…That is unless you call something a race and put another yacht in her cross hairs. As an extremely talented and successful sailor, Sharon Ferris-Choat is a fierce competitor, great skipper and inspiring leader. So when we decided to have a “fun” race, I knew that Sharon would give it 100%.

We headed up the Port Hardy channel for a race start between Nelsons Monument and Victory Island (can you tell the British were here?). When we got there, the wind was only 5-6 knots and not quite enough to push these 32 and 46 ton yachts along. We agreed to motor out until the breeze hit 8 knots and then turn of four motors and go for it.

The race got underway with the two yachts sailing slowly in the light breeze and trying to figure out the best place to be in the lee of D’Urville and Stephen's Island’s, to get into the Cook Strait faster. It was even-stevens, with Salt Lines helming erratically at times. At one point they charged down onto us, from a windward position, some 30 degrees off course, forcing us to bear away as a precaution, despite having right of way. We seized on the opportunity to sledge their crew as they came close, putting smiles on everyone within earshot.

It was a long afternoon and as we sailed 50nm across Cook Strait towards Kapiti Island, Silver Fern took out a 0.5nm lead and held it it for a couple of hours, before the ‘Mighty Sharon’ on the ‘Mighty Salt Lines’, came charging through below us, taking the lead as we headed for the Kapiti Island rounding and the next 6nm, upwind leg around the back of the island, while dodging rocks and reefs that poke out 1.2nm into the 2.6nm wide channel.

I knew, if we had a shot at getting past Sharon and getting away from Salt Lines, it would come down to how we tackled the upwind island leg through the reefs. The wind jumped from 17 to 21 knots as it funnelled between the island and the mainland. It was too much for Salt Lines, who had been “loaded up and trucking” most of the afternoon and now they had to turn downwind briefly to furl away their yankee head sail. This enabled us to get back in front of them, as we tracked upwind and east towards Waikanae Beach and into the darkness on this cool autumn night.

Helming was difficult in the shifty, gusty breeze and I took over the helm for the first time that day, concerned we had to navigate carefully to avoid the reefy island shoreline east of Kapiti Island. We expected to tack 4-6 times behind the island, due to the head wind angle and the reefs that stick out into the channel. Then a couple of things happened that sealed the race.

Salt Lines tacked earlier than Silver Fern, as we approached the Waikanae shoreline. We pushed in an extra 200m, while still having more than 20m of water under the keel. When we tacked onto port, we were pointed squarely at the reef on the bottom SE corner of Kapiti Island. We pointed as high as we could to minimise the tacks to clear the island. Then something magical happened. We got a 10-25 degree wind shift to the left for just 5minutes and we pinched like crazy at a 40 degree TWA, lifting our heading off the reef and down the channel directly, giving us just enough room to clear the end of the reef.

Salt Lines who were behind and below us, had to put in 2 more tacks to clear the reef and we made a 2nm gain on them, by the time we rounded the bottom of the island. Once we beared away again and went back to reaching in 17-20 knots, our speed jumped to 9.5 knots and lead to 3.5nm, as we powered our way back into Cook Strait, while Salt Lines were at 6 knots over ground and still sailing upwind to get clear.

With full mainsail and jib, we hit a top speed of 11.6 knots and saw a lot of 10’s as we charged back across Cook Strait on the moonlit night. Our lead peaked at 4.4nm, before we decided to take it easy and reduce a bit of the stress on the boat. The 50nm return sail to Ketu Bay in Pelorus Sound, was one hell of a sleigh ride and our crew were tired by the time we crossed the finish line after 1am and tucked into our anchorage 40 minutes later.

It was good to see the Salt Lines crew safely enter the bay just as we turned our lights off for the night. Cook Strait has a fierce reputation and its not often the conditions are so nice for a 105nm fun race. It’s even less often, you get the jump on Sharon, but its all in good spirits and we have two boats so evenly matched, that it makes it fun for everyone.

Sharon threatened us with a protest as a result of me tactically taking helm behind the island. I claimed it was for safety reasons, but I don’t think she believed me. Given our lack of documented race rules, we dismissed her wild claims as frivolous. It’s all in good fun, but we rested knowing she’ll be back at the next chance, even more determined to take a scalp off Silver Fern.

David