Like sailing to windward? Welcome to the 2018 PIC Coastal Classic
by Kristine Horne PIC Coastal Classic 19 Oct 2018 19:15 PDT
20 October 2018
Blair Tuke - Start - PIC Coastal Classic - October 19, © Richard Gladwell
Considering that the fleet were on the wind for the entire race from Auckland to Russell, the PIC Coastal Classic was deemed “a good one” by competitors who were enjoying the Bay of Islands’ sunshine after the race.
As the annual event that marks the start of the summer boating season, it certainly didn’t disappoint.
John Muir, ex commodore of the Royal Akarana Yacht Club, gave us an overview of the race on board his boat Georgia One, whose provisional results placed them as 7th in division 1b.
“It was a good sail, we were lucky with the weather really” he says. “We came up on one board, there was no tacking, and we had Mojo and Titanium behind and in sight within a half a mile the whole way up.”
He continues: “We did really well… until the last 20 minutes. We stayed in close to shore toward the finish line when we should have gone out. They both got us right on the finish line, and Cotton Blossom did too unfortunately.”
Logan Fraser of C U Later said the exact same thing happened to them. Tactics came into play right until the very end, which was difficult as many boats finished in the fog early on Saturday morning, it was difficult to pick where the breeze would carry them into the finish line best.
Another boat, Carpe Diem, described the final run into the finish line from Cape Brett like “a turtle chasing its prey”.
As of 1:00pm Saturday, there were still 8 boats left racing, with the lucky last left to round Cape Brett was Saturday Night Special helmed by 14-year-old Tim Roper on the boat recently built by his father Allan.
The race’s first solo female entrant, Tamsin Worsley, persevered through 27 hours of racing without any self-steering devices – until she crossed the finish line in front of family and friends at 12:40pm. Just in time for her Mum’s birthday lunch at The Duke of Marlborough Hotel for 1:30pm.
Last year, Tamsin’s brother Matthew Flynn won the inaugural trophy for single handed sailors. He was also the first solo sailor across the finish line this year.
More on Tamsin and Matthew’s close family connection to the race online here.
If it gets to 3:00pm and there are any boats remaining on the race course, they can radio in their GPS position to race organisers who will rank their finishing positions on the water.
Final results will be available after 3pm when the race reaches its official time limit online coastalclassic.co.nz. Trophies and prizes will be handed out at prize giving from 7:00pm.
Provisional Results:
Overall Line Honours: Frank Racing
First Monohull: Awen
Multihull 8.5 Class: Tigre (LINE & HANDICAP)
Division 1a: Awen (LINE), V5 (PHRF)
Division 1b: Ice Breaker (LINE & HANDICAP)
Division 2: Zealous (LINE & HANDICAP)
Division 3: Party Girl (LINE & HANDICAP)
Division 4: E-Nine (LINE & HANDICAP)
Division 5: Manga II (LINE & HANDICAP)
Division 6: Frank Racing (LINE & HANDICAP)
Division 7: Exodus (LINE & HANDICAP)
Division 8: Infarred (LINE & HANDICAP)
Division 9- Solo Entrants: Krakatoa II
The PIC Coastal Classic is New Zealand's biggest coastal yacht race and has marked the start of the summer boating season for 36 years.
The current race record was set by Team Vodafone Sailing (now named Frank Racing) in 2014 with a time of 5 hours, 13 minutes.
PIC Insurance Brokers are the key partner that enable this event's success.