1700hours - Local Time, Sunday 05 July, 2009
Prize Giving is due to get underway at 1800 hours, with all boats now finished and tied up safely in Noumea, at the CNC Yacht Club.
1230hours - Local Time, Sunday 05 July, 2009
Mustang Sally Arriving
Bare Essentials Arrival
Apologies to all families and friends for the lack of coverage in the last few hours, been sitting on a plane.
Lagoon Ozone - Finishing.
Bare Essentials and Mustang Sally how now also finished just after lunch, with Route 66 due in an hour ish. I have no doubt that the party in Noumea will be in full swing with the Prizegiving taking place tonight.
Limit looks to have taken honours not only on line, but IRC, PHRF and ORC as well, in a well sailed race, with Wild Card also having an impressive race too, with two seconds and two thirds.
0450 Local Time-Sunday 05 July, 2009
Both Lagoon Ozone and Outrageous Fortune have finished within 20 minutes of each other.
0305 Local
Bird On The Wing finished at 0359:10 GMT
0250hours local time, Sunday 05 July, 2009
Bird on the Wing and Lagoon Ozone are 10 - 20 minutes from the finish line.
Plenty more photos and film footage from onboard Limit will be up on this site late this afternoon.
1827 Local
It is now a battle of strategy for Outrageous, Bear Essentials qnd Lagoon Ozone. These boats are to the east of Bird On The Wing and must tack to lay the Passe Boulari to enter Noumea. Only BoW will lay the Passe and Amadee with out tacking. Bear with extensive local knowledge on board from a local charter skipper may be relying on the land breze overcoming the fading westerly overnight and negating the need to tack. Bear is significantly the most easterly and Outrageous is to the east of Lagoon while on the same lattitude. The local bar experts at the CNC vbelieve this tack will cost Outrageous an hour and Bear more than this. Lagoon is skippered by Olivier Decouzon a local harbour pilot who can be expected to sail confidently in his home waters. We shall wait for the Fat Lady to Sing for the out come of this close battle between these 4 boats after 970 plus miles of windward sailing, which should be resolved by 0200 local or a little later if the wind fades.
1212 Local
Lion finished at 13.08.35 GMT.
1135 Local
Lion is approaching Ile Maitre, approx 30 minutes to finish. The lionesses have set out in the Zodiac with Chanpagne.
1055 Local
Wild Card finished at 11.55.55 GMT
1048 Local
Wild Card is at Ile Brun 5 minutes to finish.
1037 Local time
Wild Card is at Ile Aux Canard about 15 minutes from the finish; The Zodiac has gone out with the Champagne.
Lion NZ is in sight in the far distance approaching Passe Boulari and the Amedee Light.
1008 local time
We have Wild Card in sight approaching Ile Maitre, about 30 minutes from the finish; Wild Card is looking good for ORC honours. Lion is estimated to be about 3 hours away from the finish. We havz quite a team of Lionesses in the CNC club house now anxious to go out and meet their Lions.
0630 local Saturday 4 July
Wild Card looks to have the edge on Lion NZ to be Saturdays first finisher in Noumea. No one has anticipated that this would be the slowest race of the modern era to Noumea. The races of recent years have lulled us all into a false expectation. As a result seats on the flights for early next week are like hens teeth as many have sought to rebook. It maybe the Australian Curse. When the Australian Maxi Wild Thing competed in in the 1999 Auckland to Denerau it was one of the slowest races for a decade. This fleet however have wind at last, currently 14 knots at Passe Boulari and this westerly is expected to pickup during the day and to be a steady breeze for the fleet to complete the race over the next 24 hours. The prize giving has been delayed to Sunday night, and we hope to greet Route 66 a local entry with a rousing cheer late Sunday afternoon.
0715hours NZ time, Saturday 4 July
Wild Card and Lion New Zealand are closing in on the entrance to the lagoon, and the rest of the fleet are expected to arrive between tonight and tomorrow afternoon - a few crew members have been making arrangements to change flights because they were expecting to fly home on Sunday morning.
Route 66 reports 20-30 knot winds on the nose. They have a cracked main bulkhead and are proceeding with caution.
0700hours - local time - Friday 03 July, 2009
The boats have done alright during the night, and with an increasing breeze of 15-20knots, despite being from the NW it should help the fleet get closer to Noumea. It looks as though Saturday is going to be a busy day for boats finishing.
21:07:53 - local time - Thursday 02 July, 2009
V5 have just finished.
2020 hours local time - Thursday 02 July, 2009
V5 is 10 miles from the finish line, there is a light breeze in the harbour and the CNC support boats are heading out to meet them.
1740hours local time - Thursday 02 July, 2009
V5 has just reported in that they are 10 miles from the lagoon entrance. Winds are light the Meteo Station at Phare Amedee is reporting winds of 6 knots from the east and and an air temperature of 24.1 degrees. Meanwhile, boats nearer the back of the fleet report winds of 15 to 20 knots from the northwest.
1730hours local time - Thursday 02 July, 2009
With the Limit crew settling into Noumea, V5 has approximately 30 miles to go, and expected in early evening. The next boat back is Wild Card, with around 250 miles left, but it is looking very light for them.
1300hours - local time - Thursday 2 July, 2009
Limit are well and truly finished, with a very stoked crew arriving around 0830 hours local time in Noumea.
Limit crossed the finish line this morning, in 25+ degree’s but very light winds. V5 was 100 miles behind at this morning’s radio sched, with the rest of the fleet around 100 miles further back.
The reports from the boats is that the middle of the fleet had very little wind this morning, but the tail end had reasonable breeze and were making good speed.
Limit’s crew reported that the race was a tough one, but the worst part was not the 50 knot winds, short and sharp waves, and the banging and crashing as they left the top of New Zealand and headed west to try and get around the back of the big low, but the 30 miles they travelled over 12hours as they neared Noumea, and the last few hours prior to finishing, when the wind died to almost nothing proving to be frustrating as the crew could see and smell the land, but was exceptionally slow going to the finish line.
As of this morning’s radio sched, Limit looked good to take out most of the top honours, but the Wild Card who has been sailing extremely well are a close threat as they have sailed around Lion NZ during the night, to be 10 miles ahead this morning.
0700hours NZ time 0600hours Noumea time - Thursday 2 July, 2009
Limit is at the entrance to the reef, closing in on the finish and still making good speed. Some of the boats in the middle of the fleet are stuck in very light winds and the back of the fleet are closing in on them. All but the leading three boats are currently projected to finish on Sunday or Monday - the prediction takes into account time since the last radio sched, and many of them had a very slow night.
2000hours NZ time, 1900hours Noumea time - Wednesday 01 July, 2009
With the current positions and ETA for each boat it looks like the Aussie boat Limit may take all the titles, however with the fleet closing in, Wild Card who is in 2nd place on IRC, PHRF and ORC may be a threat.
The committee in Noumea are preparing to take watch from 0300 hours NZ time, 0200hours local time for the first boat to arrive early morning. The ice and coke are being stocked up.
1900hours NZtime, 1800hours Noumea time - Wednesday 01 July, 2009
The fleet are reporting light winds and that they are dying out. There is a nice sea breeze in Noumea at present, but this too expected to fade away.
1250hours NZtime, 1150hours Noumea time - Wednesday 01 July, 2009
Whilst the races current leader Limit looks like they are trying to decide which way to go around this high, and hopefully finish sometime tonight with 150 miles to go, Wild Card has been quietly sailing the most eastern route of the fleet and is looking good for 4th place on line, making 6knots which is half a knot faster than V5 and only a knot slower than Limit.
One of her owners - Ray Lodge is successfully campaigning another offshore race, at the young age of 76. Ray was particularly keen to see the race start in strong headwinds, saying that this gave him their best chance to do well.
0700hours - Wednesday 01 July, 2009
Winds are lighter for the whole fleet, and very light for the leaders. The high is slowing their approach to Noumea and as a result the boats behind are catching up.
During the night most boats have travelled 90 - 120 miles
Lion New Zealand did not report a position during the morning radio sched, but their onboard tracking device shows that they are in third place, behind Limit and V5 and in front of Outrageous Fortune and Lagoon Ozone.
1930hours - Tuesday 30 June, 2009
Limit is 300 miles from the finish line in Noumea, with V5 chasing hard behind only 80 miles back. Both are still in good breeze but the forecast is predicting winds will lighten as they get closer to Noumea with the centre of a high sitting over New Caledonia in 24hours time.
The rest of the fleet are still on the edge of the low and are making good speed on the front of the fleet.
1900hours - Tuesday 30 June 2009
The fleet are enjoying improving conditions, with westerly 20 knot winds. They have been warned to keep a watch out for a frigate which is steaming south towards the yacht Carenza, which is in distress some way to the east of the fleet.
1530hours - Tuesday 30 June, 2009
Route 66 reported this morning that they were doing 7 knots under jib in 25 to 40 knot winds from the beam.
1500hours - Tuesday 30 June, 2009
Limit is over half way to Noumea now, with speeds averaging 15knots and tail winds, she is expected in Noumea by tomorrow afternoon.
The 3 boats who sat out a day's racing, are catching up to the rest of the fleet.
1840hours- Monday 29 June, 2009
The wind is turning west, with winds in the vicinity of approx 25 - 30 knots. Lagoon Ozone reports that they have had occasional gusts up to 40 knots, however tell us that the winds are now easing and that they are comfortable and having a great ride. Lion NZ has reported in, after not being able to send a position report this morning.
Bird on the Wing reports that they are still sitting it out at Mangonui Harbour, but are planning to up anchor and rejoin the race in three hours, so we will have a race position report for them after tomorrow mornings sched.
Bare Essentials and Mustang Sally are also now racing.
1500hours - Monday 29 June, 2009
Bullrush and REVS are safely in Opua.
Bare Essentials is preparing to set sail again, the weather is looking much better up north.
1330hours - Monday 29 June, 2009
Bullrush was at the Nine Pin along side REVS at 1300hours today.
1220hours - Monday 29 June, 2009
Antaeus has arrived in Opua safely, and the skipper has been taken off by ambulance.
REVS is reported to be just off the Nine Pin, approximately 2 hours from the Opua Marina.
Navitrac are manually updating the boats positions from the radio sched positions, so although due to atmospheric conditions we are having problems with the tracking devices sending positions, there will be updates twice a day.
1100hours - Monday 29 June, 2009
Word is that Antaeus has suffered some damage, and the skipper has slipped over and may have broken rib's. He will head straight to hospital once they reach land.
Bird on the Wing is still waiting out the weather in Mangonui, within smelling distance of the Fish and Ship shop, but not close enough to order. They intend to keep racing once the weather is better.
1030hours - Monday 29 June, 2009
Mustang Sally has Cat 1 revalidated, and intends to rejoin the race. Bullrush will clear customs in Opua, then head straight back down the coast after refueling.
Lagoon Ozone and Route 66 are still racing, in approximately 30knots of breeze on the nose, with big sea's.
0800hours - Monday 29 June, 2009
Bullrush has retired, lost the rig during the night off the top of NZ, all crew are fine but bitterly disappointed as they were going very well. They are motoring back to Auckland now.
0730hours - Monday 29 June 2009
Antaeus has also retired from the race, and is heading back to clear customs in Bay of Islands before returning to Auckland.
0700hours - Monday 29 June 2009
REVS has retired from the race, having suffered damage to their mast track. They are heading back to the Bay of Islands, disappointed to pull out when they were doing well.
Several boats have turned south to head for shelter, and missed the morning radio schedule.
1900hours - Sunday 28 June 2009
Bird on the Wing is sheltering in Mangonui Harbour, with no reported problems. Limit is the western most boat of the fleet and is into 30kt westerly winds.
1630hours - Sunday 28 June, 2009
Mustang Sally is heading into Opua to fix some steering issues, a hydraulic hose has broken.
1530hours - Sunday 28 June, 2009
Bare Essentials has taken shelter at the top of the Karikari Peninsula. All is well, they are just waiting to see what the depression brings as their barometer has dropped 10mb in the last few hours.
courtesy of crew.org.nz
1633hours - Saturday 27 June, 2009
Lagoon Ozone - " It's gone very light out here, but the fog has lifted, and we can see Bird on the Wing and Mustang Sally behind us, REV's is having a blinder! Lion is just in front."
1600hours - Saturday 27 June, 2009
Route 66 - " we are drifting along quite nicely in about 1 or 2 knots of breeze, can't see any boats around us, except Limit a short while ago who we are now ahead of"
1522hours - Saturday 27 June, 2009
Lagoon Ozone - 'Well after a conservative start, we are now back in the games, everyone has their big kite's up and battling to get depth with 2 knots of wind speed. We had good visability for 20 minutes off rangi light, but now it's down to 300m, all pretty close out here.'
1400hours - Saturday 27 June, 2009
The fog lifted in time for start to get underway, all lining up in a light breeze, V5 in clear air by the HMNZS Resolution, and Route 66 the smallest boat in the fleet getting a good start at the other end.
After about 10 minutes or so of sailing the fog came back in, with a large container ship looming that no one could see, but could certainly hear the fleet were set off towards rangi light, with no more than 200 m of visability.
