Sassinate, skippered by Mikayla Plaw, is expected to do well in this year's Coastal Classic. Photo/ LiveSailDie
The first Coastal Classic Yacht race event started in 1982 and here we are, 43 years later, and it’s still going strong.
In just over a week the first gun at 9.30am on Friday, October 24 will herald the start of one of the country’s great yachting events and one of the most long-running.
The fleet will head out from Devonport Wharf in Auckland and race up the coast to Russell wharf in a 119-nautical mile sprint that is known as a springtime tradition.
Entries are arriving in already. As of earlier this week there were 94 boats entered with “a few more” yet to come in. There is a smattering of female skippers and crews.
Fez, owned by Justine and Casey Bellingham, skippered by Casey, is back to defend her reputation as a boat that punches above its weight. Last year Fez finished ninth across the line but took out the coveted overall PGRF handicap win among the monohulls which shows she is a serious contender for 2025.
Sassinate, skippered by Mikayla Plaw, also returns, bringing youthful energy to the fleet and, indeed, raw speed. Plaw steered Sassinate to second place overall in the 2022 Coastal Classic and remains one of the race’s most exciting young talents.
Skippering Vixen Racing is Olympian Sharon Ferris-Choat. At 12.2m Vixen is fast and proven and gives Ferris-Choat every chance to challenge for a place in 2025.
The monohulls are by far the most prominent among the entries. Last year there were 93 monohulls entered. Of those 36 did not compete in the end and 21 retired. Graham Matthews won on Equilibrium.
By comparison there were nine multihulls entered, four didn’t compete and three retired leaving just two boats to finish the race. Douglass Love on Romanza finished ahead of Michael Mackey on Levity with Romanza taking overall honours when the two classes were combined.
One of the favourites earmarked for success this year is Wired, designed by Brett Bakewell and built by Lloyd Stevenson Boatbuilders and owned by Rob Bassett and Brett Russell. She didn’t compete last year but is, nonetheless, a proven weapon on both inshore and offshore circuits.
Another front-row finish contender is Lucky which tied up at the Ōpua wharf for a few weeks last month. She sailed in the Transpac event in Honolulu in the beginning of July, set a new record and won the Barn Door Trophy which is awarded to the fastest monohull on elapsed time.
Kerikeri musician Merv Pinny, is amassing a worldwide audience through various media channels with 30 million streams, video impressions (80 million across Facebook and Instagram), close to 300,000 followers and 8.4 million YouTube views.
It’s a significant achievement considering he does it all from the Far North with the occasional tour thrown in, such as the Tamworth Country Music Festival in NSW, the Brew of Islands Festival and the Bay of Islands Music Festival.
He is a singer-songwriter who is known for a fiery blend of funky rock, blues and country rock. He has carved out a unique niche in a self-promoted quest.
He has been a semi-finalist in the International Songwriters Competition three times with three songs. He was a semi-finalist in the Unsigned Artists Competition in the United States, he was nominated for the best country album in the Vodafone Music Awards and won the rock single of the year at the Waikato Music Festival.
It all began in Te Aroha where he bought his first guitar at the age of 10, it was a $10 treasure from his older brother. Two years later he was playing in a family band while balancing rugby matches with rehearsals.
At the age of 15 he left school to work on a dairy farm by day and became a performer playing music six times a week at night. Today he continues to write, compose and produce music through his own company, M Music Limited.
He recently launched an initiative called the “Local Launchpad” to help emerging original artists connect with each other and an audience.
His latest single is due out tomorrow and follows his very successful past single “Shake for Me” which has now passed 600,000 streams on YouTube. Both singles are off his forthcoming album, “Hard Road” which is due out on November 28.