Five Hours to Russell: Can the PIC Coastal Classic Record Be Broken?
By Suellen Hurling
For more than four decades, the PIC Coastal Classic has offered an irresistible proposition: start off Devonport Wharf in Auckland, point the boat towards Russell and cover 119 nautical miles faster than anyone has before.
The current benchmark appears formidable. In 2019, Karl Kwok’s 70-foot trimaran Beau Geste completed the course in 5 hours and 37 seconds. That remains both the outright and multihull record. The corresponding monohull record - 6 hours, 43 minutes and 32 seconds - was set by Alfa Romeo back in 2009.
Is Beau Geste’s time unbreakable? No. But breaking it requires a coincidence that is harder to arrange than simply finding a faster yacht.
What the record really demands
Dividing 119 nautical miles by 5:00:37 gives a minimum average speed of approximately 23.75 knots.
That calculation flatters the challenger. A boat cannot sail the exact charted distance from start to finish. It must negotiate Rangitoto Channel, choose a route around Tiritiri Matangi and Kawau, cross Bream Bay, position itself for Cape Brett and then weave through the Bay of Islands. The real track will be longer, meaning an effective average comfortably above 24 knots may be required.
The boat must sustain that pace rather than merely touch it. Many offshore racing yachts can produce 25, 30 or even 40 knots in bursts. Holding a record average while completing manoeuvres, avoiding traffic, coping with waves and sailing through several distinct wind zones is a different challenge.
The official description of the course reveals why. Tidal flow can be strong through Tiri Passage; Bream Bay is often the most exposed section; the wind around Cape Brett can vary dramatically; and the final 20 miles into Russell can be the most complex part of the entire race. The organisers even warn that south-westerlies regularly create a dead-wind trap at the Brett.
In other words, this is not simply a five-hour speed trial. There are several different races joined together.
How Beau Geste did it
The 2019 record came from an unusually good marriage of machine and weather.
Beau Geste was a MOD70: a 21.2-metre, 6.3-tonne trimaran designed specifically for high-speed offshore sailing. The type occupies a useful sweet spot for this course. It is large enough to average extraordinary speeds in open water, yet sufficiently manageable and manoeuvrable for the confined start and the approach to Russell.
During the record run, fresh south-westerly winds of approximately 20-30 knots gave the trimaran a fast reaching angle for much of the coast. It exceeded 45 knots near Sail Rock. Crucially, those winds persisted over most of the 119 miles.
That direction was just as important as the strength. The race runs generally north to north-west. A strong south-westerly lets a fast multihull reach at high speed. A northerly turns the same course into a punishing beat; very light weather transforms it into a tactical lottery.
The results demonstrate the difference. In 2024, fresh northerlies and steep seas pushed the leading elapsed time beyond 14 hours, and only 39 of 67 starters finished. In the light and variable 2025 race, the 88-foot maxi Lucky took line honours in 17 hours, 22 minutes and 55 seconds - despite arriving with an impressive record-breaking offshore résumé and as a hot favourite to take the record if conditions were right. They were not.
A yacht’s theoretical speed is therefore secondary unless the atmosphere cooperates.
Why the record can be broken
The most compelling evidence is hidden in the record itself: Beau Geste missed the five-hour barrier by only 37 seconds.
Its 2019 run was exceptional, but it was not flawless. The wind weakened near Cape Brett, forcing the crew to shake out a reef and fight to remain on record pace. If the breeze had held for only a little longer - or if one transition, manoeuvre or tactical choice had gone slightly better - the race might already possess a four-hour record.
The existing MOD70 benchmark could therefore be beaten by another MOD70, or even by Beau Geste in equivalent conditions, without a technological revolution. The required improvement is only 0.2%. A cleaner start, a favourable tidal phase through the early course or the absence of the lull at Brett could supply that margin.
More advanced boats make the case stronger. Modern foiling offshore trimarans can sail materially faster than a conventional MOD70 in suitable conditions. Fully foiling Ultims have demonstrated sustained offshore speeds far above the 23.75-knot minimum required here; one modern Ultim covered almost 900 nautical miles in 24 hours, an average of roughly 37 knots. That does not mean it would average 37 knots from Devonport to Russell, but it establishes that the Coastal Classic record is nowhere near the absolute limit of sail-powered technology.
Even a modified MOD70 with lifting foils, improved control systems and a well-practised crew could present a serious threat. It would not need to be radically faster everywhere. It would merely need to preserve Beau Geste’s pace while losing less time in the slower sections.
The monohull record is also vulnerable in principle. Alfa Romeo’s 6:43:32 requires a minimum straight-line average of about 17.7 knots. Modern foiling IMOCAs and the quickest current maxis can exceed that figure over much longer offshore distances. As with the outright record, however, the correct boat would have to be present on the correct Friday in October.
Why the record may stand for years
The principal defence of the record is not hydrodynamics. It is probability.
First, the race is held on a fixed date rather than inside a weather window. A race record challenger cannot wait for a perfect south-westerly and leave when the forecast becomes ideal. The boat must accept whatever Labour Weekend provides.
Second, the optimum weather pattern is unusually specific. The breeze must be strong enough to sustain speeds above 25 knots but not so violent that the crew must depower excessively or slow to protect the boat. Its direction must create fast reaching angles. The sea state must remain manageable. And the wind must survive the geographical transitions around headlands, particularly Cape Brett and the final approach through the Bay of Islands.
A stronger wind is not automatically faster. With too much sea, a trimaran capable of 40 knots may have to reduce sail or impose a speed limit to avoid structural damage or capsize. The 2011 race illustrates the cost of sailing at the limit: Team Vodafone Sailing set a then-record of 5:44:31 and reached 34.8 knots, but the fast conditions also tormented the fleet and brought a capsize, a dismasting and numerous gear failures. Speaking of Team Vodafone Sailing, in 2014, they finished the race in 5:13:21 - it would take five years before MOD70 Beau Geste would break that record.
Third, an appropriate boat has to enter. The Coastal Classic fleet is generally broad and deeply competitive, but it does not automatically contain a MOD70, let alone a current-generation foiling maxi. Shipping or sailing one of the world’s fastest offshore trimarans to New Zealand for a five-hour coastal race is an expensive campaign. It requires sponsorship, logistics, safety compliance and a crew prepared to push the boat hard on a course offering little recovery time after an error.
Recent results illustrate this absence. The 2023 race was won on line by the TP52 Wired. The fastest 2024 boat, the Rapido 60 trimaran Romanza, took more than 14 hours, and the 2025 winner, Lucky needed more than 17 hours to finish. These are not signs that the record has become physically unreachable. They show that the combination of record-capable yacht and record-capable weather has not returned.
Records amongst the Record
The outright record may attract the headlines, but it represents only one contest within the Coastal Classic. For most crews, competing with a 70-foot trimaran or a 98-foot supermaxi is neither realistic nor particularly meaningful. Class records create fairer races within the race, allowing boats of similar designs and performance potential to measure themselves against one another, and against the best crews to have sailed the same type of yacht up the coast.
That is what makes these records pretty important. When boats of the same class race one another, differences in size, design and budget are reduced and preparation, sail selection, navigation and crew work become decisive. A class record therefore answers a compelling question: how quickly can this kind of boat complete the PIC Coastal Classic when boat, crew and conditions come together?
The 2005 race demonstrated the idea perfectly. Strong south-westerlies produced a rapid opening before the breeze eased and left the leaders negotiating patches of light air. The multihull Rogntudjuu took line honours ahead of Isis and X-Factor, but none of those three broke a divisional record. Behind them, the 98-foot supermaxi Konica Minolta completed the course in 8 hours and 29 minutes, breaking the keelboat record that had stood since 1996.
Deeper in the fleet, four crews established class records that remain listed more than two decades later:
Playbuoy completed the course in 14 hours, 9 minutes and 15 seconds to set the Stewart 34 record.
Hard Labour set the Farr 1020 record at 14 hours, 44 minutes and 27 seconds.
Rapport established the Farr 1104 record in 14 hours, 48 minutes and 36 seconds.
Pink Cadillac set the Young 88 record at 15 hours, 11 minutes and 47 seconds.
Their survival in the official record books confirms just how fast 2005 was. These were not grand-prix machines chasing overall line honours, but familiar production and club-racing yachts being sailed exceptionally well in favourable conditions. Each crew created a benchmark that every subsequent Coastal Classic entry of the same design could understand and pursue.
That gives class records a lasting value that a finishing position cannot always provide. A boat might cross the line many hours after the winner yet still produce one of the finest performances in the history of its class. It can race the boats alongside it, challenge a corrected-time result and pursue a record established by an earlier generation, all during the same passage to Russell.
The Coastal Classic is therefore not one race but dozens of overlapping races. There is a race for line honours, a race on handicap, battles within each division and, for many crews, a race against the clock and the history of their own design. The outright record shows how quickly the course can be sailed by the fastest boat. Class records make that history relevant to the rest of the fleet and ensure that record-breaking remains possible far beyond the first boat into Russell.
The verdict
The overall Coastal Classic record can be broken.
Indeed, the narrowest version of the challenge - beating 5:00:37 - is tantalisingly achievable. A MOD70-class trimaran in excellent condition, sailed by an elite crew in a persistent 20–30-knot south-westerly, could take the required 38 seconds out of Beau Geste. A modern foiling trimaran could go considerably faster and might lower the mark by tens of minutes.
But “can be broken” is different from “will soon be broken.”
The existing record was created by a near-perfect alignment: a purpose-built offshore speed machine, an expert crew, a fast wind direction and enough pressure over almost the whole Northland coast. The fixed starting date makes that alignment rare, while the expense of attracting an even faster international multihull makes it rarer still.
“Rarely do you go round the Brett without things slowing down, and it always dies down at night,” said 30’ish year Coastal veteran Simon Hull, who was the skipper at the helm of Team Vodafone Sailing back in the day.
“I reckon that the ideal conditions for a multihull is 15-18 knots from the east because at that angle you double the wind speed on a beam reach. For a monohull, especially one to break the monohull record set by Alfa Romeo back in 2009 where they finished in 6 hours, 43 minutes and 32 seconds, they would need a stonking south-easterly. But remember, Alfa Romeo was a 100 footer!” stated Simon.
So the record is neither permanent nor soft. It is breakable in engineering terms and exceptionally difficult in sporting terms. That is exactly what a great record should be.
The course record
The race record is one thing - that’s the one determined by set parameters like the official start time, start date, regardless of the conditions, but there is now a chance for multihulls and monohulls to set a Coastal Classic COURSE record.
The course record can be attempted at any time of the year, and during a perfect weather window. The boat can start whenever they want, but the rule is, they have to do the actual course, taking into account rounding marks, exclusion zones, everything.
You won’t get a trophy if you set a new course record, but there’s a certificate and total bragging rights at the bar, and that’s good enough for any seasoned yachtie chasing the clock.
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