Last November, three yachts arrived home within minutes of each other after the best part of two days at sea in the Doyle Sails Cavalli Islands Race, in a finish that barely let up from the moment the fleet cleared Auckland.
Motorboat III, Equilibrium and Ocean's Tribute spent almost the entire course within sight of one another, swapping the lead through patch after patch of dying breeze. Off Kawau and Whangārei Heads the fleet stalled in a knot or two of wind, and the boat that found the next puff first would jump clear, only for the gap to close again a few hours later. By the time the front three reached Cape Brett at dawn, Ocean's Tribute had rounded first, with Motorboat III and Equilibrium close enough behind to matter.
The Cavallis themselves proved the turning point. Ocean's Tribute swung wide to the east chasing clean pressure, while Motorboat III and Equilibrium held a shorter, more central line home. Skipper Guy Chester later reflected that the trimaran had briefly held the lead before slower speed in under 10 knots let the other two slip past, adding that plenty of moments in the race could have gone the other way with one different call.
On line honours, Damon Jolliffe's Motorboat III, a fully crewed 2005 Thomson 1150 and the smallest of the front-runners, took the gun in 46 hours 40 minutes, just six minutes ahead of Graham Matthews' fully crewed Botin Carkeek 55 Equilibrium, with Guy Chester's multihull Ocean's Tribute, a Queensland-based Crowther 40 trimaran, a further nine minutes back in third. It was a remarkable result for the smallest boat in the front-runner fight, up against far larger waterlines all the way home.
Corrected time told a different story. Rowan Smith and Lydia Boyd's double-handed Carpe Diem took the PHRF handicap win in 41 hours 28 minutes, ahead of Brendan Sands' Kick on 42 hours 8 minutes and Ryan McCready's Physical Favours on 43 hours 18 minutes, both also sailed double-handed.
Nine boats started the race, several of them using it to qualify for the 2026 Doyle's Round North Island Double Handed Yacht Race.
Royal Akarana Yacht Club has confirmed the race is back for another year. The 275 nautical mile course runs from Auckland up to Motuhakeke Island, near Māngonui in the Far North, before turning for home and taking in Channel Island, which sits north of Port Jackson at the top of the Coromandel Peninsula and south of Great Barrier Island. Little Barrier Island and the Poor Knights are also rounded along the way, all in the hunt for the Yates Cup.
Entries close at midnight on Monday 16 November.
Ryan McCready will return with Physical Favours, and Damon Jolliffe is entering Motorboat III again after last year's line honours win. The full entry list isn't up yet.
Enter here at the Royal Akarana Yacht Club.
