Rob Bassett and Brett Russell’s Wired led the first wave of finishers home in the 2026 PIC Coastal Classic. Nicholas Gardiner’s Drinks Trolley took the overall monohull PHRF win. Behind them came a second wave, and perhaps the unsung heroes of the Classic. These twelve crews kept sailing beyond the 2pm deadline, reaching Russell that night.
The 2pm deadline passed on Saturday, but twelve PIC Coastal Classic crews still had Russell in their sights. Light winds had forced crews to weigh the miles remaining against the hours available. Many turned for home or stopped at anchor. These twelve kept sailing, despite knowing they were out of contention for handicap prizes. Through the afternoon and into the night they pressed on, all reaching the line before midnight.
The ones who kept going
Kevin Peet’s Blackout was the first late arrival, a little after 10pm. Division 2 boats Savante, Physical Favours and Boogie Flash also reached the line before 11pm.
Their arrivals overlapped with boats from the smaller divisions. Peter Cunningham’s Ticketty Boo and Malcolm Dickson’s Sarau were the only two Division 3 starters credited with finishes. Sarau heads Division 3, just under 13 minutes ahead of Ticketty Boo. Hot Property leads Division 4 by a little over 14 minutes from Wasted Away. Eighteen boats had started in that division.
Division 4’s Wasted Away, skippered by Luke Judge, reached the line ahead of Sam Kynman-Cole’s Hot Property. Both had spent about 38 hours on the course.
Four Division 5 crews also completed the passage. Lanny Walker’s T-Rex led them home, followed by Daniel Wise’s Young Mischief, Holger Zipfel’s Buoy Racer and Trish Beken’s Chico Too. Their order reverses for handicap.
No boat in Divisions 3, 4 or 5 reached Russell before 2pm. Between them, however, those divisions contributed eight of the twelve late arrivals. Their crews accounted for more than a third of all racing boats that reached the line.
The twelve crews who kept going
| Boat | Skipper | Sail number | Division | Division line place | Scheds and finish | Elapsed time¹ | Overall PHRF place² | Corrected time¹ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blackout | Kevin Peet | 9140 | 2 | 3 | Flat Rock15:14:00 Sail Rock22:10:00 Finish22:09:00 Finished 24 October. | 37:45:00 | 19 | 31:47:08 |
| Savante | Brian Watson | NZL8282 | 2 | 4 | Flat Rock15:21:00 Sail Rock22:46:00 Cape Brett12:45:00 Finish22:19:00 Finished 24 October. | 37:46:00 | 18 | 31:32:07 |
| Physical Favours | Ryan McCready | 8976 | 2 | 5 | Flat Rock15:17:00 Sail Rock22:20:00 Cape Brett12:47:00 Finish22:29:00 Finished 24 October. | 37:47:00 | 17 | 31:21:37 |
| Boogie Flash | Chris Marsh | 8295 | 2 | 6 | Flat Rock15:23:00 Sail Rock22:37:00 Cape Brett12:35:00 Finish22:49:00 Finished 24 October. | 37:49:00 | 20 | 31:52:46 |
| Ticketty Boo | Peter Cunningham | 112112 | 3 | 1 | Flat Rock15:57:00 Sail Rock22:40:00 Cape Brett13:08:00 Finish22:39:00 Finished 24 October. | 37:48:00 | 16 | 30:41:37 |
| Sarau | Malcolm Dickson | 8733 | 3 | 2 | Flat Rock17:25:00 Sail Rock02:35:00 Cape Brett16:46:00 Finish23:19:00 Finished 24 October. | 37:52:00 | 15 | 30:28:58 |
| Wasted Away | Luke Judge | 8032 | 4 | 1 | Flat Rock14:41:00 Sail Rock21:56:00 Finish22:59:00 Finished 24 October. | 38:05:00 | 14 | 29:28:35 |
| Hot Property | Sam Kynman-Cole | 6821 | 4 | 2 | Flat Rock16:50:00 Sail Rock00:59:00 Cape Brett16:15:00 Finish23:49:00 Finished 24 October. | 38:10:00 | 13 | 29:14:08 |
| T-Rex | Lanny Walker | 5159 | 5 | 1 | Flat Rock15:23:00 Sail Rock23:02:00 Cape Brett13:51:00 Finish23:09:00 Finished 24 October. | 38:06:00 | 12 | 28:34:30 |
| Young Mischief | Daniel Wise | 6548 | 5 | 2 | Flat Rock16:04:00 Sail Rock23:18:00 Finish23:29:00 Finished 24 October. | 38:08:00 | 10 | 27:57:06 |
| Buoy Racer | Holger Zipfel | 8791 | 5 | 3 | Flat Rock15:24:00 Sail Rock23:30:00 Cape Brett14:21:00 Finish23:39:00 Finished 24 October. | 38:09:00 | 9 | 27:41:49 |
| Chico Too | Trish Beken | 4994 | 5 | 4 | Flat Rock19:15:00 Sail Rock08:39:00 Finish23:59:00 Finished 24 October. | 38:11:00 | 7 | 25:55:35 |
Checkpoint reports come from the supplied sched log. Finish times and divisional line places come from the divisional line results. All clock times are New Zealand daylight time for the 2026 race. Missing checkpoint reports are omitted.
1. Elapsed and corrected times are reproduced from the overall PHRF results in hours:minutes:seconds. The overall PHRF and divisional line tables contain different finish times for most of these boats, so the published elapsed times do not consistently match the finish times shown here.
2. Overall PHRF places refer to the published monohull handicap table. These rankings do not establish eligibility for handicap prizes after the deadline. The four Division 2 boats have overall PHRF places but are marked TLE in their divisional handicap results.
Ahead of these crews, Wired had taken overall line honours in 24 hours, 58 minutes and 25 seconds. Drinks Trolley claimed the overall monohull PHRF win, Apache took multihull line honours, and Romanza won on multihull handicap. The 2026 PIC Coastal Classic page brings together the results and our race coverage.
Malcolm and Lily see it through
For Malcolm Dickson and his granddaughter Lily, the passage brought a different sort of milestone.
Malcolm, 79, had won June’s Solo Trans-Tasman on handicap. Yet this was his first Coastal Classic. He originally entered Sarau solo, until 16-year-old Lily suggested sailing together.
Before the start, Malcolm acknowledged that the light forecast would work against his heavy yacht and small rig. The conditions that suited Sarau across the Tasman would offer little help on this passage.
They crossed the line late on Saturday in 18th place overall, more than 37 hours after starting. The handicap prize deadline had passed hours earlier. More importantly, grandfather and granddaughter had still completed their first Coastal Classic together.
