A long coastal slog, a few bold moves, and a finish order that left every crew wide awake heading into the series decider.
The Doyle Sails Gold Cup Series has crept under my skin this season. I’m not entirely sure why. Maybe it is the offshore miles, the kind that demand trust in your boat and the people beside you. Maybe it is the unmistakably Kiwi character of the fleet, crews who will drive through a squall, laugh through a knockdown, and still be good mates at the bar afterwards. Or maybe it is simply that this series rewards the long game, the sort of racing that shows who you are when the horizon gives you nothing and the log keeps ticking.
Whatever the hook, Race 4, the Percy Jones Memorial, sharpened every storyline. Sailed over roughly 48 nautical miles out of Orakei and around the familiar guardstones of the inner Hauraki Gulf, this course is a proper coastal test. Whether the fleet shaped itself around Browns Island and Waiheke before hooking north toward Rakino, or took the reverse pattern through Motutapu and back past the Rangitoto Beacon, the rhythm was the same: long fetches, tide gates that never give a free pass, and island corners that demand nerve on the layline.
Boats that had looked settled were suddenly under pressure. Mid-fleet battles went from background noise to season-defining scraps. And both the Line Honours and PHRF tables flipped scripts in ways only offshore racing can manage.
A Duchess out front, and a fleet giving chase
From the gun, Another Duchess set the tone. Fast, surefooted and clean through the early miles, she stretched ahead of the fleet and never looked like giving anything back. By the finish she held a 12 minute margin, a powerful statement that confirmed her raw pace across a course that rarely rewards hesitation.
But offshore sailing has a habit of rewarding patience as much as power. Behind her, three boats fought a much tighter war. Kaizen, Alegre, and Equilibrium crossed the line within seven minutes of each other after hours of trading shifts, trimming to each other’s transoms, and living inside that offshore space where mateship and rivalry sit uncomfortably close.
Those boats would have seen each other often. A white sail on the horizon. A masthead that sits, stubbornly, where it was half an hour earlier. A reminder that progress is rarely yours alone and pressure is never far off.
Where mid-fleet battles mattered most
One of the defining traits of this Gold Cup season has been the depth of the fleet, and the Percy Jones Memorial proved it again. The middle order fought as fiercely as the leaders.
Liquid Luck and Nirvana finished only 2 minutes 36 seconds apart. Boogie Flash, Flying Boat, Ticketty Boo, and Ragnar landed in a compact cluster, seconds and single decisions separating them. These were not quiet miles. These were boats grinding in the early evening, swapping helms, calling shifts that mattered more than the chart might suggest.
For many teams, this was the race where the series suddenly felt real. You could sense it in the margins.
Handicap blows open the race
Then came the part I love most about offshore handicapping: the reshuffle. The elegant brutality of corrected time. The reminder that a race happens on the water and on the spreadsheet, and you need to win both.
Kaizen rose to the top of the PHRF table, taking the win by a tight 54 seconds over Nirvana. That margin is less than the time it takes to sort a tangled sheet or make a hesitant tack. It tells you everything about how fine the balance was across the fleet.
Liquid Luck stepped onto the podium. Boats that had seemed outpaced on line suddenly surged forward on corrected. And the top five boats sat within roughly 14 minutes, making this one of the closest handicap spreads of the season.
What happened to the big on-water performers? Offshore reality.
Alegre, Equilibrium, even Another Duchess all dropped places on corrected. Not because they sailed poorly, but because long coastal races are shaped by timing bands, transitions, sail changes and luck as much as boat speed. Add a slow tack around a point or a shift that arrives late, and the minutes slip through the winches.
The series tightens: one race left to settle it
With only one race left in the 2025–26 Doyle Sails Gold Cup Series, the Percy Jones Memorial has transformed the standings.
Kaizen looks a real threat now, bolstered by her corrected win and a season built on consistency. Alegre, who has carried much of the narrative weight this year, must fire on the final leg to stay in the hunt. Equilibrium is still dangerous. And the mid-fleet crowd is close enough that a strong final push could vault them into the final podium order.
The decider, Race 5, the Balokovic Cup, sails on Friday 20 February 2026, starting off Orakei as early evening starts to turn to early dusk.
Racing begins at 1830, before settling into an 89nm overnight haul that will test every ounce of patience and teamwork left in the tank.
Tension at the top as the Gold Cup heads for its final reckoning
Nirvana keeps a slim grip on the lead after four coastal legs, only a breath ahead of Liquid Luck, whose Bean Rock charge has reshaped the order. Close behind, Alegre, Apparition, and Equilibrium keep stacking results that suggest more speed to come. With one long night race still waiting, the whole season sits on that familiar offshore knife edge, nothing certain until the final miles.
On the Line Honours board, Equilibrium continues to set the standard, but staying just clear of Alegre. Liquid Luck refuses to drift from the conversation, holding third and punching well above her waterline. Nirvana and Flying Boat round out a ladder that shows the depth and diversity of this year’s fleet. One final 89 mile push will settle it the way offshore racing always should, in the dark, on a reaching leg, with daylight carrying the verdict.
