There was a near-miss in 2024. Rowan had Carpe Diem entered for the Three Kings race that year, but COVID swept through the crew in the days leading up to the start. By Tuesday, two days out from the gun, they withdrew. "We've come to conclude it was a bad race in any case," Rowan says.
This year, nothing is stopping them. Six crew, two to three days at sea, 500 nautical miles.
Rowan's team is a mix of ages and experience. Lydia Boyd sailed the 2026 Round North Island with him two-handed and is back on board, joined by Ben Roff, Nick, Alla and Emily. Lydia, Ben and Nick are all under 22. Alla and Emily are in their early 30s. Rowan is in his early 50s. Three of the six are women. "It's just the way it's happened," Rowan says. "It's not through trying."
The younger sailors take on the forward roles. Ben Roff comes to this campaign directly from Kick, which finished third overall PHRF in the 2026 Round North Island, and every one of the six carries two-handed offshore experience from other campaigns.
Rowan is trialling a watch system he has never used at sea before. Rather than conventional rotating blocks of hours on and off deck, the crew cycles through one person at a time every hour, keeping three hands on deck continuously with no hard changeover. "We've come up with it and decided to give it a go," he says. Decision-making follows the same philosophy. "It's a democracy, until it doesn't need to be."
Carpe Diem finished 14th overall PHRF in the 2026 Round North Island across a 26-boat fleet. She was designed from the outset with two-handed offshore sailing in mind, her masthead rig keeping headsails clear of the mast and loads manageable for a small crew. Rowan puts her comfortable speed at nine to ten knots, with ten or eleven knots achievable when reaching under the A5. His personal best on the boat is 18 knots, though previous owner Mark reportedly hit 22 or 23 knots on the return passage from Fiji, a run that broke nearly everything on board in the process.
As the shortest hull in the fleet, Carpe Diem will not be chasing Equilibrium to the finish. She is a displacement hull, she will not plane, and she needs flat water to surf. "We're likely to be just racing ourselves," Rowan says, "and pushing ourselves as hard as we can."
Lydia works with Explore on historic America's Cup boats while finishing her degree. She is keen to extend her offshore sailing, potentially overseas, though nothing is planned yet. For now, the only thing on the schedule that matters is Thursday morning on the Waitemata.
