speed in the right direction. It’s painfully noisy with creaks, groans and bangs from the rigging and sails. All you want to hear is the boat go quiet when the breeze is strong enough to fill your heavy sails, and then you wait in anticipation. Is this just a puff, or is this the breeze that will get the water lapping the hull as you finally break free of the wind hole? At least the air show was entertaining.”
