Rogntudjuuu and Systems Thunder lead Aircalin Auckland to Noumea race 2002
by Rob Kothe on 25 May 2002
Rogntudjuuu Aircalin Auckland to Noumea race
Phillipe Coste's magnificent multihull Rogntudjuuu this afternoon leads the 2002 Aircalin Auckland to Noumea race, with Systems Thunder leading the monohull fleet.
The start was clean, with Starlight Express and Jive Talkin' first away, in a 25 knot south-westerly, which was gusting up to 30 knots at times.
The 17-metre New Caledonian catamaran Rogntudjuuu stayed out of trouble on the startline, lurking back with the cruising boats, but she was accelerating fast by the time she hit the line and moved rapidly through the fleet.
This giant Crowther designed catamaran will certainly give her own race record a good shake if conditions hold. Her time in 2001 was 4 days 17 hours 34 minutes 25 seconds and many pundits expect to see her arrive in Noumea in less than 4 days.
The fleet beam-reached towards Rangitoto Light and as expected Hydroflow and Maverick II moved past Starlight Express but some were surprised to see Systems Thunder quickly taking the lead of the monohull pack.
She followed Rogntudjuuu past the first mark and was establishing a healthy lead over her monohull rivals as they headed for Kawau Island, 21 miles to the north.
Before the race owner Brian Ward has forecast that 'Thunder would establish a strong presence in strong reaching conditions'.
The fleet was book-ended with catamarans with Richard Hudson's cruising catamaran Sea Level, sailing with only a headsail hoist was last away.
Royal Akarana Yacht Club will start the the first radio sked at 06:30 on Sunday morning and the sked will be posted as soon as possible thereafter.
Through out the race, the largest sailing web site in the southern hemisphere Sail-World.com will be providing up-to-date news, mid-race radio sked positions of the boats on a chart, progressive handicap positions, distances to the finish line as well as computed estimated times of arrival for each competing boat.
All this information will be on its special event mini-site
http://www.sail-world.com/aucklandtonoumea and on www.rayc.org.nz
If you want to link to this article then please use this URL: www.sail-world.com/6435