PIC Coastal Classic- TeamVodafoneSailing smashes course record

by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com on 24 Oct 2014 As predicted in last night's preview in Sail-World, the ORMA 60 TeamVodafone Sailing has set a new course record for the 119nm course in the PIC Coastal Classic.

According to the finish time from the race tracker she has slashed 27minutes off her own course record of 5hrs 40 minutes. The unofficial mark is now 5hours 13 minutes.

Skippered by Simon Hull, the 60ft trimaran she tore up the course in ideal conditions to set a new mark that was very close to the time forecast by the routing function of Predictwind 5hrs and 21minutes - the exact time was only 8 minutes faster - a remarkably accurate prediction!

To back up that reference point, PredictWind, 12 before the race start, projected a time of 7hrs 19 minutes for the VOR70 to finish at Russell - that time proved to be just 10 minutes more than her actual finish time!

Sail-World spoke to skipper Simon Hull soon after the finish. He was uncertain of the exact time but believed the ORMA60 had chopped 20-25minutes off her old record.

'Once we had crossed the finish line, we knew we can go under five hours for the race', Hull remarked.

'We had a very good ride up the coast, hitting a peak speed of 36kts, and with long bursts above 30kts.'

'We managed to avoid the hole at Cape Brett. We managed to drop to only 9kts going through there. The Hole was smaller than usual, but we stayed a bit further offshore as we could see glassy bits closer inshore. The wind speed dropped to 12-13kts at that point'

Hull said he was very confident of being able to break the five hour mark. 'We had to beat into the Bay, and did three tacks - with the wind in the right angle we would go straight through.'

TeamVodafoneSailing has not done a lot of racing since breaking her mast. Hull paid tribute to the work done by the crew and Stu McKinven, in particular, in preparing the boat for the race and achieving the race record.

'We had winds of 22-23 knots, at an angle of 120 apparent, but it was puffing up inshore. We stayed offshore to get a steadier breeze.

'Ideally we would like to have a SE breeze to set a new record, which would give us a straight run up the coast and then gybe to run directly to the finish line.'

The Botin 80 Beau Geste (Karl Kwok) finished at 17.06hrs - just 23 minutes outside the monohull record set by a boat 20ft longer overall. The VOR70, Giacomo (Jim Delegat) finished 2mins 46sec behind Beau Geste and is tipped to take overall honours.

The SeaBlade Predictwind foiling kiteboard sailed by David Robertson finished ahead of the first monohull holding the 70 and 80fters off on the beat into the Bay of Islands, however Robertson started 30mins earlier. He is the first kiteboard to complete the 119nm Coastal Classic course. There have been four previous attempts.

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