The 2026 Doyle Sails RNIs Leg 4 has delivered anything but a straightforward routing decision across its opening 24 hours, with crews locked into near-constant tactical reassessment rather than a clean commitment to one side of the course or the other.
Twenty-five boats left Napier at 1pm on Friday, heading into what one crew described as "very lumpy seas with 10 knots of wind," and the central question arose almost immediately: push east into open water chasing stronger pressure, or angle north early and save distance by staying close to the coast? Neither approach produced a clear winner, turning the leg into an ongoing exercise in continuous adjustment.
The race had barely started when drama interrupted proceedings. Motorboat 2 jumped the gun, had to turn back, round the pin, and rejoin the fleet before resuming. For those who got away cleanly, the upwind slog out of Hawke Bay was a trial in itself. "Pretty yucky and slow chopping for most of the afternoon. Very uncomfortable," was how Perfect Storm summed up the opening hours as the fleet laboured northward through the chop.
Within the first few miles the fleet had split across a wide front. Motorboat III broke away from those trending east and climbed onto a higher, more northerly line, with General Lee and Kayimai peeling toward the coast in their wake. Out to sea, Hotdogger, Ragnar, Motorboat II, Start Me Up, and Vixen Racing continued pressing offshore, stretching the fleet across a broad sweep of Hawke Bay. Neither group stayed committed to its initial choice. Shifts in breeze and sea state kept crews tacking and bearing away, searching for better angles as the miles accumulated.
By Friday evening, attention turned to Mahia Peninsula, the first significant geographic waypoint on the leg. Explore Racing was first to begin the rounding, with Focus and Vixen Racing close behind. The leading trio negotiated the headland on a wider track, keeping well clear of the coast. Behind them, Motorboat III and High 5 were working the inshore side, adding another dimension to an already complicated picture. Some boats that had been sailing offshore swung back toward the land, while others held their wider positions. Beyond the headland, the exposed water to the north offered a slightly building northerly breeze, though the sea state was no kinder for it. "Lumpy little start line and a long upwind to get out of the bay," was Niksen's assessment as the fleet pushed on north.
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The overnight hours brought the fleet north past Gisborne in light, changeable conditions, crews hunting any available pressure in the darkness. Explore Racing, Vixen Racing, Focus, and Ragnar held an easterly position for much of the night, though sleep was a scarce commodity offshore. "Tough night onboard, pretty bumpy seaway. Not much sleep as we were thrown around in the bunk off watch," Ragnar reported. "Breakfast bar is open but limited selection today."
Fog moved in on top of the discomfort. "More of this bumpy stuff. And what's with the fog?" came the update from Focus, while Ākonga also reported thick sea fog before a grey, damp dawn crept across the fleet. By early Saturday morning, Explore Racing was sitting roughly 56 nautical miles north-east of Gisborne, edging back toward the coast while maintaining its northerly track.
Saturday afternoon made plain just how far the fleet had strung itself out along the East Coast. Highline, at the southern end of the fleet, was around 64 nautical miles south-east of East Cape Lighthouse. At the northern end, Explore Racing sat approximately 37 nautical miles south-east of the same mark, the most northerly and easterly boat on the water. Between those two extremes, General Lee was sailing the most inshore line of any competitor, tracking roughly three nautical miles off the coast near Frog Rock off Waipiro Bay. The leaders were by then bearing down on East Cape Lighthouse, New Zealand's easternmost point and the mark where the course swings north-west into the Bay of Plenty.
With the fleet converging on East Cape, High 5 holds line honours, leading General Lee by approximately half an hour on elapsed time, with Perfect Storm next. All three have favoured the inshore track throughout. On overall PHRF handicap the contest is considerably closer: Pipi leads Focus by just over ten minutes on corrected time, with Start Me Up a further seven minutes back.
Within the divisions, the inshore route has paid dividends in Division 1, where General Lee leads on corrected time by around 25 minutes from Perfect Storm, with High 5 in third. Division 2 follows a similar pattern, Pipi holding a roughly 11-minute buffer over Focus on corrected time and Kayimai sitting third. Division 3 has produced the most emphatic margin anywhere in the fleet, with Ragnar leading Kick and Niksen by approximately three hours on corrected time after sailing a middle-to-offshore line. Division 4 sees Start Me Up out in front, L'Avanti around 15 minutes back on corrected time, and Hotdogger further behind.
East Cape is now only a short distance ahead for the leading boats. Once they round that corner, the fleet faces the long north-west run toward Cape Runaway and the Bay of Plenty, where forecast southerlies are expected to build from behind. If those conditions arrive as predicted, a leg defined so far by grinding upwind work and relentless tactical decision-making could transform into a fast reaching charge up the coast. After a rough opening night and 24 hours of unrelenting adjustment, Leg 4 of the 2026 Doyle Sails RNIs may be about to enter a very different phase.
