Friday 10 June 2011

Auckland to Fiji : TeamVodafoneSailing beats Camper to ocean race record


TeamVodafoneSailing and CAMPER with ETNZ at the start of the race from Auckland to Musket Cove, Fiji. Image copyright Ivor Wilkins.

by Zoe Hawkins

TeamVodafoneSailing have secured line honours in the New Zealand International Yachting Trust Auckland to Musket Cove Ocean Race, and earned a place in the record books.

The Orma 60 crossed the finish line at approximately 1920hrs today, more than 18 hours ahead of the record of 120hrs 21mins 45secs set by Systems Thunder in 2008.

The Emirates Team New Zealand Volvo 70, Camper, finished shortly afterwards.

TeamVodafoneSailing is the first finisher in the Multihull Division, and also finished ahead of all boats in the Racing Division for keelboats.

Times and results will be verified by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron soon, and a more detailed report from TeamVodafoneSailing will follow.

The nine sailors onboard TeamVodafoneSailing include Owner and Skipper Simon Hull, Boat Captain Kevin Peet, Navigator Patrick O'Reilly, Paul (Casper) Murray, Stu (Disco) MacKinven, Ollie Scott-Mackie, Selby Howard, Paul O'Reilly, and Guy Hewson.
Fiji is the boat’s first stop in an offshore calendar that will take in the Sydney to Gold Coast Race, the RQYC Brisbane to Keppel Race, the Airlie Beach Race Week, and Hamilton Island Race Week, before TeamVodafoneSailing returns to New Zealand for the Coastal Classic and the New Zealand summer racing season.

TeamVodafoneSailing is also supported by Line 7, Predictwind.com, Seatrade, Fusion, Harken, Fineline, B&G, Steinlager, Safety at Sea and Wilde Media.

TeamVodafoneSailing