Simon Hull wins despite being out of puff

Nature again refused to come to the party with some decent puff but Simon Hull, owner and skipper of impressive multihull Team Vodafone, isn't giving up on the Auckland to Tauranga race record.
Hull's TeamVodafoneRacing was expected to demolish maxi Zana's six-year-old race record of 9hr 35min, but eased across the finish line adjacent to Mt Maunganui at 3.30am yesterday, with the 17 hours 30 minutes it took to complete the 120-nautical-mile course the slowest trip yet, more than three hours outside last year's winning time.
Hull is adamant the six-hour mark is gettable in his 20m-long Orma trimaran and has no plans to stop trying.
"I don't know what it is with us and this race - I'm starting to wonder whether you Tauranga people haven't paid your wind or power bills!" he said after the 40-strong fleet started off the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron in Auckland at 10am on Thursday.
"It's character-building stuff. The light winds, often rising then falling, plus an unsettled sea along the coast made it hard to keep the boat moving at good speed."
Light airs dogged the contestants for most of the race until an easterly breeze built in the early hours of yesterday morning, allowing the yachts to claw their way around Channel Island at the top of the Coromandel against a strong tide.
Once around Coromandel, the yachts were able to gather speed while reaching down the coast. Most of the early finishers enjoyed a 10-15 knot northerly quarter breeze.
The first monohull to finish, and second behind Vodafone, was the Peter Geary-skippered Cookson 50 Akatea at 9.48am. They just managed to pip Orbit, a Shaw 10m, by one minute, tight after nearly 24 hours' racing.
"Every time we parked up in light air, Orbit would come up with good breeze. At least we managed to get them at the finish."
The first Tauranga boat home was Fully Charged, skippered by Tauranga Yacht and Powerboat Commodore Roger Clark, coming in yesterday at 10.50am.
Hull's multi got an early jump on the fleet but parked up halfway out to Channel Island as the breeze died.
"All the boats caught us and we were in a big hole, although we cleared out when the breeze returned. I'd love to take on this race, and the record, with a 15-25 knot westerly, allowing us to run down to Colville and reach right the way down the coast. Six hours is do-able if we ever got that."
Hull and his 11-strong crew have only just got back on the water, after six weeks out having lost the mast off Devonport when the boat's rigging failed.
They're now eyeing June's Auckland-to-Fiji race, as well as the Sydney to Southport regatta, Brisbane to Keppel and races at Hamilton island and Airlie Beach.