36 Breeze Magazine to North Cape. Bellingham on Titanium pushed quite close inshore and found a significant lift in flat water. Up ahead of them, Nathan Williams had taken a similar line, but not as close to land and kept a close watch on Titanium’s gains. “They took about 15 miles out of us on that leg to North Cape,” said Williams. “Nice for them, but a bit disappointing for us.” Emotional Rescue took a different approach and paid a steep price for heading further offshore after Three Kings. “It was a tactical error,” Whiting admitted. “It was really rough, with the boat slamming hard in the dark, tough on board with everybody getting pretty tired.” After all the drama offshore, the most familiar patch of water, from Rangitoto to the Harbour Bridge, was a complete contrast – slow work upwind in very light conditions. As always, there were races within races and although the prizes go to the front-runners, there were other triumphs and moments to savour.
In the late afternoon of Sunday April 10, General Committee member Mike Malcolm texted a screen shot of the Yellow Brick tracker to friends. It showed five boats – Matewa (Charles Hollings, Xp44), Bird on the Wing (Mike Malcolm, Beneteau 50), Niksen (Marc Michel and Logan Fraser, Dehler 30), Katana (Nigel Garland, Sunfast 3600) and Kick (Brendan Sands, Elliott 1050) – sailing up the harbour together after nearly four days of racing to finish within 15 minutes of each other. For Carl Whiting, a lifelong sailor, a Star world champion and threetime America’s Cup veteran, the run from North Cape to the Three Kings was “one of the best day’s sailing in my life”. He added, “It was very special to do that in our own backyard, on my own boat and surrounded by my friends.” “It was amazing sailing really,” Nathan Williams agreed. “This type of long offshore racing is really good. Absolutely I think we should do it again. There is not enough of it.”
Homeward bound, Wired sails along the northern flank of the Three Kings, with wind bullets streaking the sea surface.
ALL PRESENT AND CORRECT: In preparation for the RNZYS Three Kings Race, Sailing Director Laurie Jury and Chairman of the Race Committee Vice Commodore Andrew Aitken initiated Category Two safety inspections of the fleet. On-Water Safety Officer, Richard Wingfield, put together a team of Stewart Heine, Neville Collett, Bryan Taylor, Charles Scoones, Cooper Hopman and himself and conducted the inspections over two days. “I was really impressed by the reception we got from the skippers,” says Wingfield. “I don’t know if I was half expecting some resistance, but the reality was quite the opposite. They were all enthusiastic, friendly, helpful and ready to show us anything we asked to see.” The method was to go through the entire Category Two checklist, with the skipper verbally confirming each item and the inspectors randomly asking to physically see up to four to six of them – anchors, flares, lifejackets, buckets etc. “It threw up one or two minor deficiencies here and there, things that could be very easily rectified,” says Wingfield. “Overall, I was impressed by the state of readiness and organisation on board.” Everybody involved felt the exercise was useful and Wingfield feels it should be carried forward to include the whole RNZYS race fleet. “I am keen to continue engaging with skippers doing our races, just to make sure they have the right gear on board and that it is all up to date. I feel it is in everybody’s interests to do so.” The Three Kings process might serve as a handy inspiration for all skippers – cruisers, racers, weekend warriors and launch-owners – to make a winter project of going through their safety equipment to ensure everything is present and correct.
