40 boats to contest our country's toughest yacht race

by Zoe Hawkins on 13 Dec 2010
Forty boats and eighty sailors will race around the North Island of New Zealand in the Short Handed Sailing Association’s Round North Island Two Handed Race starting on 19 February 2011.

The 1,244 nautical mile marathon starts in Auckland and circles the island in an anticlockwise direction, with 24 hour stopover in Mangonui and 48 hour stopovers in Wellington and Napier.

'This is the most demanding race there is to do,' says SSANZ Chairman, Cameron Thorpe, competing aboard Gale Force. 'For racing sailors it’s comparable to climbing Mt Cook, or finishing an Ironman – just getting to the startline means years of work, preparation and seamiles.'

The fleet frontrunners include the new Cookson 50, Akatea, (Peter Geary, Rodney Keenan) and the Open 50 Andar (Evan Davies, Peter Davidson), which is designed for long distance short-handed sailing.

An all-female team will race the Warwick 53, Caro Vita (Jo Ivory and Steffi Waanders), and Craig Partridge will be hoping to prove the reworked Ross 45, M1 (Dr Dave Austin), has legs on the long haul race.

The Micros in the fleet – including Karma Police and Overload – will set their canting keels and massive sail areas against much bigger boats, looking to take advantage of downwind and reaching conditions where they can use their advanced technology to maximum advantage, as they did in the recent Coastal Classic.

The most competitive racing promises to be right in the middle of the fleet with the 2 Young 11’s (Fineline & Clear Vision) battling the two Elliott 1050’s (Gale Force and Second Nature) and one off designs, Valium (Vickers 10.5m) and Truxton (Tiller 10.5). Coppelia (Farr 11.6) and Danaide (Beale 11.6) won’t be far away either

Twelve entrants have done the race previously and many completed the 310nm Around White Island Race in November as a qualifier.

The event is supported by NZL Yachting Trust.

www.ssanz.co.nz

ENDS

Entries are:

Yacht Name Yacht Design

Akatea Cookson 50

Andar Open 50

Bird On The Wing Beneteau First 50

Bon Chanse Hanse 370e

Caper Mummery Cape series

Caro Vita Warwick 53

Cheetah II Chico 30

Clear Vision Young 11 (modified)

Coppelia Farr 38

Danaide Beale 11.6

FICTION Elliott 13.5m

Fineline Young 11 (modified)

GALE FORCE ELLIOTT 1050

Halo Whiting 29

Ilex Wilson 45

Isa Elan 410

Island Girl Farr 1220

Karma Police Shaw 30

Laissez-faire Beneteau

M1 Murray Ross

Midnight Express Birdsall 39

Mix T Motions Richard Edlin

Mr Roosevelt Davidson 42

Nonstop Young 99

Open Country Beale 35

Overload Elliott

Panther S&S keeler

Pepe Ross 930

Physical Favours Ross 9.1

Red Line Ross 930

Second Nature E1050

Spirit SS Keeler

Splash Palace Ross 930 (M)

Surreal Beneteau 47.7

The Night Train Farr 46

Truxton Tiller

Valium Vickers 10.6

Waka Thompson 850

Windarra Cavalier 36

Zindabar Elliott 1850