Wasted Away shines as Equilibrium takes Roy McDell handicap double

Luke Judge’s Ross 930 Wasted Away finished 18th across the line, but took sixth on PHRF and fifth on PHS, while the big boats at the front settled the podium on handicap.

A slow start off Ōrākei

The fleet started at 10.05am off Ōrākei in light air, under a low grey ceiling of cloud. Early progress was slow. Spinnakers in red, blue, green and pink were flying as the boats inched north towards the Eastern Navy Buoy off Whangaparāoa, watched from along the North Shore.

It didn't take long for the quickest boats to show on the tracker. Explore Racing and Wired were away fastest and soon at the front.

By about 12.30pm, most of the fleet had reached the top of the roughly 35nm course, and the breeze was building. From Motutapu's south-west corner it was a beat home. Wasted Away finished at 3.43pm, with 17 boats already in.

The Ross 930 among the big boats

The front of Saturday's Roy McDell Memorial Race belonged to boats of 50 feet and more. Luke Judge's Wasted Away, a 9.3m Ross 930 from a Murray Ross design that dates from 1982, crossed the line 18th, more than an hour and a half after line honours winner Wired arrived home.

Wasted Away took sixth on PHRF and fifth on PHS, just two minutes and 17 seconds off the PHRF podium. Her rise from 18th across the line was the largest gain in places under both systems among the 25 finishers.

Wasted Away started with the fleet off Ōrākei at 10.05am in light air. Spinnakers in red, blue, green and pink edged north past the watchers nearby us on the North Shore, heading for the Eastern Navy Buoy off Whangaparāoa. The breeze built as the fleet rounded the top of the roughly 35 nautical mile course. From Motutapu’s south-west corner, the fleet had to tack into the wind to get home. Wasted Away finished at 3.43pm, with 17 boats already in.

It wasn't alone in the fight for the places behind the podium. Quintin Fowler's More 55 Rum Bucket, fourth across the line, finished fifth on PHRF, just 54 seconds of corrected time ahead of the Ross. From third to 11th on PHRF, only 4m 38s of corrected time separated the boats.

Up front, the giants

Rob Bassett's Wired, a canting-keel Bakewell-White 52, grabbed line honours, arriving home first at 2.04pm and the only boat round in under four hours.

Nine minutes later, William Goodfellow's Explore Racing and Graham Matthews' Equilibrium crossed 38 seconds apart. Explore Racing is the Elliott 50 that took line honours on every leg of this year's two-handed Round North Island, and it was the one ahead.

Equilibrium's lower handicap reversed their finishing order. It won both PHRF and PHS with a corrected time of 4:13:26. That put it 2m 05s on corrected time ahead of Explore Racing, which finished second on the water and on both tables.

A minute apart, a podium each

Tony Wallis' The Black Pearl finished eighth at 3.08pm. Nigel Hendy's Dufour 45e Nirvana followed about a minute later. Both ended up third: The Black Pearl on PHS, Nirvana on PHRF.

John Meadowcroft's MC31 Carrera 3 came closest to joining them, finishing fourth on PHRF, 33 seconds of corrected time off third.

Among the boats further back was Mike Malcolm's Bird on the Wing, 14th home and 12th on PHS. Malcolm was one of the young sailors Roy "Pop" McDell encouraged at the Squadron. He has previously organised a crew of McDell family members to sail the race named for him.

The Roy McDell Memorial race was the second round of the Doyle Sails Gold Cup Series, and newly included in the RNZYS Commodore's Cup this season.

The fleet lingers at the start of the 2026 Roy McDell Memorial Race. | Photo: Insight Media

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Levity, the Schionning CM46 skippered by Mike Mackey, at the start of the 2026 Roy McDell Memorial Cup. | Photo: Insight Media

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Epsom Salts, the JT 8.5 Catamaran - Designed and built by the renowned Kiwi spars-maker and multihull designer John Tetzlaff - at the start of the 2026 Roy McDell Memorial Cup. | Photo: Insight Media

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Nirvana, Nigel Hendy's Dufour 45e Performance, at the start of the 2026 Roy McDell Yacht Race. | Photo: Insight Media

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Fulcrum, Derek and Janine Grul's 2023 Dibley 40, at the start of the 2026 Roy McDell Yacht Race. | Photo: Insight Media

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Visage (Vis), Cam Emmerton's Bakewell-White 38 C:R, at the start of the 2026 Roy McDell Yacht Race. | Photo: Insight Media

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