Three divisions, three distinct stories. Racing A, B, and C each played out the same central tension in their own way: boats that ruled the water often found themselves under real pressure once handicap calculations came into play. Raw pace had its place, but reliability and consistency shaped the final standings just as much.
The opening day was abandoned, yet the racing across the remaining four days established clear patterns. Certain boats owned the line honours battles. Others built their campaigns through steady accumulation rather than outright dominance, and more often than not, it was that approach which determined the outcome.
Racing A drew five boats with serious offshore pedigree. The TP52 Wired, the Marten 55 Equilibrium, the Elliott 50 Explore Racing, the Farr 43 Georgia One, and the Verdier 40 Vixen Racing made up a compact but high-calibre fleet, with names well known throughout New Zealand offshore sailing. Five races were completed across the remaining four days once the abandoned opener was set aside.
On line honours, the result could not have been more clear-cut. Rob Bassett and Brett Russell's Wired won every race, commanding the fleet across all conditions. Margins ranged from a 10-minute 21-second gap in Race 2 down to 3 minutes 33 seconds in Race 3, yet the TP52 was never seriously threatened. Graham Matthews' Equilibrium came second overall on line honours, finishing second in Races 3, 4, and 6 to accumulate 9 points. William Goodfellow's Explore Racing ended just one point behind.
Handicap told a more layered story. Equilibrium proved the most consistent performer across both EHC and PHRF, making the most of the reduced conditions on Day 3 to win Race 3 and Race 4 on both systems. The Marten 55 was not always first across the line, but staying close to the top race after race was what counted. Georgia One thrived in the rough, wet conditions of Day 2's Race 2 to claim an EHC win, then repeated that result in the final race of the EHC series. Those two wins left her just one point behind Equilibrium on the EHC scoreboard. Wired gathered a run of seconds and thirds across the EHC series to sit third. Explore Racing took Race 5 on EHC.
On PHRF, Equilibrium and Wired finished level on 7 points. Equilibrium had won twice and Wired once, though the TP52's string of second places brought her total alongside the Marten 55. Georgia One sat on 8 points in third, winning Race 1 and Race 6 on PHRF. For Vixen Racing, a winch failure on Day 3 ruled the Verdier 40 out of two races and ended any realistic chance of a series result.
Racing B assembled a varied 12-boat fleet spanning a wide range of designs and lengths, from sub-seven-metre sport models through to ten and eleven-metre keelboats. Hana Hielkema's Shaw 6.5 Snatch and Matt Gottard's Shaw 7 Daisy Duke lined up alongside Ryan McCready's Ross 9.1 Physical Favours and Kevin Peet's Ross 9.14 Blackout, while larger platforms including Mike Bennett's Ross 40 The Farm, Graeme Lucas' Elliott 1050 Chain Reaction, and Mark Malpass' Cookson 12 Akatea filled out the top end. Most of the fleet sat between 8.5 and 10.6 metres, with EHC numbers clustered in the low to mid 0.8s. In a fleet matched that tightly, handling, consistency, and clean racing counted for at least as much as pace.
Daisy Duke was the dominant force on line honours, winning five of the six races counted in the series: Races 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7. The Shaw 7 built substantial margins along the way, finishing 15 minutes 25 seconds ahead in Race 2 and 8 minutes clear of Blackout in Race 3. A DNS in Race 5 was discarded, leaving Daisy Duke on five points overall. Kevin Peet's Blackout was the consistent line-honours challenger, winning Race 5 and placing second or third in every other race. Bob Still's Woolley 10.66 Mustang Sally finished third on line with 16 points.
Handicap scoring across both EHC and PHRF produced some of the closest racing of the regatta. The EHC series went to Chain Reaction, Graeme Lucas' Elliott 1050, built on steady accumulation rather than race victories. She did not dominate individual races but posted consistently solid finishes across the series. EHC race wins were spread widely: Daisy Duke won Race 2 by 5 minutes 8 seconds over Apparition and Race 3 by 1 minute 26 seconds over Chain Reaction. Men At Work 3 edged Race 4 by just 19 seconds over Blackout. Apparition claimed Race 5 by a mere three seconds from Mustang Sally. The Farm took Race 6 by 2 minutes 59 seconds over Apparition.
Hans Wehmeyer's Thompson 850 Men At Work 3 won the PHRF series, taking Races 3, 4, 6, and 7. That included a two-second victory over Chain Reaction in Race 3 and a 1-minute 12-second margin in Race 7. Blackout finished second overall on PHRF, winning Race 5 and placing second or third through the remainder of the series.
Racing C brought together the broadest mix of all three divisions. Bill Clifton's Platu 25 Platupus and Paul Smith's Shaw 550 The Racoon represented the compact sport-boat end. Cruiser-racers such as Dave Campbell's Beneteau Oceanis 40.5 Opportunity and Sefton Powrie's Brin Wilson 44 Ilex offered a different dimension. Ian Templeman's Farr 920 Farr South, Giovanni Belgrano's Young 88 Young Magic, Spencer Poborsa Cox's Ross 930 The Bondi Tram, and Ian Moore's Beneteau First 36.7 Fifth Dimension added proven offshore designs to the mix, alongside Cees Romeyn's Whiting 29 Lexus and Max Newport's Craig Loomes design Rock N Roll. The fleet mostly ranged between 8 and 11 metres, with EHC numbers spread from the mid 0.6s to mid 0.7s. Versatility and consistency were the qualities that mattered most.
Paul King's Beneteau First 36 Nautilass was every bit as commanding on line honours as Daisy Duke had been in Racing B, with one notable distinction: Nautilass started every race and finished first in every one of them, a faultless run across the series. Giovanni Belgrano's Young Magic was the constant challenger, finishing second in all but Race 2, when The Racoon came in ahead of her. The margins were not always comfortable. Race 6 saw Young Magic cross just 19 seconds behind Nautilass. Ilex finished third in four races, and that consistency alone was enough to secure third place on the Racing C line honours scorecard.
Handicap was where Young Magic made her mark. On EHC, only two points separated Giovanni Belgrano's boat from Dave Campbell's Opportunity: 17 points to 19. Young Magic won Races 4 and 5, but it was her constancy through the top three across all seven races that secured the EHC result. Race 5 was particularly close, with Young Magic finishing just 10 seconds ahead of Opportunity. Heartlight claimed third on EHC.
The EHC margins throughout Racing C rewarded closer inspection. In Race 2, Roger Sims and Rhys Cole's Young 88 Heartlight finished one second ahead of Ian Templeman's Farr South, while Ilex crossed just 2 seconds ahead of Doug France's Farr 10.20 Cotton Bud. Race 3 saw The Racoon and Ilex split by 3 seconds, with a further 3-second gap between Cotton Bud and Heartlight. Race 6 produced a 4-second margin between Farr South and Cotton Bud. Race 7 served up two near-identical finishes: 4 seconds between Cotton Bud and Fifth Dimension, and just 1 second separating Platupus from The Bondi Tram.
On PHRF, Young Magic was in a class of her own, winning each of the six races in the division. Ilex finished second in four races and third in one, earning enough to finish two points ahead of Nautilass in third.
Across all three divisions, the same pattern held. Wired, Daisy Duke, and Nautilass were authoritative on line honours in their respective fleets, each controlling their division with a clarity that left little room for doubt. Handicap racing followed a different logic entirely. Shared race wins, margins measured in seconds, and points accumulated steadily over a series rewarded the boats and crews that kept turning up, kept finishing, and kept their racing clean. Reliability was what separated the winners from the rest.
