Graham Matthews knows this race well, and he knows how to win it. In 2024 he took overall honours on fully crewed handicap onboard Equilibrium, the largest boat in the fleet, crossing ahead of schedule and backing it up on corrected time. The Marten 55 returns for the 2026 Three Kings Offshore Race, and at 74, Matthews will be the oldest skipper on the start line.
He doesn’t make a big deal of either fact.
“The measure of success is if we feel we’ve sailed to our best abilities,” he says. “Whether we win on handicap or not, really, that doesn’t bother me that much.”
The results tell a different story. Alongside his 2024 win, he finished third on line in the 2022 Three Kings. He also took line honours and overall PHRF in the 2024 PIC Coastal Classic, line honours in the 2025/26 Gold Cup Series, and was second across the line in last November’s Doyle Sails Cavalli Islands Race, just five and a half minutes behind Motorboat III after 46 hours at sea.
At 16.7 metres, Equilibrium is the largest boat in the 2026 fleet — full carbon construction, built in 2011 by Lloyd Stevenson to a Botin Carkeek design — and, going on recent form, the one to beat on line and handicap.
Thirteen tonnes fully loaded. A lifting keel drawing 3.9 metres. Hydraulic runners, powered winches, powered traveller, a 350 square metre gennaker. And also, genuinely, a cruising boat. Matthews had it out over Easter with his family. The anchor and chain — around 130 to 150 kilograms — come out before a race. That’s about the extent of the weight-saving programme.
“We’re a performance cruiser,” Matthews says. “It’s fully kitted out.”
The mainsail is currently with Toby Scoones at Doyles — off the boat for the first time in a couple of years. The rig will be checked by a rigger before the start. The hydraulic runner system, which auto-trims through tacks and gybes at the push of a button, has a logic glitch that needs sorting. The buttons on the powered winches are so bright at night they turn the cockpit into a Christmas tree — that’s getting fixed too.
Big prep. Not exactly.
Where Equilibrium does put in the work is in the crew. Matthews has nine onboard for 2026 — the most he’s ever taken to a race of this size. He had people queuing.
Watch captains are Toby Scoones, who has sailed with Matthews for 25 years, and Pete Geary. At the bow: Macgregor Jones, an engineer at Emirates Team New Zealand. On the keyboard: Graeme “Gus” Cummings — at 75, the oldest person aboard — and John Gibbs, retired Navy, 40 plus years in uniform, who used to run their sailing programme. Aimee McMaster is the lone female crew member, described by Matthews as more than capable on the foredeck in a seaway and of course, Andrew “Cookie” Cook, who keeps the rest of the crew entertained with one-liners and amusing anecdotes. Andrew “Tiny” Duff, normally the boat captain on Wired, will also be on board for this race.
He knows what young legs are worth. A couple of seasons back he raced with youth sailors on board.
“It was a revelation. They could race around the boat and drag in sails and do stuff we don’t normally do, because we’re too old and ancient. When it’s blowing 20-odd knots and you’re trying to get that gennaker down — 350 square metres of it — you need to be on your game.”
Nobody who’s raced around the Three Kings Islands needs it explained to them. Matthews doesn’t bother trying.
“When you race out to the Pacific and come back, the worst bit is always the last 200 miles coming into New Zealand. Everywhere else is benign compared to getting around the New Zealand coast.”
He broke his arm halfway through a passage from Mackay back to New Zealand. He’s been out in six-metre seas on the run to the Three Kings. He is not easily rattled.
A boat like Equilibrium needs wind. Real wind. In his opinion, the lighter designs — Shaw 12s, the quicker sleds — pull away in anything below 20 knots, planing while the Marten 55 is still pushing through water. Get to 25 knots upwind and it’s a different race entirely.
“If there’s a fair amount of upwind, we’ll do a horizon job on the other boats. And if it’s blowing hard enough, the light boats run out of ability. They start smashing into waves and have to slow down anyway.”
When we spoke to Matthews a few days ago he hadn’t looked at the forecast yet—it was too far out to mean anything. When the time comes he’ll use PredictWind for routing. Does he use the AI feature?
“I’m too old for it. I’m 74.”
The race starts at 1100 on Thursday 16 April off Westhaven, with seven boats set to head north. It’s a small fleet, but not a soft one, and the run to the Three Kings will sort it quickly. For the crew on Equilibrium, the brief is simple. Sail clean, sail well, and trust that if they get that right, the result will take care of itself.
