Sydney to Auckland Ocean Race slows down as breeze lightens

MEDIA RELEASE

The Sydney to Auckland Ocean Race (S2A) is evoking all sorts of emotions aboard the yachts remaining at sea, as conditions go from wild and wet to light and tricky as breakages start to take their toll and New Zealand seems so far away for some.

The Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club’s 1250 nautical mile race has delivered a bit of everything so far, from hard reaching, to grey skies and rain, starry nights, golden sunsets and beautiful sunrises, not to mention cold as crews get closer to Auckland.

After a great sail yesterday, Brad Kellett reported from Geoff Hill’s Antipodes (HKG) this morning, “Well, looks like we might manage 24 hours without a sail change. That will be a novelty…

“We had a beautiful spinnaker reach all day yesterday on the back end of the south-westerly front that came through yesterday morning. Last night the breeze went a bit light and fluky but we seemed to manage to flow through the lightest of the weather for now.

“It’s currently squally with the occasional bit of sunshine. Raincoats on when on deck. We’ve got 100 miles to go to Cape Reigna, which means we’re less than a Sydney to Gold Coast away from the finish line,” Kellett ended.

Cape Reigna a is the northwestern most tip of the Aupōuri Peninsula, at the northern end of the North Island of New Zealand. It is famous for being a spiritually significant site for Māori, where the spirits of the dead are believed to begin their journey to the underworld.

In the meantime, Michael Martin’s Frantic has done a good job of mowing down Antipodes. There is little more than a mile between them and Frantic is sailing a slightly higher course to the Cape.

“We’ve still got Antipodes in our sights as we edge closer to the top on New Zealand. Our navigator, Malcolm Dean, is being kept busy,” Jane Roberts said from Frantic.

“We had a lovely day sailing yesterday, initially with our FRO ((Fractional Code 0) up, then our repaired A2 (see pic of repairers hard at work). Then we went back to the FRO in the late afternoon and we still have it up.”

Youth crew on Frantic includes Bayley Taylor (sailed Optimists and Laser Radials at State and National level), who has done a few shorter offshore races, but nothing of this magnitude. The same can be said for Josh Paulson, who is in the early stages of an offshore career and was among those working on sail repairs.

Last evening, Roberts shared, “We enjoyed a lovely sunset and had very easy sailing last night and thus far today, which was welcome after the previous wet and wild experience!”

As they close in on New Zealand, Roberts said, “We’re noticing the temperature slowly dropping and mid-layers and bear suits are emerging from crew bags. We’re very excited at the prospect of seeing land again and we’re looking forward to sailing down the New Zealand east coast.”

On Ian Edwards’ Wings, where the crew is a 50/50 split of men and women, singing has become a pastime. One enterprising crew member, Mieke Wright, created a new Lipton’s Cup tea jingle, which was shared on the event’s social media platform.

Wings has sailed up to the rhumb line course and conditions have slowed her and the rest down after a hectic night, as Jana Com reported. “We had a rather busy night with a few sail changes to catch that last bit of wind.” Another tear in the A5 contributed to that.

“Otherwise pleasant conditions overnight and a far too calm morning so far.”

Behind them, Cooloola, a Swan 48 owned by Octogenarian Alan Hill, is making good progress towards the finish line off Royal Akarana Yacht Club, co-host of the race. She is 70nm adrift of Wings, the later having sailed 505nm of the 1250nm course at 9am.

Lisa Denvir said from Cooloola, “Mixed emotions last night. Quote of the night: ‘Just one day without something breaking…’

“Excellent work by Tom (Vincent) and Mark Hunter in fixing our generator so we could have dinner, albeit a little late, 10pm for one watch and 12 for the other. Very light this morning, with good tunes playing,” she ended.

Antipodes and Frantic will be next to finish Question is, which one will it be? At 9am, the two were neck and neck, but Frantic was sailing a knot faster, moving along at 10.8 knots. The pair are 311nm short of the finish line and should finish tomorrow afternoon.

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