Wellington Classic Race like it’s 1893, well almost – 22 Feb 2025

Crew: Geoff, Paul, Jamie, John, Max.

The forecast: Northerly 10 knots, easing to variable 5 knots this morning. Southerly 10 knots developing early afternoon, then turning to northerly 10 knots. All over the place 🙂

Race Background: The Gallagher Insurance Wellington Classic is a new development for the annual RPNYC Regatta bringing a rich piece of history into the modern sailing scene. In 1893 the Wellington regatta awarded a purse of 10 pounds and 8 shillings to the first-place winner on handicap. $2,487.32 in today’s money would be awarded to the first-place winner on PHRF Base. The Classic Harbour course would be similar to the historic regatta courses of the late 19th century

Saturday 22 February

A beautiful day in Wellington for the race.

The crew joined me on Halo at midday and we cast off early from Chaffers so we’d have plenty of time to get up to the Ngauranga start area. We hoisted the heavy #1 genoa with full main and did some practice sailing in a nice breeze of 10 kts. Crew positions were John on bow, Paul on mainsheet and keys, Max and Jamie on headsail trim with me on helm.

We called in to Race Control on ch. 62 to sign on and confirm our 5 POB. Nice to see the classic 1909 yacht Lizzie joining in the fun.

Leg 1 – Start to Pt Jerningham

We located the start line next to the committee boat Jacaranda with the big fleet of 24 boats milling around. We did a practice approach to the line in the gentle 6 kts northerly. It would be a downwind start and John rigged up the maxi spinnaker.

As we approached the start line the wind suddenly dropped to under 2 kts. We were caught out way back and slowly drifted across the line as John quickly hoisted the spinnaker while Paul took over helm.

We made very slow progress down the harbour towards Pt Jerningham with the wind around 2-5 kts.

The boats that went towards the west picked up a slightly better breeze than us. Grenadier was going well.

Leg 2 – Pt Jerningham to Pt Halswell

As we neared Mark 9 near Pt Jerningham we saw a bunch of boats almost stalled as they were dropping their kites to round the mark. We were soon catching up with them.

What to do? Our first instinct was to go round the outside of them to avoid the melee but as luck would have it we noticed a gap between them and the mark. We quickly cut in and cruised round the mark, passing quite a few of them in the process!

We were now on a close reach across to Pt Halswell and were overtaken by some of the faster boats.

Leg 3 – Pt Halswell to Korokoro

Once we rounded Mark 15 near Pt Halswell we tensioned up the sheets to sail close-hauled back up the harbour. Nice to cool off with a bit more breeze in our faces.

Grenadier and Sliver tacked away to the left but we decided to follow the rest of the fleet directly northwards. After being knocked a bit passing Halswell we got a good lift up towards the west of Somes Island with the wind up to 10 kts. Mel from Latitude 41 South Photography was out getting some good shots of the action.

As we neared Mokopuna Island we were getting knocked and did our first tack of the leg towards the Korokoro mark.

Leg 4 – Korokoro to Finish

Race Control called on the VHF to advise that the course had been shortened. After Kokokoro we were to head straight for the finish line.

John had the medium kite rigged as we rounded the mark in about 10 kts of wind but we held off hoisting it until we could get a better angle on the wind.

We eventually hoisted the spinnaker and sailed on a beam reach down the harbour with the wind varying between 4 and 10 kts. Jamie had a turn on helm.

The northerly eventually petered out and we hoisted the genoa and dropped the kite. Max took over on helm.

Unexpectedly the northerly came up again behind us so we hoisted the maxi spinnaker for a run. John’s getting a good workout 🙂

But it didn’t last long. The wind died out and then backed around to a southerly. Down with the kite again and back to sailing close-hauled towards Lambton Harbour.

We were neck and neck with White Cavalier and Lizzie as we crossed the finish line at 1655 hrs.

The prize-giving at the Port Nick club that evening was a great event. The big cheque for first place on PHRF was awarded to Whistler who generously donated the money to the Wellington Classic Yacht Trust. We then enjoyed an excellent dinner followed by live music.