I am finally back on my beloved Guppy, after more than one month away from her. The Coastal Classic turned out to be a good sailing trip, thought not so good racing. We had lots of wind for the start which continued for most of the trip and cause wipeout after wipeout, because the rudder came out of the water. Halfway through the night, when the fast boats had already crossed the finish line, the wind started to die down. We did very well until Cape Brett, where we arrived at 2am. Unfortunately around that time the wind died down to less than zero knots and we were bobbing around in the same spot for about eight hours. Finally the wind picked back up and were able to cross the finish line under spinnaker with a time of almost 26 hours, just 17 minutes before the cut-off time. Then we had a good sleep and set sail back again the next morning. The wind had shifted around once again and we had a beautiful kite ride all the way back to Auckland! So we did have a great sail after all, and definitely enjoyed taking part in this big yacht race. And now Guppy is really happy to see me again and I am very glad to be back home on her after all this time.

Laura

Film: Coastal Classic