Guy Chester's Oceans Tribute has crossed a significant threshold on the Tasman. The Crowther trimaran has now logged 715 nautical miles with 523 remaining, while Sharon Ferris-Choat on Vixen Racing has similarly passed the halfway point at 636 NM sailed and 588 to go. James Foster's Mumby 48 catamaran Electron sits right on their heels at 608 NM covered, having ticked past the midway mark as this update was compiled. All three are tracking ahead of their projected positions.
Chester's night brought some unwelcome excitement. "It was a not-relaxing 30-knot rain squall. Afterwards I had a Milo to warm up and celebrate where the fish meet the fish." Between squalls, a sky full of stars gave way to a moon rising in the predawn hours. The fishing fleet had also made for lively company earlier in the evening. "Early this evening there were lots of fishing boats around — guess they like to go fushing." Chester is clearly a man at ease with whatever the Tasman throws his way.
Ferris-Choat greeted the morning in a very different mood to the night she had just endured. "What a contrast to last night. It's been a stunning sunrise. We had thunderstorms and all sorts of things going on." After days of fronts, squalls and headsail dramas, a sunrise like that would feel well and truly earned.
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The PHRF corrected time standings have shifted notably since the last update. Vixen Racing has moved into first place with a corrected elapsed time of 5d 9h 51m against Sarau's 5d 16h 58m, a margin of 7 hours and 7 minutes. Sarau had earlier held that position, but Vixen Racing's superior pace on the water has finally told through the handicap calculation. Sarau is covering just 113 NM per 24 hours against Vixen Racing's 187 NM, and that difference is now showing clearly in the corrected standings.
Under NZ Multihull Handicap as administered by the NZ Multihull Yacht Club, Electron leads Oceans Tribute by 6 hours on corrected elapsed time, 4d 17h 37m to 4d 23h 31m. On the water, Oceans Tribute holds an 81 NM advantage and is projected to finish close to 18 hours clear of Electron on raw elapsed time, but the rating difference still works in the catamaran's favour.
The standout performance figure across the fleet belongs to Oceans Tribute, whose 24-hour distance made good of 239 NM has pulled the trimaran further ahead as the breeze returned. The race is running at two distinct speeds, and within that picture a quieter subplot has been developing. Ben Ball on Camellia has worked through both Catnip and Nautilass overnight and now sits 1 NM clear of Catnip, with just 6 NM covering the pair.
Further back, Roaring Forty and Wave continue to contest their own private battle, just 6 NM separating them. That gap has barely shifted from the previous evening's 7 NM, the two boats sailing in near-perfect lockstep across the Tasman. At the other end of the fleet, Fair Seasons is posting only 11 NM in 24 hours and has 962 NM still to cover. The total spread from first to last, Oceans Tribute to Fair Seasons, stretches across 439 nautical miles of open ocean.
Kevin Le Poideven on Roaring Forty painted a vivid picture of life in a wind hole: "Three knots of unstable breeze and I can coax about 1.5 knots boat speed in the right direction. It's painfully noisy with creaks, groans and bangs from the rigging and sails. All you want to hear is the boat go quiet when the breeze is strong enough to fill your heavy sails, and then you wait in anticipation. Is this just a puff, or is this the breeze that will get the water lapping the hull as you finally break free of the wind hole? At least the air show was entertaining."
