Auckland to Gisborne yachts off to slow start

FIRST TO START: David Nathan's V5 (at left) won the start on Auckland Harbour yesterday morning at the boat end and while it trailled 'AJ' Reid's Anarchy for the first few hours after the start, it got round Coromandel first and was never threatened. Picture by Suellen Hurling/Royal Akarana Yacht Club

THE seven boats in the Auckland-to-Gisborne yacht race headed out of Auckland this morning at lower-than-predicted speeds as the wind dropped.

The Royal Akarana Yacht Club got support from the Eastland Group to relaunch the classic 300-nautical mile (550-kilometre) race, which was last run in 2000.

The race started in 13- to 15-kilometre-an-hour south-westerly breezes at 9am today.

Race tracking shows “AJ” Reid and Anarchy made the best of the start and mid-morning the leaders were to the north of Rangitoto Island making 8.7 knots. They were followed on that course by Ran Tan II, skippered by Brian Petersen.

The rest of the fleet, clumped together, opted to take a southerly course around Rangitoto.

V5, skippered by David Nathan, tipped to take line honours in the race, was in that bunch, all doing four to five knots.

They were sailing with Lawless (Laurie Needham), Truxton (Chris Skinner), Rikki (Ray Haslar) and Sun Fast 3600 (Josh Tucker). Those boats were this morning closing on the leaders as they approached the tip of Coromandel Peninsula.

Forecast 25- to 30-knot north-westerlies are expected to speed the fleet up overnight.

The first of the boats is now expected to arrive in Gisborne some time tomorrow morning. Track the race at rayc.co.nz/gisborne