Lucifer chases home record-breaking Classic winner

The Kerikeri-based Lucifer crossed the HSBC Premier Coastal Classic yacht race finish line within two hours of supermaxi Alfa Romeo,  which smashed the previous record by 36 minutes.
Owned by Kerikeri's Julie Gatland, the 28ft Demon 85, skippered by Auckland's Laurie Jury, finished 10th in a time of eight hours 32 minutes and 17 seconds, and was the first Northland based boat across the finish line at Russell Wharf in the Bay of Islands after sailing in near perfect 12-15 knot southwesterly conditions from Auckland's Devonport Wharf on Friday morning.
It was the yacht's first race, and its second time in the water, making the achievement even sweeter, Jury said.
"The boat has only just finished being built and we first sailed her on Wednesday with her new sails."
Despite the new boat and new crew of David Blair from Kerikeri, Jury and fellow Auckland sailor Simon Ganly, the race went relatively smoothly in the fantastic conditions.
"We had a few teething problems - we stretched the bobstay, so we had to back off a little bit, but to get third in our open 8.5m class was great as it was really competitive."
 The crew was now planning to get ready for a busy summer of campaigning in the boat, with the Bay of Islands Race Week in January up next, Jury said.
Lucifer was less than two hours behind the Australian-based 100ft Alfa Romeo owned by Kiwi Neville Crichton,  which set the new record with her time of 6:43:32 - sending the pink multi-hull Split Enz 1996 record tumbling.
Twice winner Taeping was the next boat to Russell, fighting off third place-getting X-Factor and pushing hard to have her own chance at beating the 1996 record, but finishing just seven minutes outside the time required to claim the multi-hull record. Multi-hulls took out the next 12 spots on line.
Around 15 boats from Northland were racing in the Classic and performed well. Northland boat Bare Essentials, owned by Boyd Smith, was 18th overall and the next boat in from the region, claiming fifth place in division 1, while Kerikeri's John Ferris and Tony Dalbeth's Deep Throttle crossed in a time of 10.35.11 in 21st place, the 30ft Shaw-9 yacht crossing the line well before its anticipated arrival.
Revs followed in 26th spot, owned by Opua's Chris Hornell,  while in division three Stratocaster, owned by Whangarei's Brenton Linell, claimed fourth place.
The Coastal Classic is the biggest coastal yacht race in NZ organised by NZ Multi-hull Yacht Club and is now one of the biggest races in the world. It started life 28 years ago as a drag race between Auckland and Russell for just a few boats, and over the years attracted a bigger and more diverse fleet, consisting of grand prix racers, America's Cup boats and small family cruisers.