Three Kings Race: Clockwork heads for home
by Richard Gladwell Sail-World.com 16 Apr 22:22 PDT
Akonga (Nick Roberts) chases Higher Ground (John Seely) soon after the tart of the Three Kings Yacht Race on April 16, 2026 © Richard Gladwell - Sail-World.com/nz
1645hrs April 17: Heading for home
The Shaw 12 (39.4ft) Clockwork, skippered by Steve Mair has rounded the Three Kings islands and is headed for the finish line at Auckland.
She rounded Great Island the last of four islands in the Three Kings group at 1600hrs, with the second boats, Mr Kite a rounding the first island in the group Ohau Island, 45 minutes later. The third boat on the water, Equilibrium is third and yet to round Ohau Island.
Clockwork is now sailing at 6.9kts and has 230nm to sail to the finish.
Earlier, the race leader, Clockwork (Steve Mair) rounded Ohau Island and most westerly of the four islands in the Three King group at 1445hrs on Friday and ran across to the final rounding mark - the Great or NE Island before heading for Auckland.
The rest of the seven boat fleet were still making their way to Ohau Island, led by Mr Kite (Nathan Williams) with Equilibrium in third and Motorboat III (Damon Joliffe) in fourth place.
Boat speeds are up with Clockwork doing just under 7kts in the NW breeze, with Equilibrium sailing at 9kts.
1000hrs April 17: Clockwork behind record An hour after our last update at 0100hrs on Friday morning, race leader Clockwork hit light winds and dropped behind the race record, and is yet to round the four islands in the Three Kings island group.
At 0100hrs, there was a nice 12kt breeze being recorded at Cape Reinga to the west, and Clockwork, who at that stage was still on record pace, looked set to sneak around North Cape and pick up the westerly that was apparently on offer.
However, within an hour, Clockwork's speed dropped to less than 4 kts, and it became clear that the forecasts, which had tipped in varying degrees of wind, were going to hold sway, and this was not going to be a quick race.
In this morning's radio sked, crews reported a pleasant night's sailing, albeit in light winds offset by the enjoyment of the brilliant starlight and flat seas.
The reason for the change in weather fortunes is apparent in a high level barometric pressure map which shows a large bone-shaped area of high pressure advancing across the Tasmanm with light winds on its leading edge and fresher breezes close to its centre.
As shown in the position update below, Wired (the white boat) at this stage, had already rounded the Three Kings group and was heading for Auckland.
A look at the latest wind update from Predictwind shows Clockwork is having to tack in a light NW headwind to reach the first island of the Three Kings group, and has managed to get positioned well to the east of the rhumb line, which makes a steep climb back, even steeper. In a later update click here Mr Kite, in second place is attempting to get inside Clockwork, and so far has not had to tack. The other two boats, Equilibrium and Motorboat III were also out in the east, in the wake of Clockwork.
In short, what looked to be a straight-out-and-back race has developed into a tactical and navigational battle, with plenty of golf left in this watery hole, and the light, variable breeze creating mobile traps for the sailors.
0100hrs April 17: Making good speed
The Shaw 12, Clockwork (Steve Mair), continues to lead the Three Kings Offshore Yacht Race by 15nm from the Cape 40, Mr Kite (Nathan Williams).
At 2330hrs, Clockwork was making just over 9kts, with 90nm remaining until they turn to starboard to round the first of four islands in the Three Kings group about 35nm north of the tip of the North Island of New Zealand.
They are still expected to round around dawn on April 17, but the forecast winds are expected to lighten in the early hours of Friday morning. After they round the first island in the group, Ohau or West Island, they sail 10nm along the rugged coastline before turning again to starboard and heading south on the return leg to Auckland.
The wind models are all in broad agreement that the race leader will be sailing in single-digit wind strength for much of Friday, and only starting to hit double digits mid- Friday afternoon or early evening.
Another point of interest in the race will be whether the leaders can beat the time of the Bakewell White 52fter, Wired (Rob Bassett) of 2 days, 3hrs and 42mins set in the inaugural race in 2022. Although Wired won the second edition on line and rating, they were unable to beat their race record. Whether that records stands or falls will be largely determined by how quickly the breeze fills in on Friday morning.
The fleet was started off Westhaven Tower in a 15–20 knot south-westerly breeze, with some strong gusts, which gave them fast downwind conditions right from the opening stanza of the 500nm race.
Several yachts in the compact seven-boat fleet were hitting average speeds of 12 to 15 knots. However, as the race progressed on Thursday evening, the leading pack —including Clockwork (Steve Mair), Mr Kite II (Nathan Williams), Motorboat III (Damon Jolliffe), and Equilibrium (Graham Matthews)—were all tracking ahead of Wired's 2022 record pace. Clockwork established an early lead on the water as they charged north toward Cape Brett.
But by the latest update at 0100hrs on Friday morning, the virtual boat, Wired, displayed in the 2022 race positions, was level-pegging with Clockwork as they approached North Cape. At that point, although winds were forecast to be light in the area, to the west at Cape Reinga, the real-time observations function of Predictwind was showing the breeze as having increased to 12 kts, over the hours since midnight - which would be an unexpected bonus for Clockwork, and maybe improved their chances of taking the race record.
However, a lot of things have to go in Clockwork's favour if the 40fter is to beat the record set by the well-performed 52fter four years ago.
1530hrs April 16:
Steve Mair's Shaw 12, Clockwork, leads the Three Kings Offshore Yacht Race, just over four hours after the start in Auckland.
She was making a fast 18kts off the Northland coast, pushed by a fresh southwesterly breeze. According to weather routing using the polar profile of a similarly sized, and featured yacht, Clockwork is expected to make the Three Kings Island around dawn on Friday.
At 1530hrs NZT, Clockwork was reported as having 414m to sail of the 500nm race, which has attracted seven entries, several of which completed in the recent Two-handed Round North Island race.
At 1620hrs,the Cape 40 Mr Kite II (Nathan Williams) had moved into second place, ahead of the biggest boat in the race, the Marten 55/Botin Carteek55 Equilibrium (Graham Matthews). At that point, Clockwork was off Tutukaka - just past Whangarei Heads.
Starting off the Royal NZ Yacht Squadron the fleet was pushed along by a 20kt breeze which gusted higher after passing Kawau Island. However, the weather routing from PredictWind forecast that the breeze would lighten down to single figures as they approached the top of the North Island.
On PHRF Clockwork leads Mr Kite with Motoboat III (Thompson 1150) in third.
To follow the race on the Yellowbrick Tracker click here