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BT Global Challenge: Match race to the finish in 70 knots

• Elaine Bunting
• January 16, 2001

It was a cliffhanger no-one had expected, the victor decided in a last inshore skirmish in 60-knot winds. In a snapshot of Southern Ocean conditions, the two race leaders in the BT Global Challenge beat up the Cook Strait, shouldering through ‘phenomenal’ waves to finish in Wellington just eight miles apart after 38 days and 6,000 miles of racing.

Less than 24 hours ago, Olympic Group, skippered by Manley Hopkinson, looked safe in 1st place. They had been at the front of the fleet for the last 500 miles, clinging on to a small but decisive-looking lead over Conrad Humphreys and crew on LG FLATRON. But FLATRON’s crew had been gnawing relentlessly at the gap, and when Olympic Group’s No 3 yankee tore in the heavy weather beat through in the Cook Strait, the misfortune was FLATRON’s opportunity.

Thus the final act was effectively decided on sail combinations. Having been knocked flat in a 68-knot gust, Humphreys had decided to take down the mainsail, whereas Olympic Group persevered with theirs. “We’d seen Compaq go round Cape Horn with just a storm staysail and No 3, so we learned that it was a fast combination. We had a lot less sail up [than Olympic], and they were being blown over. They were overpowered.”

“We could not get [the yankee] down,” explained Manley Hopkinson. “It was like having an enormous flag driving us sideways at three knots. There was nothing we could do as FLATRON crept closer. Eventually, we had to heave-to . . . in that time, FLATRON passed us.”

FLATRON also had nervous moments. As they drew parallel to Olympic, about a quarter of a mile away, their own yankee halyard parted “with a bang that shook the rig to its roots,” according to Humphreys. “With just the storm staysail up it’s like a wallowing pig,” he adds. “There’s no drive, so we were getting the wrong way across the waves. But it was the quickest halyard change ever and when we released the sail it just blew straight up to the top of the mast. We thought for a minute we’d lost another halyard!”

The Cook Strait, which separates New Zealand’s North and South Islands, gave the crews their worst weather yet. “[It] has proved to be tougher than anything we met in the Southern Ocean,” commented Manley Hopkinson. “The waves are phenomenal; very short, steep breaking rollers that slam into the boat. Even the storm off Cape Horn pales into insignificance compared to this. It is the closest we have been to a number of knockdowns.”

Humphreys agrees: “I’ve never seen anything like it. The visibility was next to nothing and we were being blinded by spray. And there’s a different intensity, a different focus. You’re much more nervous when you’re close to land.”

But despite the fierce conditions, Humphreys adds: “The boats are very, very good upwind; they’re so reassuring. You really feel like you’re in a safe environment and like you’re completely safe. It can be blowing 50 knots on deck and down below you think it’s about 25. I’m very, very happy with it. We were doing 7.5 knots with just a No 3 and a storm staysail in 70 knots of wind.”

Having their yearned for 1st place wrestled from them in the final day of such a long leg is a huge disappointment for the crew of Olympic Group, but they put a brave face on it. Their reputation is for being fun-loving and determined to getting as much out of the race as possible. Despite finishing last on leg one, they never lost their good humour, so a win for them would have been enormously popular.

Sentiment aside, though, LG FLATRON’s victory, their second in three legs, confirms the consistent superiority of Conrad Humphreys’s crew and underlines why they remain clear leaders overall. They led nearly a third of the way from Cape Horn and at other times were never far from the front.

But it has been a long leg, and a hard slog. Liz Hurst, one of FLATRON’s crew, says the effort demanded by the Southern Ocean was hugely compounded by the closeness of the racing – the top half of th

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Winning Wellington Ways in Nelson

By Tim Hampton

The first six hours were really light. Gucci opted to rock hop along the coast, which kept us in touch with the leading boats. Kokomo took a similar path – at one point we saw them tacking out on starboard from well east of Karori light. The breeze eventually came in at Cable Bay, and we popped the masthead spinnaker for what ended up being a 42+nm glorious kite ride in 15-18 knots all the way to Stephens. Even better, the wind clocked around to the north so we gybed with the kite at Stephens for the trip south.

Unfortunately, as you would expect, this didn’t last long and the whole fleet began a 15 hour drift down Tasman Bay. After a few failed attempts to get any decent go forward in the east, Mal made the race defining call to head into the center of the bay even though at times we were increasing our distance to the finish line. Slowly but surely we made our way around the fleet through the morning. Eventually, the sea breeze came in, for a glorious but willing kite ride to the finish. With the prospect of second online, we were all a bit nervous for the final gybe to the finish, which we executed as planned.

We then turned our mind to the regatta. Sunday round the cans was great conditions. Given the lovely conditions, we took out a junior Nelson beginner sailor, who proved critical for our performance. Gucci was able to make the most of the conditions, finishing the day with 3 wins on handicap. We had some great starts courtesy of Mal and Brent, including crossing in front of Revs on the first cross in one of the races.

For the race up to Torrent Bay we couldn’t decide whether to follow our main competition on the right or the locals on the left – so we made the fatal decision to head up the centre. At the finish, the tide rolled out and the sun remained high for a great beach BBQ, catching up with old friends.

Convinced we were out the back door in the Monday race, we thought it all hung on the final race home. We woke to no wind so RO Paul JD had us all motor slowly south until about 9nm out as a lovely sea breeze came i

n for a kite ride to the finish. All a bit of carnage at the end due to a shipping container leaving the harbour stopping all but one boat crossing the finish line for 15 minutes.

As it turned out, we’d done better than we thought the day before, and we were able to hold on to take out the regatta. Very happy crew.

It was great to see current and former RPNYC crew and boats throughout the week, including Agilita, 88% Proof (4 line wins) and Rumbline cruising around.

We are now in Double Cove waiting for the southerly to blow over before returning to Wellington for the Latitude Race.

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Nelson regatta 2024 – write up from 3 boats, we’ve started our clean club journey, our trophies.

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WATCH: New Zealand SailGP live stream - Day 1 racing live from Christchurch

• ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix

SailGP’s much-anticipated return to the epic location of Christchurch is finally here, with the 9th event of Season 4 kicking off this afternoon.

Two days of action-packed and boundary-breaking racing take place on the spectacular Whakaraupō, Lyttelton Harbour, with SailGP’s ten national teams going head-to-head for glory in front of packed crowds.

Following three opening fleet races on Saturday, March 23, there will be further racing on Sunday to determine the three Finalists who will proceed into the winner-takes-all, three boat Final.

After securing their first Season 4 victory in Sydney, Australia are the current season leaders, sitting in first place with 66 points ahead of New Zealand in second and ROCKWOOL DEN in third.

At the other end of the leaderboard, Switzerland has just 17 points - four points below Germany in ninth.

ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix | Christchurch: How to watch

The first day of racing in Christchurch takes place on March 23. Racing is scheduled to start at 15:00 NZDT.

You can watch the all of Christchurch's racing action using the below live stream. This stream may be blocked in some regions due to broadcast restrictions.

SailGP will also broadcast the live racing stream on the SailGP APP , SailGP Facebook , SailGP YouTube and SailGP Insights . Broadcast restrictions may mean some/all of these viewing options are not available in your region.

If you cannot view the live stream, please visit our How to Watch page to discover broadcast options available to you.

Furthermore, SailGP.com will bring you live updates throughout the event on THIS page.

ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix | Christchurch: What has been said

SailGP veteran Nathan Outteridge will take the wheel of the Swiss F50 for the rest of the season, while co-driver Sebastien Schneiter focuses on other commitments.

"I've been without a drive in SailGP for the last couple of seasons, since driving for the Japan SailGP Team. I have pretty high expectations of myself and what I'd like to get out in terms of results for the remainder of Season 4, and those expectations will hopefully flow across the whole team," he said.

Looking ahead to his home event, New Zealand wing trimmer Blair Tuke said: "It's going to be great to get back down to Ōtautahi, Christchurch. You hear it from all of the different teams, it's some of the best sailing we've ever done in the F50s. To do that all again with an even bigger crowd - and obviously it's coming at a time of year when the season starts to ramp up - that's exciting too."

Meanwhile SailGP commentator Emily Nagel said the Kiwis will be gunning for a win on home waters. "You’ve got to say that the Kiwis will come out of the blocks firing. Pete’s going to be back on board, he’s going to have something to prove and on home waters as well, so they’ll definitely have a home advantage."

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Watch live: Coastal Classic yacht race from Auckland to Russell

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Watch the start of the iconic sailing contest from Auckland to Russell.

2020 has been the year of uphill battles, and the PIC Coastal Classic yacht race today will see no different. From 9:30am, 165 sailboats will quite literally begin an uphill battle from Auckland's Waitemata Harbour to Russell in the Bay of Islands, sailing against the wind into light winds from the north.

With the wind strength on the start line near Devonport Wharf expected as low as 5 knots, and an incoming tide pushing backward on progress that is made, it will be a very tactical start to the 119 nautical mile journey.

Conditions are set to improve as the day progresses, with the wind strength building and shifting slightly east for a straight-line drag race up the coast. However, competitors will again need to be intensely strategic as they enter the Bay of Islands into the night with a dying breeze to battle their way to the finish line off Russell Wharf.

Among the lead pack expected at the finish line is the New Zealand Ocean Racing team, co-skippered by Bianca Cook and Darryl Wislang. While this is Darryl's first PIC Coastal Classic and Bianca's 6th, he has won The Ocean Race onboard a V065 sailboat similar to what they are sailing today, twice. They are joined by fellow Ocean Race veterans including Ryan Houston and Tony Rae: a total team of 12 talented kiwi yachties who among them have completed at least 64 editions of the PIC Coastal Classic. Based on weather modelling, they are expected into Russell around midnight tonight.

Competitors have until 3pm Saturday to finish, and it looks like the smaller boats especially will need all the time they can get. The smallest boat in the fleet again this year is the Elliot 7 called Elevation, a sport boat from the Bay of Plenty that is clever enough to be put on a trailer and towed home behind a car from Russell, rather than the rest of the fleet that will turn around and sail home on Sunday.

Among the other notable entries in today's race include Emotional Rescue, a Davidson 55 yacht that became the first monohull boat to win the PIC Coastal Classic in 1989, the year it was launched. The boat was recently purchased from the original owner by Carl Whiting, a name known to many from his 20 years sailing professionally from the Americas Cup to the Olympics. The 1989 race was described as "Atrocious" with winds of up to 70kn, a far cry from what is likely to be experienced today.

The PIC Coastal Classic is the annual event that signals the start of the summer boating season. Sailed every labour weekend since 1982, the New Zealand Multihull Yacht Club event has grown into much more than a yacht race, with now over 25 boats taking part in a non-competitive cruising rally division too.

Family and friends can follow the race on Friday morning from 9:30am with live streaming of the start, and yacht tracking by PredictWind online on www.coastalclassic.co.nz.

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Gladstone ports corporation brisbane to gladstone yacht race 2024.

Welcome everyone to the 76th anniversary of the GPC Brisbane to Gladstone Yacht Race , Australia's other classic ocean race. Once again, Sailonline is delighted to offer you the opportunity of virtually racing its TP52 over this challenging 308nm course. Race #1787 INFO by brainaid.de TP52 PARTICULARS WX Updates: 0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230 RANKING: SYC

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Welcome everyone to the 76th anniversary of the GPC Brisbane to Gladstone Yacht Race , Australia's other classic ocean race. Once again, Sailonline is delighted to offer you the opportunity of virtually racing its TP52 over this challenging 308nm course. Race #1787 INFO by brainaid.de TP52 PARTICULARS WX Updates: 0430 / 1030 / 1630 / 2230 RANKING: SYC Race starts: Mar 29th 01:00 Registration Open! ▶ Flash GO TO RACE

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All Class Handicap Autumn Series Day 2 @ Seaview

“A beautiful bottom to middle of A-rig breeze. Steady conditions and good for checking boat speed.   We did a modified handicap system where  –  the winning boat from this race had to do a penalty on the first leg of the next race  – and the last placed boat started 10 seconds ahead in the next race Unfortunately, we […]

IOM Autumn Scratch Racing Series Day 2 @ Whitby

  The wind was from the North and at the top end of A Rig today. Good to see 6 boats competing this afternoon.    

AC15 Match Racing Autumn Day 2

Day 2 of the Autumn Series AC15 Match Racing at Whitby.  Yesterday we held Day 2 of the Autumn Series AC15 Match Racing, the venue was Whitby.A warm welcome to Dave Humphreys to our group, I hope you will enjoy sailing with our group and the included companionship.The wind was quite doubtful when we arrived at the venue but it […]

Murry Rountree Regatta results:

The Murray Rountree Regatta is being held at held at Winstone lake in Otaki. (Thanks to KRYC for co hosting this regatta)   Sat 18th Nov – day 1. A lovely Sunny day at Winstones Lake. Only 14 Sailors were in attendanace today with a few late withdrawls.(Wayne only managed to sial a couple of races as being on the […]

IOM Autumn Scratch Racing Series Day 5 [Final] @ Whitby

  “A good afternoon’s sailing, in a tricky B-rig Northerly.   It was good to see all boats showing good speed at different times, with several boats getting race wins.”   Regards   John McPherson  

All Class Handicap Spring Series Day 5 @ Whitby

  An interesting day’s racing. Mostly IOMs with the welcome addition of one of Ed’s friends (Dave).  Dave has a Hurricane Metre Class boat (not an IOM), and it was good to see him there.  We didn’t score Dave – but we could see he was improving his sailing as the day went on.   The wind at Whitby was […]

AC15 Match Racing Spring Day 1

Day 3 of the Spring Series AC15 Match Racing at Whitby. The conditions that greeted us were almost a typical summers day, sunny, with a variable breeze mostly from the south (debatable).   Five/Six competitors arrived and fortunately David brought along a spare boat.David administered to the racing schedule and made a great job of juggling boats and skippers.Its a long […]

All Class Handicap Spring Series Day 1 @ Whitby

Another lovely winters day on the whitby lake. Tricky wind conditions, so getting a good start was crucial. I recall that Wyne and I spent much of the Handicap start just trying to get started, while the counter still ticked down.   Cheers Rod      

We had an enjoyable day match racing AC15s on Sunday. The wind direction was very changeable, especially at the top mark. Ed won the day in top spot with 16 points. We welcome Dave Humphreys who sailed very well, ending up at 2nd equal with Ron. If anyone else is interested in sailing AC15, we are very welcoming, will plan […]

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Again, another lovely winters day.Light easterlies made for tricky conditions, so a short course was used to avoid the doldrums at the south end of the lake.WIth such light winds and less time for the WRYC AGM, only four races could be sailed by 3pm. Good to see Dave with his hurricane again      

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Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club

Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club is a yacht club with a huge amount to offer.

Wellington's harbour is such an amazing place to explore and experience. Through our Wellington Ocean Sports Centre we offer Learn to Sail courses plus follow on Racing and skippering courses, Coastguard boating courses including day skipper and VHF, a comprehensive and very popular schools safe boating programme, plus stand up paddle board and kayak hire.

We also run team building and corporate sails on our 8.2m Muirs and have function rooms to hire with catering and all communications equipment provided.

You can follow all this up by becoming and member and joining in on our year round comprehensive club racing programme which includes both inshore and off shore racing. RPNYC has everything you need as a corporate or an individual who just wants to go sailing.

Enquire through our website today. www.rpnyc.org.nz   

Boats available for hire: Muirs

103 Oriental Bay Parade Oriental Bay Wellington 6011 New Zealand

-41.291451, 174.787912

PO Box 9674 Marion Square Wellington 6141 New Zealand

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