Three legs of racing are done, but the 2026 Doyle Sails Round North Island Two Handed Yacht Race is far from decided. Competing crews are gathered in Napier, preparing for the final passage back to Auckland.
Race officials have confirmed a 1pm start on Friday 12 March for Leg 4, a 367 nautical mile coastal passage that will determine both the handicap and line honours outcomes for the entire event.
The leg begins just outside the Port of Napier, with boats tracking north along the east coast. Portland Island and Bull Rock are the first waypoints before the course stretches toward East Cape, the North Island's easternmost point. From there the fleet turns west, passing Cape Runaway and moving through the Bay of Plenty before the push toward the Hauraki Gulf begins in earnest. The final navigational decisions of the race arrive as boats close on Auckland, threading through Colville Channel, rounding Channel Island, and then committing to either the Motuihe Channel or Rangitoto Channel for the run down to the finish line off Westhaven Marina.
On PHRF handicap, the provisional leaderboard has the Sun Fast 3300 Ragnar, crewed by Ben Elliott and Jack Glidden, sitting at the top after three legs. Kick (Elliott 1050) is the closest pursuer, needing to recover just over an hour on corrected time to displace Ragnar from the head of the standings. Motorboat III (Thompson 1150) faces a deficit approaching two hours. Beyond those three the gaps grow considerably, leaving realistic podium ambitions largely confined to this leading trio.
{{TABLE_1}}
The line honours picture has taken a clearer shape, though it cannot yet be considered resolved. Explore Racing, the Elliott 50 sailed by William Goodfellow and Jimmy Turner, has built a commanding lead across the opening three stages. Motorboat III is the nearest challenger, sitting just under four hours adrift, while Vixen Racing and the rest of the fleet would need a dramatic reversal of fortune to trouble the front-runners.
Conditions at the start look reasonably favourable. A north-easterly breeze of 8 to 12 knots is forecast for the departure from Napier, with seas of around 0.6 metres offering an undemanding beginning to the leg. Further north, a southerly change is expected to set in and build, potentially delivering a fast reaching angle up the coast toward East Cape and compressing the time gaps across the fleet still further.
With 367 miles of racing still to go, nothing has been decided. The passage from Napier to Westhaven will deliver the final verdict on both handicap honours and line honours alike.
