Louis Tapper is about to leave on a 260km down winder in New Zealand from Auckland to Russell Wharf in the Bay of Islands. He will be sailing along side 30 ft plus yachts as part of the Coastal Classic yacht race. All of this is in aid of raising funds for the people of Samoa which has been devastated by the recent tsunami there.

He was due to leave at 9.30am New Zealand time this morning, but I don't think the wind is playing nicely at the moment, so hopefully it will kick in. The journey will see him finishing in the dark.

You can visit Louis's main event website here: yakers.co.nz/coastalclassic/1801.html

There are a number of links off that including one to the Samoa relief campaign: www.givealittle.co.nz/campaign/coastalclassic/

You can also track Louis's progress real time with a spot messenger unit from the various links here: http://yakers.co.nz/coastalclassic/3401.html

Good luck Louis!

Pic of Louis on his way at the start of the race.

He is currently 4 hours into it, with a great wind speed averaging 22knots. He's getting lots of media attention, which is great for this cause.

As far as gear is concerned, he's currently on a 2010 13m Cabrinha Crossbow and a north speed board.

Well its dark here in NZ now & last I heard at 7.30pm NZ time, Louis was heading around the cape on his way to the finish line, but the wind has dropped off to 13 knots, so things are probably getting tricky right now...Especially since he needs to head up wind slightly, & I'd imagine he'd be pretty tired.

maps.findmespot.com/Account/AuthCheck?redirectUrl=%2FTrack

dutchy1985 said...

gkram said...


averaging 22knots.

This is really hauling ass. he must be shredding past the yachts unless they have those big sexy volvo 70s or something similar

He was hauling along & then the yacht that was winning the race - Alfa Romeo, flew past him...They ended up smashing the race record.

So the end result was Louis ended up 8 nmiles from the finish line but had to pull the pin at 10.30pm NZ time last night because the wind dropped. He spent 6 hours of tacking in the Bay of Islands trying to make his destination...Huge effort!!