Solo sailor defies fickle winds to delivers the goods

Fickle breezes fully tested participants in Friday’s WineWorks Marlborough Wine Race, just five boats making it to the finish line.

The Waikawa Boating Club event, which began in 2001, was traditionally run from Picton to Wellington, yachts sailing across Cook Strait to deliver the first of the year's Marlborough vintage to the capital - loosely based on the traditional Beaujolais Nouveau delivery from France to the UK.

More recently the race has been run from Picton to Resolution Bay. Yachts carry wine from various wineries, racing to see who can deliver this year's vintage first, trophies awarded for first-over-the-line and first-on-handicap.

Race day 2025 dawned with unpredictable winds but the start was not delayed, nine yachts of different sizes and racing pedigree fighting it out to see who could get an early advantage.

Pace-setters were Matt Michel, the only solo sailor in the fleet, onboard Astruso and carrying pinot noir from Catalina Sounds, Clive Ballett on Coup d'Etat carrying Grove Mill and Aaron Blackmore onboard Oldsmobile carrying two wines, Eradus and Cirro.

Other entries were Hutchison on Indelible carrying Rock Ferry, Tom and Maree van der Burgh on Satu with the Catalina Sounds Sauvignon Blanc, Chris Williams on Tequila II carrying The Marlborist, Mike Williams in Felice carrying the No1 Family Estate Assemble, Phil Jarvis on Ocean Gem carrying Nautilus and Ant Moore wines, plus Geoff Brodie on Duetto, carrying Two Rivers.

The fickle nature of the breeze made racing challenging, although Astruso and Coup d’Etat mostly managed to stay on the move and soon established a lead that they maintained throughout.

Astruso led from the front all the way with bright yellow gennaker flying - no mean feat for a single-handed boat.

Not to be outdone, Coup d'Etat hoisted her spinnaker and played the tide to try to keep pace in the bigger boat but there was no stopping Astruso, who crossed first in four hours, 45 minutes and 6 seconds.

Coup d'Etat came in 13 minutes later in second place with Oldsmobile third, followed by Satu and Ocean Gem. The other four boats stalled when the breeze dropped completely, unable to finish in time.

WineWorks Marlborough 2025 Wine Race results:

Line honours - Catalina Sounds pinot noir, Astruso (Matt Michel).

Handicap - 1 Grove Mill, Coup d’Etat (Clive Ballett); 2 Catalina Sounds pinot noir, Astruso (Matt Michel); 3 Catalina Sounds sauvignon blanc, Satu (Tom & Maree van der Burgh); 4 Eradus & Cirro, Oldsmobile (Aaron Blackmore); 5 Nautilus & Ant Moore, Ocean Gem (Phil Jarvis); 6= Rock Ferry, Indelible (Tom Hutchison); 6= No1 Family Estate, Felice (Mike Williams); 6= The Marlborist - Tequila 2 (Chris Williams); 6= Two Rivers - Duetto (Geoff Brodie).

Race sponsors: WineWorks Marlborough, Interpack, LiquidAction, the Seabreeze Café, Foley Wines, Grove Mill, Catalina Sounds, No1 Family Estate, Ant Moore Marlborough, Two Rivers, Rock Ferry, Nautilus and The Marlborist.