KEY POINTS:
Famous New Zealand yacht Infidel has returned to race here again.
The 19.8m yacht, built in 1964 by John Spencer for industrialist Sir Tom Clark, now American-owned, is called Ragtime.
She will sail against 250 other yachts in an October 24 race over 119 nautical miles between Auckland and Russell in the Bay of Islands.
The Coastal Classic, the biggest such race in New Zealand and one of the biggest in the world, is organised by the New Zealand Multihull Yacht Club.
Ragtime recently captured the 3571 nautical mile Tahiti Race, breaking a 14-year record to win in just over 14 days and 16 hours.
In the late 1960s, it sparked a huge trans-Tasman row when Australian authorities changed the rules to keep the yacht out of the 1969-70 Sydney-Hobart race.
As Infidel, the yacht was known in Auckland waters, by the unglamorous name of "the Black Box" because it was built of plywood - unusual in those days.
Now owned by American Chris Walsh, and based at Newport, Rhode Island, Ragtime will stay in New Zealand until February.
- NZPA
