Issue date
Two weeks prior to the Coastal Classic, the fleet is in very good shape, and organisers have extended the earlybird period for late entrants. This morning, over 160 entries had been received on the new Coastal Classic website, making it a fleet that is already well up on last year's.
These included Laura Dekker, who is the youngest person to ever circumnavigate the globe solo in a sail boat, teamed up for a two handed effort with 16 year old Edwin Delaat on Edwin's Farr 727 Crac-a-Jac. Jim Farmer's TP52, Georgia, has returned to New Zealand and is handicapper's co-favourite in Division 1. Past winner V5 is the other. It's the first Coastal Classic for two Northland boats: Ray Haslar's new Reichel Pugh 42, Rikki, and Chris Hornell's Kia Kaha. Sad news is that with important work to complete, Steinlager II won't make this year's race, but the stalwart Lion New Zealand will.
The multihull fleet is dwarfed by the two Orma 60s, TeamVodafoneSailing, and her more cruising oriented sistership, Titi Nui. Can a new forty foot entrant dubbed the creepy crawler give TVS a run for her money? We still can't tell you if NZMYC Commodore Matthew Flynn's new trimaran will make the startline, but we understand he is doing his best to put the finishing touches on the boat, and we hope to see him there. Adrian Pawson's Wild Thing, profiled in one of our recent updates, has also pulled the pin.
With entries still arriving, it is hoped that there will be 200 starters. We wrote in more detail a couple of weeks ago about new and interesting entrants in both fleets – take a look on www.coastalclassic.co.nz if you didn't catch it. We'll have more updates next week.
For the second year in a row, the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron will host a cooked breakfast prior to the race start, and as always there will be great hospitality in the host township of Russell for race supporters and finishers.
The New Zealand Multihull Yacht Club Coastal Classic starts from 10am on Friday 19 October off Devonport Wharf in Auckland, and finishes off Russell Wharf in the Bay of Islands. The race is 119 nautical miles in length and last year a new record was set by TeamVodafoneSailing, of six hours and 43 minutes.
The event's terrific prize pool is contributed by Safety at Sea, PredictWind.com, Dirty Dog, PIC Insurance, RAILBLAZA, Mount Gay Rum, ELF Oils and Hella Marine. MUSTO is official clothing supplier.
www.coastalclassic.co.nz and on Facebook
