Entries for the 2026 PIC Coastal Classic closed on Monday with 100 boats signed up for the 119-nautical-mile run from Devonport to Russell. The fleet leaves on Friday 23 October, the start of Labour Weekend, and is made up of 84 monohulls, 10 multihulls and six cruising boats in the rally.
That puts the fleet on a par with last year’s, when more than 100 boats entered. The numbers are well up on 2024, when 67 boats started and 39 reached Russell.
Lucky won’t be back
The name missing from the list is Lucky. Bryon Ehrhart’s 27-metre Juan K maxi took line honours last year in 17 hours 22 minutes, in what the NZ Multihull Yacht Club called one of the calmest races in recent memory. She ghosted up the Northland coast through the night and was first to find the southerly that filled in at Cape Brett after 2am.
Jim Murray’s Pac52 Callisto, second over the line, hasn’t entered either. Neither has CAT+ION, Graham Catley’s Roger Hill 18.5-metre catamaran and last year’s first multihull home. Whoever gets the gun at Russell Wharf this time, it won’t be a repeat.
Romanza and Levity return
If the breeze comes from the south-west and holds, the big multihulls are the boats to watch. Dougall Love’s Rapido 60 trimaran Romanza took line honours in 2024, finishing more than an hour and a half ahead of Mike Mackey’s Schionning CM46 catamaran Levity. Both are entered in Division 6, along with Steven Dunlop’s Given 1500 My Fix and Erle Williams’ Apache.
Aventador, last year’s first multihull on handicap, is not on the list, so the Duncan Stewart Rose Bowl will go to a different boat.
The race record still belongs to Beau Geste. She set it in 2019 at 5 hours 0 minutes 37 seconds, in a south-westerly of around 20 knots that gusted close to 30.
Antaeus heads Division 1A
The new boat in Division 1A is Antaeus, Charles Brown’s Davidson 66 from the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. She is the longest monohull entered, which makes her the boat to beat for first monohull home if the breeze lets her stretch her legs.
The rest of the division knows this race well. Graham Matthews’ Equilibrium crossed the 2024 finish seconds behind Levity. The TP52 Mayhem, co-skippered last year by Harry Dodson and Tony Bosnyak, swapped places all night with Rob Bassett and Brett Russell’s Wired until she got away at Cape Brett. William Goodfellow’s Elliott 50 SS Explore Racing was second on handicap. Evan Davies’ Davidson 55 Another Duchess won the division on corrected time by almost 55 minutes and is back to defend it.
Six of last year’s nine division winners are entered
Another Duchess is one of six 2025 division winners on this year’s list. The others are:
Chris Hornell’s Shaw 9 Blue Dude (Division 1B)
Marc Michel’s Dehler 30 OD Niksen (Division 2)
Matt Krogstad's Farr 1020 Starmaker (Division 4)
Gary Fowler’s Young 88 Paddy Wagon (Division 5)
Craig Haslip’s Open 8.5 Hooters (Division 7)
Starmaker had the biggest weekend of anyone in 2025. She added the PHRF overall and two-handed trophies to her division win. The full corrected-time breakdown shows how little separated some of these boats.
Division 2 is the biggest in the fleet with 27 boats. Niksen won it by 38 seconds from Peter Schischka’s Young 11 Force Eleven, and both are back, along with third-placed Blackout (Kevin Peet). The division runs from the Beneteau 44.7s Savante and Rumpus to the Elliott 1050s Second Nature and Daytripper. It also includes Nigel Garland’s Sun Fast 3600 Katana and Paul Watson’s Hanse 455 Winslow.
Division 3 has lost its winner, Legacy. Keith Trask’s Beneteau First 35 First Priority and Leo McCullough’s Dufour 36 C’est La Vie, second and third last year, are among its 18 entries.
The 2025 podiums in the smaller divisions are almost untouched. Division 4 has only six boats, but they include Starmaker, Wasted Away and Lavanti, who finished in that order last year, plus Hotdogger.
Division 5 has the whole 2025 podium back: Paddy Wagon, Daniel Wise’s Young 88 Young Mischief and Lanny Walker’s SR26 T-Rex. Under six minutes separated the three on corrected time last year. With four Young 88s and three SR26s in an 11-boat division, much of their race will be decided boat against boat.
Division 1B
Division 1B has 15 boats and plenty of form. Mikayla Plaw’s Melges 40 Sassinate was the first 1B boat into Russell last year and sixth over the line overall. Simon Manning’s Farr 36 Kaizen and Mike Sanderson’s Shaw 35 Rehab were second and third on handicap behind Blue Dude. Steve Mair’s Shaw 12 Clockwork and Vaughn Clark’s Soto 40 Alegre are back too.
Also entered are:
Quintin Fowler’s More 55 Rum Bucket
Nathan Williams’ Cape 40 Mr Kite II
Cameron Thorpe’s Bakewell-White 37 General Lee
Emma Lawrence’s Sayer 12 Wasabi, which carries sail number AUS88
The 8.5s
The Open 8.5 multihulls have their own race inside Division 7, and this year it is last year’s top three again. Hooters won the division and took 8.5 line honours in a little under 25 hours, with Lucifer second and Attitude third. All three are back, and Freedom makes it four 8.5s on the line.
Two-handed, solo, classic and IRC
Three boats are racing two-handed:
Matt Krogstad's Farr 1020 Starmaker, last year's overall handicap winner.
Richard and John Power’s Lavanti, second to her in the two-handed standings last year
Gavin Stevens’ J120 Simply Red 2
Three skippers are going solo:
Mike Phear on the Bull 12000 Bullistic
Ben Ball on the Cavalier 36 Camellia
Peter Bourke on the Sparkman and Stephens Diablo
Seven boats have entered the classic division, among them the kauri sloop Ilex and Innismara, last year’s first classic. The IRC division has three boats: Rum Bucket, Visage and Savante, which won the Cookson Trophy as first IRC boat in 2025. Trish Beken’s Chico 30 Chico Too is the only entry in the women’s division, and Simon Judd’s Gib Sea 52 Komaru II has Division 8 to herself.
A few crews will be hoping for more breeze this time. Visage, Red Baron, Smokey and La Camargue all got round Cape Brett last year, then ran out of time before the 2pm cut-off on Saturday.
The rally
The cruising rally has six boats, with divisions still to be set. One of the skippers is Adrian Percival, vice Commodore of the NZ Multihull Yacht Club, which runs the race. He is skippering the Lavranos 44 catamaran Lady Nada.
Ian Ashton’s Cyclades 43.3 Dream Weaver, the very first of Riley and Elayna's boats, the monohull La Vagabonde, is back as well. She was the last boat into Russell in 2024, finishing early the following afternoon after more than a day at sea.
Go Boating will be on the water for the start and in Russell for the finish. Division previews and the weather outlook will follow in the Coastal Classic section as race day gets closer.
