Louis Tapper is about to leave on a 260km down winder in New Zealand from Auckland to Russell Wharf in the Bay of Islands. He will be sailing along side 30 ft plus yachts as part of the Coastal Classic yacht race. All of this is in aid of raising funds for the people of Samoa which has been devastated by the recent tsunami there.
He was due to leave at 9.30am New Zealand time this morning, but I don't think the wind is playing nicely at the moment, so hopefully it will kick in. The journey will see him finishing in the dark.
You can visit Louis's main event website here: yakers.co.nz/coastalclassic/1801.html
There are a number of links off that including one to the Samoa relief campaign: www.givealittle.co.nz/campaign/coastalclassic/
You can also track Louis's progress real time with a spot messenger unit from the various links here: http://yakers.co.nz/coastalclassic/3401.html
Good luck Louis!
And he is on his way & things are looking good so far with about a 20knt SWer blowing. You can track his progress here: maps.findmespot.com/Account/AuthCheck?redirectUrl=%2FTrack
Pic of Louis on his way at the start of the race.
He is currently 4 hours into it, with a great wind speed averaging 22knots. He's getting lots of media attention, which is great for this cause.
As far as gear is concerned, he's currently on a 2010 13m Cabrinha Crossbow and a north speed board.
Well its dark here in NZ now & last I heard at 7.30pm NZ time, Louis was heading around the cape on his way to the finish line, but the wind has dropped off to 13 knots, so things are probably getting tricky right now...Especially since he needs to head up wind slightly, & I'd imagine he'd be pretty tired.
maps.findmespot.com/Account/AuthCheck?redirectUrl=%2FTrack
Well its been just over 13 hours of non stop kiting & he is still trying to make his destination. It was a somewhat easier run for the first 200km, but now the going is tough with a dropping wind & the darkness of night. You can see by his track on spot the messenger that he has had to do a fair bit of tacking back & forward to get far enough up wind to continue to his destination.
maps.findmespot.com/Account/AuthCheck?redirectUrl=%2FTrack
I think this effort is well worth a donation to the Samoan relief campaign...
www.givealittle.co.nz/campaign/coastalclassic/
So the end result was Louis ended up 8 nmiles from the finish line but had to pull the pin at 10.30pm NZ time last night because the wind dropped. He spent 6 hours of tacking in the Bay of Islands trying to make his destination...Huge effort!!
