RPNYC Anzac / Turkish Rally 25 April 2026

Crew: Tunch, Eduardo, Jamie, Emma and our guests from the Turkish Embassy; Rubi & Berhan.

Forecast: Northerly 10 kts.

We all gathered at the Port Nic Wardroom at 1100 hrs where Rear Commodore Carolyn welcomed the skippers, crews and the Turkish Embassy guests who supplied the Turkish coffees and yummy treats.

Commodore Shayne, after a fitting tribute to honour the memory of those who served and sacrificed for their countries, announced the course: Start – Matiu / Somes Island to port – Ngauranga Mark 4 to port – Finish. All boats were to fly the NZ Ensign and Turkish flags There would also be a quiz on the history of Gallipoli to be completed on our return.

Back at Chaffers we rigged up Halo and cast off from the marina at 1232 hrs after a safety briefing for our guests, Rubi & Berhan.

The Start

The Turkish Ambassador, Melih Karalar, who had just arrived after speaking at the ANZAC Day Dawn Service at Pukeahu National War Memorial, did a great job on the VHF running the start sequence.

Halo got away quite well in the middle of the fleet of 16 boats. Our full mainsail and No. 1 genoa were drawing well and we were getting over 6 kts kts SOG close-hauled in the 10-12 kts of northerly up to Somes. We looked back and counted about 6 boats behind us.

We enjoyed a duel with Cantilena, a Townson 32, up the harbour and eventually pulled ahead of them by the time we reached the eastern side of Somes.

We rounded the Virtual Mark north of Mokopuna at 1400 hrs, neck and neck with Cantilena and L’Attitude Adjustment and then settled into a reach across to Ngauranga. Cantilena sailed better than us on the reach and caught up with us.

At the Ngauranga Mark we caught up with most of the leader boats who were sitting in a wind hole!

We then hoisted our maxi spinnaker for the downwind run back home.

About half way down the leg the wind changed from NW to NE. We dropped the spinnaker and sailed on a beam reach with the genoa. Cantilena opted to keep their spinnaker up and bore away to complete the course. They beat us across the finish line by 1.5 minutes. Good work James!

Back at the Club for the Prizegiving

A big crowd of sailors and Turkish guests as well as our support crew, Sandra, Graciela and Camila, joined us. We all enjoyed the hospitality of the embassy who supplied the Turkish food.

The results were announced.

Halo came 1st on PHRF and 1st on club handicap! The Gibbs-Lizzie Trophy was presented to us by the Turkish Ambassador, His Excellency Melih Karalar.

Thank you to Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Cub organisers and volunteers for running a thoroughly professional and enjoyable event. Also to my Turkish sailing buddy Tunch, who came down from Auckland especially to join us on Halo.