After the dramatic loss of Ran Tan II mid-Pacific Ocean in 2019, Brian Petersen thought he might just take a break from owning race yachts.
Photo / Suellen Hurling, Live Sail Die
Then, ocean racer V5 (above) drifted past in the tide and Brian thought,‘maybe I’ve got one last racing boat in me’.
He purchased the 15.9m yacht, and it was just as well he did, because despite interruptions to the ocean race schedule due to the pandemic, V5 took overall line honours in the 2022 PIC Coastal Classic. (We won’t mention 2023, a classic case of rooster to feather duster when the crew retired frustrated!)
Brian has a remarkable ocean sailing pedigree: he’s crossed oceans around the world including Los Angeles to Honolulu, Melbourne to Hobart, Canary Island to St Lucia, Melbourne to Osaka, Auckland to Fiji and beyond, and even the China Sea Race. He has
participated in at least 25 Coastal Classics, 17 Auckland to Tauranga races, and numerous prestigious regattas in New Zealand, Australia and abroad.
He also took line honours in the 1996 Coastal aboard the schooner Elliott Marine, setting a record that took for ten years to fall.
Like most good skippers, he credits his crew with a large part of V5’s success. “I’m very lucky with crew,” he says. The list across the seasons includes Brian Kemp, Keith Hogan, Richard Bicknell of North Sails, Ella Sagnol of the RNZYS, Angus McKenzie, Tom Peyton, Chris Macindoe, Kosta Popov, Ross Masters and even Emirates Team New Zealand sailmaker James Horner.
He also makes a point of including young sailors from the RNZYS Mastercard Youth Training Program to help them gain valuable big-boat experience.
Brian is amping to do more ocean racing with V5 but between the pandemic, New Zealand’s economic difficulties, the waste water crisis that closed the Auckland Harbour for racing, and the cancellation of the Noumea race due to the political situation there, it hasn’t been possible so far. He’s seriously considering delivering the boat to Australia next winter to make the most of their big regattas.
In the meantime the 2024 PIC Coastal Classic is calling and in a few weeks’ time, Brian and the crew will be on the startline at Devonport Wharf, aiming for the finish line 119 nautical miles up the coast off Russell Wharf in the Bay of Islands.
Follow V5 on the PredictWind tracker on the PIC Coastal Classic. Visit www.coastalclassic.co.nz
The happy crew with Brian fourth from the right / photo supplied
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