Auckland to Gisborne - V5 takes the triple in fast race

by Suellen Hurling/Sail-World on 29 Nov 2015 David Nathan and his V5 crew have smashed the rest of the fleet in the Auckland to Gisborne Race taking line honours in 35 knots on Friday afternoon. The officially crossed the finish line just before 3.00pm.

V5 was spotted by the Royal Akarana Yacht Club race management team at Whangara headland. When contacted they advised they were having a few engine issues. They required assistance getting into the Gisborne Harbour and safely to their berth.

Parts have been ordered and repairs were made to her engine soon after arrival. The engine is normally used when racing to power the canting keel, however the crew had sufficient battery power to run the canting keel, and also had the ability to hand generate hydraulic pressure to cant the keel, if battery power was insufficient.

Ran Tan II finished at around 2100 hours Friday evening, .

V5 got her jump on the fleet as she passed through Colville Channel - beating a tidal gate, and sliding down the East Coast at 12kts, while the rest of the fleet battled an adverse tide at the entrance to the Hauraki Gulf.

At one stage it was reported that the TP52, which has won the Auckland to Fiji and Auckland Noumea races, was over 100nm ahead of the second boat. However they sailed into a patch of light airs, followed by 25-35kt headwinds, which reduced their margin,

Even so, the David Nathan skippered V5 set a race record, took line honours and won the event on PHRF by over two hours.

Follow the race via:
www.rayc.co.nz/gisborne
www.facebook.com/raycnz