Only four yachts finished in Noumea Race

10:51 AM Sat 4 Jul 2009 GMT

'Limit crosses the finish line in Noumea' Event Media Click Here to view large photo

Four yachts have finished the Auckland to Noumea race, over a week after the 975nm race started.

As well as taking line honours, it would seem that Limit (Alan Brierty) (AUS) will take first prixe in all the major divisions

The latest news from Royal Akarana YC is as follows and see full restults below this log:

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 Champagne.

Limit crosses the finish line in Noumea and would seem to have taken all the amjor trophies - Event Media Click Here to view large photo

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.

These projected results are based on the positions of the boats at the most recent radio sched, which was at 2009-07-04 18:40:00.

Line Honours

Name	Finish	Elapsed
Limit	Thu 02 Jul 09:42:34	115:42:34
V5	Thu 02 Jul 22:07:53	128:07:53
Wild Card	Sat 04 Jul 11:55:55	165:55:55
Lion New Zealand	Sat 04 Jul 13:08:35	167:08:35
Lagoon Ozone	Sun 05 Jul 03:19:15	181:19:15
Outrageous Fortune	Sun 05 Jul 03:27:08	181:27:08
Bird on the Wing	Sun 05 Jul 05:15:29	183:15:29
Bare Essentials	Sun 05 Jul 09:56:33	187:56:33
Mustang Sally	Sun 05 Jul 11:28:06	189:28:06
Route 66	Sun 05 Jul 11:31:33	189:31:33
Antaeus	DNF
Bullrush	DNF
REVS	DNF

PHRF

Name	PHRF	Corrected
Limit	1.175	135:57:31
V5	1.105	141:35:07
Wild Card	0.875	145:11:26
Lagoon Ozone	0.865	156:50:33
Outrageous Fortune	0.865	156:57:22
Lion New Zealand	0.955	159:37:18
Mustang Sally	0.845	160:06:03
Route 66	0.865	163:56:23
Bird on the Wing	0.895	164:00:57
Bare Essentials	1.03	193:34:51
Antaeus	DNF
Bullrush	DNF
REVS	DNF

IRC

Name	IRC	Corrected
Limit	1.5	173:33:51
Wild Card	1.187	196:57:40
Outrageous Fortune	1.116	202:30:02
Mustang Sally	1.107	209:44:29
Bird on the Wing	1.163	213:07:45
Bare Essentials	1.289	242:15:28
Antaeus	DNF
Bullrush	DNF
REVS	DNF

ORC Performance Line

Name	ORC	Corrected
Limit	1.159 / 49.1	134:06:26
Lagoon Ozone	0.855 / 77.5	134:15:08
Route 66	0.921 / 111.3	144:42:53
Outrageous Fortune	0.985 / 126.2	144:53:50
Wild Card	0.936 / 90.6	155:18:44
Bare Essentials	0.966 / 22.9	175:24:47
Bullrush	DNF