Sydney to Auckland Ocean Race: Counting down the miles

MEDIA RELEASE

The Sydney to Auckland Ocean Race (S2A) is now into its fifth day and the crews of two boats are counting down the miles to the finish line as they look forward to arriving into Auckland, thoughts turn to what they will do on arrival at Royal Akarana Yacht Club (RAYC), co-host of the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club (RPAYC) organised event.

At 1250 nautical miles, the S2A is the longest fully crew race out of Australia and with conditions lightening in the last 24 hours, the final miles are a little on the excruciating side for some.

Frantic, Michael Martin’s TP52 (NSW), overtook Geoff Hill’s Santa Cruz 72 Antipodes (HKG) when the breeze lightened yesterday afternoon.

Frantic’s lighter hull gives her the advantage in light air, but it’s not been an easy ride all the same, as Martin said from the yacht this morning. Just south of Kerikeri at 9am, with 123nm to go and ETA in Auckland after 9pm tonight, the crew can smell the finish line.

“We had a discussion on how we were going to move the boat to the finish line sitting on 1.5 knots. We had a heated discussion on how we were going to sail and after involvement with my crew, we got it going, but we had a testing time through the light airs. A tough time but very rewarding,” Martin spoke of their last 24 hours from his 2023 overall winning boat.

“We’re on the New Zealand coast now and it’s sensational – it’s a beautiful place,” he said.

Martin’s thoughts turned to their arrival: “It was going to be a cold Guiness, but now I think it’ll be a warm shower first, a quick massage, deal with customs and then thank the guys who come down to the dock for a great race.”

Getting into the theme of arriving in New Zealand, Frantic crew member Jane Roberts said, “Kia Ora (hello) from Frantic. The team is excited to be sailing along the beautiful New Zealand coastline.

“We managed to keep the boat ghosting along from Cape Reinga to North Cape during the night – a real mental challenge after so many miles. We’re focussed on getting to Auckland!”

At 9am, the 2023 line honours victor and race record creator, Antipodes, had also gone around Cape Reinga. She was making10 knots 173nm from the finish line – 50nm behind Frantic with an ETA of around 3am tomorrow morning.

At this same time yesterday, she was neck and neck with Frantic, but by 4pm, Frantic was 27nm ahead of her foe.

As Brad Kellett said from Antipodes last night, “It’s been a tough day getting sailed around…”

This morning he said, “Yesterday was a disappointing day for Team Antipodes. We were very positive sailing out of the night with a couple of great clouds keeping us rolling over 10 knots boat speed until the skies cleared and the breeze disappeared.

“We watched Frantic sail 5 miles away from us and escape the worst of the light breezes. They were able to round North Cape and head south before the tide turned and the breeze shut down. We were drifting most of the night around the top of the North land when finally some breeze filtered down the shore and we were able to escape our purgatory.

“We’re now heading south down the east coast with a Code 0 sitting on over 10 knots again,” ended Kellett.

Behind Antipodes, Ian Edwards’ Dehler 46 Wings (NSW) and Alan Hill’s Swan 48, Cooloola, were making good progress.

Janease Graham said from Edwards’s yacht this morning, “We’re cruising along with the S1 up under sunny skies.”

Wings was moving along at 7-8.1 knots, with 362nm to the finish and leading ORCi, while Cooloola was some 50nm behind travelling at 9.5 knots.

Cooloola’s crew found pleasant distractions from the light air, as Lisa Denvir reported: “After a slow day most of yesterday searching for wind with any stability, we eventually found some pressure with the A2 and coasted through a beautiful, happy hour sunset sharing it with dolphins and Albatross.”

“We had a fun sail under a rising moon throughout the night, followed by a bit of 6am activity with watch captain Callum (Cecil) saving the day retrieving a spinnaker sheet.

“Now we’re scooting along, still under the A2, looking forward to a day chewing through the miles to the corner at last…”

The RPAYC Sydney to Auckland Ocean Race, sponsored by Harken and Palm Beach Motor Yachts, started at 1pm on Sydney Harbour yesterday and is co-hosted by RPAYC and New Zealand’s RAYC.