The Tauranga Yacht and Power Boat Club has honoured the last finisher of this year's Solo Trans-Tasman for turning back to stand by a rival. His first response was to suggest the club's women's crew had done better.
Tauranga Yacht and Power Boat Club (TYPBC) named Doug Esterman its Yachtsperson of the Year at its 105th annual general meeting, after the general committee put his name forward.
When Vice Commodore Rex Mangham got in touch to tell him about the nomination, Esterman pointed elsewhere. "I reckon the girls at that regatta a couple of weeks back did better," he replied.
The girls in question were Holly Farmer's TYPBC crew, who borrowed the S80 Revolution for the Australian Women's Keelboat Regatta on Melbourne's Port Phillip from 5 to 8 June. Farmer brought a full Kiwi crew of six, all but two of whom had raced with her at the 2019 regatta. They reclaimed the S80 division trophy Farmer had won that year and missed the Division 2 title only on countback.
Why the club chose him
Esterman's result in the 2026 Solo Trans-Tasman Yacht Challenge was eleventh and last across the line at Southport, out of 15 starters. In his citation, Mangham writes that he "won the hearts of many for his selfless turnaround & standby for a stricken fellow sailor."
That happened on 31 May, the day after the fleet left Opua. Graeme Francis had already pulled out of the race when his Wilson 36 Robbery began flooding beyond the Three Kings Islands, and he set off his EPIRB. Esterman, in his own Salthouse Cavalier 39 Fair Seasons, turned back and stood by while the Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand ran the response. Coastguard Houhora later escorted Robbery safely into Mangōnui.
Mangham's citation is clear about what the detour cost. "That decision cost valuable miles and time but reflected the fundamental values of offshore sailing, where the safety of fellow mariners always comes first." The race organisers awarded Esterman 7.2 hours' redress for the hours lost to the standby.
The rest of his crossing was hard going. He lost his Starlink overboard, fought autopilot problems and was ill for part of the passage. He still reached Southport on 11 June, after nearly 12 days at sea. It was the first time he had raced single-handed.
Twenty-eight years on Tauranga Harbour
The award also recognises a long club record. Esterman arrived from Napier in 1998 and joined TYPBC with his Tasman 20 keeler. According to the citation, Rhiannon has been his since 2000 and a fixture of the club's keeler harbour racing ever since.
He has also skippered for Women on Water, the TYPBC programme that gets women out sailing on the harbour, for most of its life. The programme began in 2001 and celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. Mangham suggests Esterman may be its longest-serving skipper.
The citation traces his club ties back even further, to 1989. That year he crewed in the Auckland to Fukuoka race aboard Dictator, the Tauranga-based yacht of Brian Pederson.
Ashore, Esterman is an osteopath who set up his practice in Tauranga after moving from Napier. Mangham closes the citation simply: "I'm sure all members will agree – Doug Esterman is a worthy winner of our Yachtsperson Of The Year Award."
