Guy Chester checked in from his Crowther Design 93 trimaran Oceans Tribute just before this update. “108nm. Wet, salty, lumpy, lightning, 45-knot squalls for three hours and it rained seals and walruses.” He is projected to finish tonight at 22:57 NZST. Twelve boats left Opua six days ago. Tonight, the first one docks at Southport.
The night the leaders sailed through was not gentle. Sharon Ferris-Choat was up at 4am on her Verdier 40 Vixen Racing, filming from the cockpit. “We’ve had everything tonight. We’ve had hail the size of golf balls.” Lightning, thunder on the horizon, 40-knot squalls, back to back. “This has been punishing.” Despite everything, Ferris-Choat posted 130 NM in 24 hours overnight — up sharply from 76 NM last evening — and is now 233 NM from the finish, projected Saturday evening.
Updated comment from Vixen Racing at 10:57am, a minute after posting this article: “Five lots of 40+ squalls and the lightening was only beaten by the chill factor, I have no dry clothes left! Even the spare Dry bag is wet! And now we just fell off a wave badly and auto pilot spun out and we crashed tacked!”
That overnight run had an impact beyond line honours. At our last night’s 7pm update, just 14 minutes of corrected elapsed time separated Vixen Racing and Ben Ball’s Cavalier 32 Camellia on PHRF. By 8:45pm, Camellia had slipped ahead — a boat that spent two hours bailing half a ton of water out of its own cabin four days ago, briefly holding second on handicap with the finish line still hundreds of miles away. In the early hours of this morning, Camellia was still tracking ahead of Vixen Racing on handicap. But Ferris-Choat’s savage overnight changed the picture. By this morning that 14-minute gap had blown out to 2 hours 34 minutes in Vixen Racing‘s favour. Camellia is back in third. But Ball’s 0.706 handicap is relentless, and with hundreds of miles still to sail, this is far from settled.
| Pos | Boat | Handicap | DTF | Dist Sailed | VMG | 24h DMG | Est Finish | Corrected Elapsed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sarau | 0.798 | 357 NM | 945 NM | 5.6 kts | 78 NM | 8 Jun 01:20 | 6d 19h 51m 30s |
| 2 | Vixen Racing | 0.941 | 233 NM | 1171 NM | 6.5 kts | 130 NM | 6 Jun 21:51 | 6d 23h 15m 59s |
| 3 | Camellia | 0.706 | 475 NM | 756 NM | 4.8 kts | 108 NM | 9 Jun 12:39 | 7d 1h 50m 23s |
| 4 | Pacman | 0.840 | 360 NM | 943 NM | 5.6 kts | 95 NM | 8 Jun 02:10 | 7d 5h 6m 25s |
| 5 | Diablo | 0.660 | 584 NM | 661 NM | 4.0 kts | 91 NM | 11 Jun 10:21 | 7d 20h 55m 49s |
| 6 | Roaring Forty | 0.919 | 393 NM | 878 NM | 5.4 kts | 72 NM | 8 Jun 11:02 | 8d 5h 32m 9s |
| 7 | Smoko | 0.685 | 590 NM | 626 NM | 4.0 kts | 80 NM | 11 Jun 13:27 | 8d 6h 12m 42s |
| 8 | Nautilass | 0.824 | 524 NM | 763 NM | 4.5 kts | 94 NM | 10 Jun 07:12 | 8d 21h 30m 32s |
| 9 | Catnip | 0.851 | 511 NM | 749 NM | 4.6 kts | 78 NM | 10 Jun 02:10 | 9d 0h 12m 48s |
| 10 | Fair Seasons | 0.696 | 654 NM | 607 NM | 3.5 kts | 89 NM | 13 Jun 02:30 | 9d 11h 10m 57s |
Provisional results. Last position update: 5 Jun 10:00 NZST. All times NZST.
Kevin Le Poideven was having his own night on his Lutra BOC Open 40 Roaring Forty. At 11pm he filmed himself at the radar screen, walking through the stress of squall management — watching the colours, holding the boat at 32-34 degrees to the wind, dealing with what sailors in this race have been calling Crazy Ivans — wind shifts that spin 360 degrees with no warning. “There’s nothing you can do on the autopilot except put on your life jacket, clip on, go out, grab the helm, watch it spin around doing its 360-degree rotation and then wait for the crash gybe.” On Roaring Forty that means a thousand litres of water ballast on the wrong side, the boat leaning at around 60 degrees, waiting for the wind to drop before you can do anything about it. “It’s quite heart and mouth. You don’t know what’s inside them, these squalls.” This morning’s update was shorter: “Seriously gusty, abrupt 50-knot squalls with Crazy Ivan wind shifts, squall lines extending beyond the edges of my radar screen and zero sleep. Not a happy camper.”
Ball checked in around 24 hours ago — through the halfway mark, lightning all around, “pretty wild night.” This morning: “it’s turning into a nice day here but still copping waves over the boat so not ideal for nudie sunbathing.” He’s still in third on PHRF, 34 minutes behind Ferris-Choat, and his handicap keeps doing quiet work in the background.
Oceans Tribute is alone, 97 NM out from the finish line. Then Vixen Racing at 233 NM, well clear of the group behind her. James Foster’s Mumby 48 catamaran Electron, Malcolm Dickson’s 55-foot Sarau and Peter Elkington’s Young 11 Pacman form a tight third group at 320, 357 and 360 NM DTF — Sarau and Pacman virtually overlapping. Le Poideven’s Roaring Forty sits just behind at 393 NM. The fourth group — Ball’s Camellia, Geoff Thorn’s Beneteau First 45 Catnip, Terry Dunn’s Nautilass, Peter Bourke’s S&S 8.7m Diablo and Peter Nobbs’ B&G 36 Smoko — covers a 115 NM spread from 475 to 590 NM DTF. Doug Esterman’s Cavalier 39 Fair Seasons remains the final active boat at 654 NM, still yet to cross the halfway mark but making steady progress. The boats at the front of the fleet are sailing into 32-35 knots off the Australian coast. Those in the middle and back are in lighter conditions — 19-24 knots from the west with gusts to around 33 knots — though that stronger pressure will work its way through the fleet in time.
| Pos | Boat | Class | DTF | Dist Sailed | VMG | 24h DMG | Est Finish | Est Elapsed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oceans Tribute | Trimaran | 97 NM | 1360 NM | 7.5 kts | 171 NM | 5 Jun 22:57 | 6d 10h 57m 47s |
| 2 | Vixen Racing | Monohull | 233 NM | 1171 NM | 6.5 kts | 130 NM | 6 Jun 21:51 | 7d 9h 45m 14s |
| 3 | Electron | Catamaran | 320 NM | 1082 NM | 5.9 kts | 87 NM | 7 Jun 16:14 | 8d 4h 14m 29s |
| 4 | Sarau | Monohull | 357 NM | 945 NM | 5.6 kts | 78 NM | 8 Jun 01:20 | 8d 13h 20m 10s |
| 5 | Pacman | Monohull | 360 NM | 943 NM | 5.6 kts | 95 NM | 8 Jun 02:10 | 8d 14h 4m 47s |
| 6 | Roaring Forty | Monohull | 393 NM | 878 NM | 5.4 kts | 72 NM | 8 Jun 11:02 | 8d 22h 56m 47s |
| 7 | Camellia | Monohull | 475 NM | 756 NM | 4.8 kts | 108 NM | 9 Jun 12:39 | 10d 0h 33m 58s |
| 8 | Catnip | Monohull | 511 NM | 749 NM | 4.6 kts | 78 NM | 10 Jun 02:10 | 10d 14h 4m 11s |
| 9 | Nautilass | Monohull | 524 NM | 763 NM | 4.5 kts | 94 NM | 10 Jun 07:12 | 10d 19h 6m 46s |
| 10 | Diablo | Monohull | 584 NM | 661 NM | 4.0 kts | 91 NM | 11 Jun 10:21 | 11d 22h 15m 29s |
| 11 | Smoko | Monohull | 590 NM | 626 NM | 4.0 kts | 80 NM | 11 Jun 13:27 | 12d 1h 21m 36s |
| 12 | Fair Seasons | Monohull | 654 NM | 607 NM | 3.5 kts | 89 NM | 13 Jun 02:30 | 13d 14h 24m 42s |
| — | Wave (retired — returned to Opua) | Monohull | — | |||||
| — | Pretty Boy Floyd (retired — safely back in Opua) | Monohull | — | |||||
| — | Robbery (retired — safely in Mangōnui) | Monohull | — | |||||
Provisional results. Last position update: 5 Jun 10:00 NZST. All times NZST. Multihulls shaded blue.
On NZ Multihull Handicap, the picture has shifted overnight. Chester’s Oceans Tribute has taken the lead from Foster’s Electron — 6d 5h 13m against 6d 12h 47m, a 7-hour 34-minute gap. Chester’s 171 NM overnight run has done the work, and the multihull handicap result now looks like it will go with him.
| Pos | Boat | Class | Handicap | DTF | Dist Sailed | VMG | 24h DMG | Est Finish | Corrected Elapsed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oceans Tribute | Trimaran | 0.963 | 97 NM | 1360 NM | 7.5 kts | 171 NM | 5 Jun 22:57 | 6d 5h 13m 46s |
| 2 | Electron | Catamaran | 0.799 | 320 NM | 1082 NM | 5.9 kts | 87 NM | 7 Jun 16:14 | 6d 12h 47m 49s |
Provisional results. NZ Multihull Yacht Club handicap system. Last position update: 5 Jun 10:00 NZST. All times NZST.
Glen Jeffery’s Grand Soleil 50 Wave appears to have found her way safely back to Opua. No further update from Jeffery, but the tracker has her home.
