Issue date
Entries to the Round North island 2 handed race close in under a week, and by now most of the fleet has already done their 250nm qualifying trip. The skippers and crews are all well on their way to have everything prepared and ready.
Many boats used the recent RAYC 320nm White Island race as an event to do the required qualifying voyage and had a chance to line up against some of the competitors. In a surprise result one of the smallest boats in the fleet, the Ross 930 Pepe, took out the top spot not only in the shorthanded division but also overall, beating all the fully crewed boats on handicap and some much bigger boats on line. Pepe, is crewed by Josh ‘BooBoo’ Tucker and James ‘Westie’ Horner, the pair are sailmakers with North Sails who are both competing in the RNI for a second time. James is coming back for a second attempt onPepe after a dismasting in the gruelling 2011 race and Josh after competing in the 2008 race onWaka an 8.5m trailer yacht. Having won both the SSANZ Simrad Series and the White Island race and with plenty of experience and a well setup boat, they really are a team to watch.
For some of the yachts further south, using the White Island race as a qualifier was not an option;
Tony and Vesna Wells on their brand new Shaw 40 canting keel race yacht Blink are planning to qualify with a trip from Wellington around the Maui oil platform and back to Wellington. Tony and Vesna have managed some impressive results in Blink which has every conceivable go fast piece of equipment. This is their second attempt at the RNI race, They entered the 2011 RNI on their previous boat Clear Vision, a Young 11, with the following goals (in descending order of importance);
(1) staying alive.
(2) staying married.
(3) remaining uninjured.
(4) finishing the race.
Fortunately, they managed the first two but not the latter so are back for another go in 2014.
There are a large number of boats of all sizes from Wellington and other southern ports including,Redline from Nelson which is another highly modified Ross 930 and Wedgetail, the Welborne 42, are hot line honours contenders. Nou I Mig, Bacchante, Midnight Express (another 2nd time boat) and Montego Bay III round up a strong southern fleet. It must be noted that these boats end up doing 2 laps of the North Island for this race, First a delivery to Auckland, then back to Wellington after the race so it is a huge commitment for these crews to compete in the RNI.
Many people are back for a second race, some in the same boat but many, after learning how tough it can be, are back with bigger boats.
Expedition Coppelia, Fiction, Overload andTruxton are all back for another go, most of them with the same skipper and crew as last time. BothOverload and Fiction were forced to retire from the last race due to gear damage, but this time with a few more miles under their belt they are back with unfinished business. Expedition Coppelia and Truxton are notable 2 handed campaigners who compete at the highest level in every serious 2 handed race. They went head to head in the last Round New Zealand 2 handed race run by SSANZ in 2012. Truxton won the race with Expedition Coppelia coming in third. Keep an eye out for these two, as they are always near the front of the pack.
Finally, there has been a number of boats withdraw for personal reasons and a few late entries so we will have at least 2 spots open for the 2014 edition of this race. Remember it only comes around every 3 years so don’t miss out this time!
