On board Alfa Romeo during the race. Image copyright Murray Spence.
by Edward Rowe
Neville Crichton’s super maxi, Alfa Romeo, is leaving a trail of smashed race records across the Pacific as she heads towards a head to head battle with Australian maxi ‘Wild Oats’ in December’s Rolex Sydney Hobart, with the Kiwi yacht demolishing the race record at the weekend (23 October 2009) in New Zealand’s HSBC Coastal Classic, following annihilation of the TransPac Race Record in July
Alfa Romeo set HSBC Premier Coastal Classic history when she crossed the finish line in Russell, in the Bay of Islands to set a new race record of 6 hours, 43 minutes and 32 seconds.
Starting at Devonport Wharf in Auckland, and finishing at Russell Wharf in the romantic Bay of Island township, the boat wiped more than 36 minutes off the 13-year old record held by the pink multihull Split Enz, achieving an average speed of 17.9 knots on the course.
The 30m boat owned by New Zealander Neville Crichton, has already accumulated 142 line honours victories, marking her return to New Zealand with her 143rd line win, all with Neville Crichton at the helm.
Apart from a very early challenge put on by the 9m trimaran, Timberwolf, the supermaxi commanded a lead from very early on, taking advantage of the strong South West conditions to stretch her legs and power up the coast, reaching Flat Rock soon after 11am, about 15 minutes inside record time, and the Hen and Chicken Islands at around 1.30pm, 25 minutes inside record time. By the time they rounded Cape Brett the boat was an astonishing predicted 80 minutes ahead of the time she needed to set history.
Sailing a rhumb line course apart from a slight detour outside the Hen and Chicken Islands, she reached the last milestone, at approximately 3pm, passing inside the infamous ‘Hole in the Rock’, where she slowed down briefly, dropped from a Jib Top and Staysail down to a Jib, and tacked into the Bay doing speeds of around 12 knots.
Owner/skipper Neville Crichton, a member of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron who takes pride in sailing under the New Zealand flag, says that by carrying a spinnaker on the first leg to Kawau they were able to put sufficient distance on the multihulls, so that even though the 25 knot beam reach from Tutukaka to Brett was better suited to the multis, they didn’t have time to make the required gains before the beat from Brett.
“We are very happy and it’s a nice homecoming to New Zealand,” he said at the finish.”And it was a perfect preparation for the Rolex Sydney Hobart, our next major challenege!”
Top Finishers on Line:
Boat name Elapsed time
ALFA ROMEO 06:43:32
TAEPING 07:30:59
X-FACTOR 07:37:03
FRANTIC DRIFT 07:58:35
ATTITUDE 08:01:06
TIMBERWOLF 08:09:41
DIRTY DEEDS 08:16:00
EXODUS 08:16:11
SUNDREAMER 08:26:19
LUCIFER 08:32:17
Alfa Romeo finishes into Russell in record time. Image copyright Edward Rowe.
ALFA ROMEO II RESULTS
Skipper: Neville Crichton
October 2009 HSBC Coastal Classic Line Honours, Race Record
July 2009 TransPac Line Honours, Race Record
Oct 2008 Barcolana Race Line Honours
Sept 2008 Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 4 x Line Honours, 2 x Corrected time wins
June 2008 Boat International SuperYacht Regatta 3 x Line Honours, class & event wins
June 2008 Rolex Giraglia Race Line Honours, new race record
June 2008 Rolex Giraglia Cup 3 x Line Honours, 2 x Handicap win
May 2008 Rolex Capri Race Week Maxi Class Event Win, 2 x Line Honours
May 2008 Pirelli Cup Maxi Class Event Win, 4 x Line Honours
Oct 2007 Barcolana Line Honours, race record
Sept 2007 Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 5 x Line Hons, 1 x Handicap
August 2007 Rolex Fastnet Retired
August 2007 RYS Trophy, Scandia Race Week Line Honours, Class win
June 2007 Superyacht Cup 1 Line Honours Win
June 2007 Rolex Giraglia Cup Offshore Race Line Honours
June 2007 Rolex Giraglia Cup Regatta 2 x Line Honours to take event
April 2007 Hublot Palmavela Regatta 5 x Line Honours to take event
October 2006 Rolex Middle Sea Race – offshore race Line Honours
October 2006 Barcolana Race Line Honours
Sept 2006 Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup 4 Line Honours, event win
June 2006 Rolex Giraglia Cup Offshore Race Line Honours
June 2006 Rolex Giraglia Cup Regatta 2 Line Honours, 1 Handicap win
April 2006 Hublot Palmavela 4 x Line Honours wins
Dec 2005 Rolex Sydney to Hobart 2nd Overall
Dec 2005 Rolex Trophy Regatta Win
Dec 2005 CYCA Big Boat Trophy Line Honours
Dec 2005 Savills Short Ocean Championship Line Honours/Handicap win
Nov 2005 Cabbage Tree Island Race Line Honours
August 2005 South Molle/Daydream Islands Race Line Honours/Handicap win
August 2005 Edward Island Race Line Honours
August 2005 Lindeman Island Race Line Honours/Handicap win
Alfa Romeo
HSBC Premier Coastal Classic
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