Rob Bassett's Wired crossed the finish line at approximately 2.03pm to claim provisional monohull line honours in the 2026 Roy McDell Memorial Race, the second of five Doyle Sails Gold Cup events and the first race in the 2026 RNZYS Commodore's Cup.
The 52-foot Bakewell-White performance yacht completed the roughly four-hour course ahead of two recent line honours winners who finished barely a minute apart.
William Goodfellow's Explore Racing, an Elliott 50, took second place. The yacht, which won overall line honours in the 2026 Doyle Sails Round North Island Two Handed Yacht Race, was prominent from the start alongside Wired, both out in the lead within minutes of the start gun.
Graham Matthews' Equilibrium, a Botin Carkeek 55 that took line honours in Richmond YC's 2026 Spring Regatta, the opening Gold Cup race, finished third. The carbon yacht built by Lloyd Stevenson Boatbuilders had shown back-to-back fastest monohull performances at the Spring Regatta, but could not match the pace of the leading pair today.
The race began quietly at 10am with little breeze, but conditions built through the day. Most boats had rounded the northernmost point by 12.30pm, only to face a tougher homeward leg with wind against them around Motutapu's south-west corner.
Handicap results remain pending as the rest of the fleet finishes. The corrected standings could reshuffle the order, as demonstrated in the first Gold Cup race when Equilibrium was fastest to the line but Clockwork (not racing today) took the handicap victory.
-900x424.png)