The corrected-time results from this year's PIC Coastal Classic capture how tactics, patience, and smart sail choices played out across 119 nautical miles of New Zealand coastline.
*Division 1A*
Evan Davies' Davidson 55 Another Duchess headed Division 1A with a corrected time of 22:04:27, winning the class by almost fifty-five minutes. William Goodfellow's Elliott 50 SS Explore Racing finished second on 22:59:20, and Harry Dodson and Tony Bosnyak's TP52 Mayhem claimed third on 23:05:55. The TP52 battle stayed intense throughout, with Jim Murray's Pac 52 Callisto just 3 minutes 26 seconds behind Mayhem, the tightest margin in the class. Further down the order, Rob Bassett and Brett Russell's TP52 Wired and Bryon Ehrhart's Juan K-designed Lucky both paid heavily on corrected time, their waterline length no match for demanding ratings. The class averaged 23:40:42, the slowest of the entire event, confirmation that even elite hulls cannot outrun a tough handicap.
*Division 1B*
Chris Hornell's Shaw 9 Blue Dude led Division 1B home on 20:00:24, with Simon Manning and Andy Robertson's Farr 36 One Design Kaizen second on 20:15:54 and Mike Sanderson's Shaw 35 Rehab third on 20:44:38. Times throughout the division were tightly bunched. Vaughn Clark's Soto 40 Alegre finished only nineteen minutes behind the leader, and Finn Topzand's Ross 1066 Margaritaville was separated from Scott Fyfe's Shaw 10.5 Illuminate by just 13 seconds, the tightest finish in the division. At the tail of the fleet, Sharon Ferris-Choat's Verdier 40 Vixen Racing trailed Mikayla Plaw's Melges 40 Sassinate by 34 minutes 58 seconds. The division's average of 22:00:17 placed it well ahead of the grand-prix yachts on corrected pace.
*Division 2*
Division 2 delivered the closest racing of the day. Marc Michel's Dehler 30 OD Niksen won on 20:49:18, just 38 seconds clear of Peter Schischka's Young 11 Super Sport Force Eleven, with Kevin Peet's Ross 9.14 Blackout following three minutes later on 20:53:01. The mid-fleet battles were thrillingly tight. Brian Watson's Beneteau 44.7 Savante and Brendan Sands' Elliott 1050 Kick were split by a mere 2 seconds, while Bob Still's Woolley 10.66 Mustang Sally edged Nigel Hendy's Dufour 45e Nirvana by only 3 seconds. The widest gap came near the tail, where Nick Roberts' Dehler 41 Akonga finished 51 minutes 40 seconds behind Ross Brownlie's Elliott 1050 Daytripper. Division 2's average corrected time of 21:27:33 placed it firmly among the faster fleets.
*Division 3*
Division 3 showed that steady helming and thoughtful routing remain powerful tools. Brad Marsh's Young 11 Legacy topped the class on 20:24:26, with Keith Trask's Beneteau First 35 First Priority second on 20:29:49 and Leo McCullough's Dufour 36 Performance C'est La Vie third on 20:49:19. Only 5 minutes 23 seconds separated the top two, while the longest stretch in the class, just over an hour, fell between Barry Martin's Senior 11.4 Bizarre and Peter Cunningham's J112E Ticketty Boo. Division 3 averaged 21:00:46, a faster collective pace than both Divisions 1A and 1B.
*Division 4*
The 30-foot bracket of Division 4 produced some of the sharpest corrected-time performances in the fleet. Matt Krogstad's Farr 1020 Starmaker won on 19:26:46, ahead of Luke Judge's Ross 930 Wasted Away on 19:40:03 and Richard and John Power's Farr 1020 Lavanti third on 19:51:32. The boats immediately behind were barely minutes apart, with Garth McKilliam's Ross 930 Grunt Machine sitting just 2 minutes 1 second behind Lavanti and Sinisa Grujicic's Ross 930 Hotdogger only a few minutes further back. Division 4's average corrected time of 20:16:05 beat every higher-numbered class, underlining how well these moderate-displacement designs handled the mixed conditions on course.
*Division 5*
Division 5's small-boat fleet showed that agility carries its own rewards. Gary Fowler's Young 88 Paddy Wagon won on 19:30:27, with Daniel Wise's Young 88 Young Mischief second on 19:34:15 and Lanny Walker's SR26 T-Rex third on 19:36:23. Those three boats were covered by just 2 minutes 8 seconds after more than sixty hours of sailing, a razor-thin result by any measure. Jamie Caisley's Elliott 7.8 Ex Machina had a considerably harder run north, finishing 1 hour 35 minutes 34 seconds behind T-Rex. Division 5's average corrected time of 19:58:15 was the fastest recorded across the whole event.
*Double-Handed*
Short-handed racing produced its own drama. Starmaker, already a Division 4 winner, repeated the achievement with a corrected time of 19:29:55. Lavanti followed on 19:42:00, with Sinisa Grujicic's Ross 930 Hotdogger third on 19:45:11. The division's most gripping moment came further down the results, where Ryan McCready's Ross 9.1 Physical Favours and Leo McCullough's Dufour 36 C'est La Vie finished just 2 seconds apart on corrected time. The division averaged 20:30:49, placing the two-person crews between Divisions 4 and 3 overall, which speaks to the careful planning and relentless trimming that short-handed sailing demands.
*Classic*
Thomas Rutter and Dougal Bell's Modern Classic Innismara claimed the honours in the Classic division with a corrected time of 21:38:21. That result would have placed Innismara mid-fleet in Division 2, proof that a well-handled heritage yacht can still hold its own on corrected time.
*Cross-class insights*
When the divisional averages are set side by side, a clear pattern takes shape. Division 5 led with 19:58:15, followed by Division 4 on 20:16:05, the Double-Handed division on 20:30:49, Division 3 on 21:00:46, Division 2 on 21:27:33, the Classic division on 21:38:21, Division 1B on 22:00:17, and Division 1A on 23:40:42. The smaller, lighter classes consistently returned quicker corrected times than the grand-prix machinery at the top of the fleet, with Gary Fowler's Paddy Wagon and Matt Krogstad's Starmaker among the standout performers.
The closest finishes were shared equally between Division 2 and the Double-Handed division, each producing a 2-second margin. Savante and Kick supplied the drama in the former, Physical Favours and C'est La Vie in the latter. In Division 1B, Illuminate edged Margaritaville by 13 seconds, and in Division 1A, Callisto was 3 minutes 26 seconds adrift of Mayhem. The widest gaps were equally telling. Ex Machina trailed T-Rex by 1 hour 35 minutes 34 seconds in Division 5, the largest single step of the event, while Akonga finished 51 minutes 40 seconds behind Daytripper in Division 2. In Division 1A, Lucky ended up 2 hours 5 minutes 18 seconds behind Wired, and among the Double-Handed entries, Akonga finished 2 hours 8 minutes 21 seconds behind Niksen.
Taken together, the corrected-time results reflect a race shaped as much by weather windows, timing, and course strategy as by raw boat speed. Divisions 5 and 4 claimed the fastest averages, the two-second result between Savante and Kick illustrated just how fine the margins can be over 119 nautical miles, and the Double-Handed division showed that Starmaker and Lavanti could match the pace of many fully crewed yachts. From the premier division down to the small-boat fleet, the corrected times captured the full breadth of racing that defined this year's PIC Coastal Classic.
