Leg 2 of the 2026 Doyle Sails Round North Island Two Handed Yacht Race threw up hard early conditions, sharp tactical calls, and tight racing right through the fleet.
A leg that asked every question
Leg 2 of the 2026 Doyle Sails Round North Island Two Handed Yacht Race had everything. It had pressure, strategy, tired crews, and a finish that stayed alive right across the fleet.
Starting from Mangōnui on Monday at 9am, all 26 crews got away for the longest leg of the race, heading south to Motuara Island in Queen Charlotte Sound. Early on, the race looked straightforward enough. Explore Racing led after the first hour, with Motorboat III close behind and Perfect Storm in third. Winds sat around 15 to 18 knots from the south southwest, with a short sea state that looked manageable on paper.
That did not last.
By the afternoon, the fleet had reached the top of the North Island and the big tactical question emerged. Would crews keep pushing west into the Tasman, or turn south earlier and work closer to the coast? Explore Racing went wider. Motorboat III stayed closer in. The remainder of the fleet followed Explore Racing further into the Tasman.
That decision shaped the whole race.
West or coast, the tactical split that defined Leg 2
As Monday afternoon turned into Monday night, the fleet split into distinct groups. Motorboat III held a more coast-hugging lane. Explore Racing worked further west. Behind them, boats such as High 5, Whichway and Vixen Racing formed a chasing cluster, while much of the rest of the fleet spread across a broad band of sea.
The western option brought angle and pressure. The inshore line offered a shorter route and, at times, stronger breeze. No single answer looked certain in the early stages, which made the tracker compelling viewing.
The first night then turned the leg from tactical puzzle into physical test. Crews encountered winds pushing above 30 knots, with gusts reaching 37 knots. The sea state built with it. Sailors described the swell as “lumpy” and “bumpy”, and that feels about right for a fleet trying to manage short handed offshore racing in the dark.
By Tuesday and Wednesday, boats were still playing that long chess match down the west coast. The lead ebbed and flowed. Motorboat III at times held the advantage on elapsed time because of its tighter line. Explore Racing at other times looked better placed as the fleet worked south. The top handicap placings also kept changing, especially in the smaller divisions where corrected time rewards a well sailed, consistent leg.
Marc Michel from Niksen summed up that middle phase neatly, calling the opening period “tough both with conditions in first 24-36 hours (wet and tough physically)” before the race became “very much high stakes poker with weather and tactics now as we play snakes and ladders with the leading pack as we approach Taranaki.”
That was the story of Leg 2 in one line. Survive first. Outsmart second.
A thrilling finish at both ends of the leaderboard
By Thursday morning, the leg had opened right up. Explore Racing was furthest south and clear favourite for line honours. Motorboat III was still in striking distance. High 5 looked set to finish before midnight. Kick was leading overall on PHRF, but there was still enough road left for pressure to change everything.
At the front, the race for line honours delivered. Explore Racing, the Elliott 50 sailed by William Goodfellow and Jesse Turner, took the gun in an elapsed time of 3 days 5 hours 31 minutes 42 seconds. Motorboat III, Damon Jolliffe and Josh Tucker’s Thompson 1150, finished just 9 minutes 51 seconds later. That was one of the standout duels of the leg.
High 5 came home third on elapsed time, while Kick crossed fourth on the water but turned that into the biggest corrected time result of the leg. Brendan Sands and Ben Roff’s Elliott 1050 won overall on PHRF in 2 days 19 hours 6 minutes 46 seconds and also claimed Division 3.
Pipi, sailed by Steve Newcombe and Craig Parker, won Division 2 on PHRF. Carpe Diem, with Rowan Smith and Lydia Boyd aboard, took Division 4 on corrected time. Motorboat III won Division 1 on PHRF after pushing Explore Racing hard all the way to the line.
The final numbers show how competitive this leg really was. Ragnar finished just 56 minutes 38 seconds behind Kick on corrected time. Niksen was only 1 hour 39 minutes 33 seconds back. Even deeper in the fleet, the corrected time clustering stayed remarkably tight. Focus sat between Motorboat III and Motorboat 2, with only 13 minutes 34 seconds separating the three after nearly 480 nautical miles of racing.
On elapsed time, some of the closest contests came nowhere near the overall podium. Vixen Racing and Focus finished only 2 minutes 34 seconds apart. Hotdogger and Start Me Up were split by just 5 minutes 5 seconds. Those margins tell their own story about how hard every crew had to sail.
Tough leg, strong fleet
Highline was the final finisher, arriving on Saturday after 5 days 3 hours 33 minutes 12 seconds at sea. Their finish brought down the curtain on a leg that tested everyone.
What stands out most is not only the sharp racing at the front, but the resilience through the fleet. This was a hard, wet, physically demanding passage. Yet there was only one retirement, Kokomea, which headed for New Plymouth with the reassuring note, “All well onboard.”
That says plenty about the preparation, boat handling and grit within this fleet.
Leg 2 was not just long. It was hugely watchable. It began with an open tactical question, turned brutal through the first night, then became a game of positioning, timing and pressure management down the coast. By the time the last boats arrived in Queen Charlotte Sound, it had produced standout winners, close divisional fights, and a race narrative that held together from start to finish.
Now the fleet turns to Leg 3
After a rest day yesterday, the fleet is back underway this afternoon for Leg 3, a 220 nautical mile run from Charlotte Sound to Napier.
The start from just outside Tory Channel should be lively, with southeast winds around 19 knots building into the mid twenties and gusts around 30 knots. From there, crews face Cook Strait, the Wellington south coast, Palliser Bay, the Wairarapa Coast, Cape Turnagain, and finally the run into Hawke Bay.
In other words, the race has already moved on from one demanding leg straight into another.
And if Leg 2 proved anything, it is that nothing in this race comes easily.
