Sydney to Auckland Ocean Race: Unpleasant night at sea

MEDIA RELEASE

Last night was a harsh reminder of how a beautiful sail on the ocean can change in an instant, as it did last night in the 1250 nautical mile Sydney to Auckland Ocean Race (S2A), requiring quick thinking and action as crews worked together to bring things back under control.

On Alan Hill’s Swan 48, Cooloola, Lisa Denvir was succinct: “We had an eventful evening aboard. Just as we were about to have dinner, a front hit us with a vengeance. We had the A2 (Asymmetrical spinnaker) up at the time, but managed to retrieve it and everyone is safe.

“We saw 42 knots on a number of occasions but have moved on this sunny am,” Denvir ended.

Geoff Hill’s Antipodes has had her fun too and navigator, Brad Kellett put it beautifully: “If ocean racing was easy and fun all the time, everybody would do it. Last night was a mission. Pitch black, nothing to steer to, wind shifting 90 degrees.

“Heading to NZ – nope. Heading to Antarctica – nope. Heading to Lord Howe Island! Anyway, we got through the night and we’re still having on our battle to conquer the Tasman.”

At 9am he reported, “We’re currently two-sail reaching in a northerly and heading at Cape Reigna again.”

A similar story on Ian Edwards’ Dehler 46, Wings. “We had a bit on last night. It was a very breezy, very dark night, but everyone’s still smiling. Wings is heading east under kite now, cruising with the S5 (spinnaker) now the breeze has abated,” crew member Janease Graham explained.

Jana Com added, “It’s hardly stopped raining, but we’re all in good spirits.”

Still leading the race is Bryon Ehrhart’s Juan K, Lucky, (USA) which has put in some serious ocean miles since yesterday morning. At 10am this morning, she was hurtling along at 22 knots and had 465nm to sail before she reaches the finish line of the 1250nm course.

The grand prix Juan K 88, which has a few Kiwi sailors aboard, is on the way to another line honours trophy, adding to her many others that share space with those for overall wins and race records that Ehrhart has earned with his thoroughbred yacht.

“A nice fast and dark night last night in 15 to 22 knots, with boat speeds between 20-25 knots at 125 True Wind Angle. It’s a little damp on deck at times and we had a small issue with one of our mainsail batten boxes which took around 30 minutes to fix.,” Jono Rankine said from Lucky.

“We’re expecting 20 to 25 knots gusting 30 over the next six hours. Under 300 miles to go to the Cape,” Rankine ended.

Behind Lucky is defending line honours victor, Antipodes, which had 824 miles to go. Mick Martin’s defending overall winner, Frantic is just 13 miles adrift, still hunting down Antipodes. Wings is next, with 915 miles to go, while Cooloola is 49 miles behind Wings.

RPAYC Commodore, Rob McClelland will leave his Rally entry, First Picasso in the Bay of Islands ready for engine repairs, as he prepares to drive the remaining miles to Royal Akarana Yacht Club, the race co-host, this morning.