Guy Chester has circled the globe, racked up podium results on the Caribbean regatta circuit, and now he is pointing the bow of his Auckland-built trimaran north for the 2025 PIC Coastal Classic. When the start gun fires off Devonport Wharf on Friday, 24 October, Ocean's Tribute will be among the most travelled and storied hulls in the fleet.
The boat has a history worth knowing. A Crowther Design 93 trimaran launched in 1991, Ocean's Tribute is one of only two of her kind ever built. Her sistership, Bullfrog, racing under the name Verbatim at the time, crossed the line behind Sir Peter Blake in the 1988 Goodman Fielder Wattie Bicentennial Around Australia Yacht Race. Ocean's Tribute, sailing then as Shark's Angel under her original Austrian owner, went on to set the solo Trans-Tasman record, a mark she still holds. She has since crossed the world's oceans three times over.
Chester came across the 12-metre trimaran in 2020 while finishing a circumnavigation aboard his previous catamaran. He bought her, completed a major refit in 2021, and then headed offshore again, this time solo, threading through the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans before joining the Caribbean regatta circuit. The results followed: a second in the Groupama Race, a victory at Antigua Sailing Week, and another win at the Anakin Regatta in St Martin.
For the Coastal Classic and the New Zealand summer season ahead, Chester has assembled a local Kiwi crew. After the race north, the programme includes the Route 66, the Three Kings, and a solo Trans-Tasman attempt. Ocean's Tribute is based in Opua for the duration.
Chester is direct about what the trimaran can deliver when conditions align. "She's fast but solid," he says. "We've clocked 300 miles in 22 hours and averaged 20 knots in the right conditions. She's happiest reaching in a good south-westerly, and if that arrives, we'll be smiling."
Competition is only part of the story. Chester has spent four decades working as a sustainability consultant and is the founder of Eco Sustainability. Aboard Ocean's Tribute, he runs primarily on solar and hydrogeneration, having burned fewer than 60 litres of diesel since departing Panama. The ocean, he says, has only deepened his commitment to that work.
"I've spent 40 years in environmental work," he says. "Boating reminds you what's really changing out there: fewer seabirds, fewer flying fish. The ocean tells the truth."
With more than 100 boats entered in this year's race, Ocean's Tribute has drawn attention from organisers as an example of both seamanship and offshore purpose. New Zealand Multihull Yacht Club Commodore Adrian Percival welcomed her presence in the fleet.
"It's fantastic to see boats like Ocean's Tribute bringing such rich offshore experience and purpose to the race," Percival says. "The PIC Coastal Classic celebrates everything great about sailing, from adventure and preparation to the connection we share with the ocean."
For Chester, returning to the waters where Ocean's Tribute was built carries its own significance. The global miles are logged, the New Zealand summer racing lies ahead, and a boat born in Auckland more than three decades ago is ready to race home.
