Preparation well under way for Two Handed Round North Island Race

by Deb Williams on 19 Jan 2017 With less than six weeks till they cross the start line, 29 boats have their preparation well underway for the 2017 SSANZ Two Handed Round North Island race.

This 1200nm race starts Saturday February 25 at 1400hrs off Devonport Wharf and the boats will race Leg 1 to Mangonui, Leg 2 finishing in Wellington, Leg 3 to Napier and the final leg finishing back in Auckland approximately two weeks later. It’s 40 years since the first race was which started by Sir Peter Blake and originally run by Devonport Yacht Club.

While the race starts and finishes in Auckland, this years event has attracted 9 boats outside of Auckland – from Tauranga, Wellington, Waikawa, Nelson and Christchurch - as well as 1 from Australia. WASABI is the first international entry in this SSANZ event and won line honours in the Two Handed Melbourne-Osaka race in 2013. Now skipper Bruce McKay has brought his Sayer 12 to NZ to take on our longest two handed event.

Close racing is expected within the 4 divisions especially from the three Ross 40s competing (Satellite Spy, Provincial Cowboy and Marshall Law). 'We're expecting close racing the whole way and hope that we will be competitive with the boys from Auckland,' said Matt Kerr, skipper of the Waikawa-based Satellite Spy. In the battle of the big boats the race for overall line honours is expected to be between Miss Scarlet (Reichel/Pugh IRC 52) and Ran Tan 11 (Elliott 50).

A number of boats and sailors are returning for another “lap” having already competed in previous years events. One with unfinished business is Matt Woodley - crew on Krakatoa 11 (Open 40) - who was a competitor in the 2011 event on his own yacht Mr Roosevelt. Unfortunately Mr Roosevelt was dismasted just north of the Manukau Harbour. After cutting the rig away Matt and his fellow crewmember made a daring dash across a stormy bar at Manukau Heads to safety. It was an adventure, but not the sort that Matt had hoped for, so he’s teamed up with Matt Flynn for the 2017 edition.

Among the more luxurious, cruisy entrants is Laissez Faire (Beneteau Oceanis 60). The father and son crew of Mack and Tom Storey have re-sat their blender and coffee machine operators certificates, updated the fishing gear and glassware ready to sail NZ's fastest Beneteau 58 around the North Island.

At the smaller end of the fleet another second lapper Richard Limbrick has joined forces with Cory McLennon on the Ross 850 Cool Change. They could give some of the larger boats a run for their money in the right conditions.

Race Director Jon Henry is in charge of running this year's event, the eighth time it’s been run by SSANZ, and is set for another challenging event. Each boat will carry a race tracker making it easier to follow the boats progress around the North Island. For more details of the race check out the SSANZ website www.ssanz.co.nz and the SSANZ Facebook page which has profiles of each of the competitors. Both will be updated throughout the race.