PIC Harbour Classic: Auckland puts on show of sailing ahead of Six60 concert
by Zoe Hawkins 1 Mar 16:32 PST
2 March 2025
80 boats big and small entered the 2025 PIC Harbour Classic - March 1, 2025 - Waitemata Harbour © Marcus Brummel Photography
Auckland was truly the City of Sails on Saturday for the occasion of the PIC Harbour Classic.
The New Zealand Multihull Yacht Club is well known for one of the country’s biggest and demanding races, the PIC Coastal Classic.
Now it is known for a short, fun harbour sprint that in 2025, delivered the best of Auckland sailing: sun, a fair breeze, rivalry, and a big post-race party.
80 boats entered the 11 nautical mile (20 km) sprint from North Head, up the coast and back to the Harbour Bridge finish line in perfect sailing conditions: warm temperatures, and a ten-knot breeze from the north.
A good race is a fast race: The small fast foiling GC32 catamaran Frank Racing finished in just 46 minutes and ten seconds to take line honours for the fleet.
“There was more breeze than we anticipated so it was a soldier’s course,” owner Simon Hull says of the march around the buoys.
His crew navigated around a complex startline situation with their gennaker to find clear air before foiling it for the upwind leg then sat on their foils all the way to the finish line off Auckland’s Jellicoe Harbour next tp the Viaduct.
“This was a seriously fun race with lots of boats,” he says.
Nine boats found themselves on the wrong side of the startline and were disqualified at the start, which meant that Craig Haslip’s Hooters, 44 minutes after Frank Racing, took second place on line, followed by Morgan Lagraviere’s Water Music. The sporty Houghton/Dibley 75 Weapon of Choice owned by Phil Houghton was first monohull followed by Matt Cole’s Zephyrus and Rodney Keenan’s Hikurere.
Frank Racing took handicap honours but the three Flying Fifteen boats – the smallest in the fleet and impecably sailed – took second, third and fourth places. In fact, nine out of the top ten finishers on handicap were small keelboats.
The luxury cruising cataraman Where II owned by Andrew Cocks finished with just minutes to spare but likely completed the race with the most comforts.
Finishers docked overnight at Jellicoe Harbour in the city centre – where there was a free view of the scheduled Six60 concert.
Tim Birchall of PIC Insurance Brokers was onboard the committee boat to support the start and finish. “PIC is very pleased to be associated with this new event for the third year,” he says. “We really enjoy it.”
For results and full details on the PIC Harbour Classic, visit harbourclassic.co.nz.
For
more on the Moana Auckland festival, visit aucklandnz.com/moana