Each Labour Weekend, more than a hundred boats charge out of Auckland bound for Russell in the Bay of Islands, unleashing the spectacle that is the PIC Coastal Classic. The atmosphere at the start crackles with nervous energy as crews weigh up the competition and steel themselves for the long haul north. It is one of New Zealand's most enduring sporting traditions, and this year a new generation of sailors is stepping forward to stake its claim.
Among the competitors are young sailors with names that carry serious weight in the sport. Josh Tucker and Phil Jameson first crossed paths as teenagers in Wellington, competing together in the local Two-Handed Series. At sixteen, the pair won it outright, already brimming with confidence and ocean ambition. Phil left school at seventeen to join Team New Zealand, and went on to lift the Volvo Ocean Race trophy with Ericsson 4. Josh pursued a career that has since accumulated more than 150,000 nautical miles across every corner of the globe.
Now their sons are writing their own chapters. Harry Jameson (15) and Max Jameson (12) are returning to Division 2 aboard the Elliott 1050 Kick, having already cut their teeth on last year's punishing upwind race alongside Luke Tucker (15), a battle that gave the young crew a genuine taste of offshore sailing at its most demanding. Skipper Brendan Sands will again have the Jameson brothers grinding, trimming, and helming as Kick makes her way north. Luke, meanwhile, has moved across to Division 4, joining Dave Meads aboard the Young 8.4 Wild Thing with his best friend Cayden and a group of teenage sailors ranging in age from 15 to 17. These are not passengers along for the experience. They are calling tactics, working the sheets, and taking the helm. Somewhere nearby, Josh Tucker will be watching from aboard Motorboat III, keeping a proud eye on the next wave of talent finding its feet.
The Coastal Classic has long served as a launching pad for young New Zealanders who go on to shape the sport. In 2009, Peter Burling and Blair Tuke powered up the course in their 49er, keeping pace with 50-footers, capsizing four times, pitchpoling twice, and still finishing among the frontrunners. That audacious run helped forge two sailors who would later claim Olympic medals and the America's Cup.
A decade on, another young Kiwi left her mark on the race. Sixteen-year-old Carrington Brady sailed alongside her father Gavin Brady aboard the 70-foot trimaran Beau Geste, navigating her first offshore race and completing the course in 5 hours and 37 seconds, a time that set a course record that remains unbroken to this day.
That same spirit drives this year's younger crews. The PIC Coastal Classic remains the water where ambitious Kiwi sailors, salt-stained and hungry, prove what they are made of.
