Silencio sailed to victory once again in the Millennium Cup division of the New Zealand Millennium Cup today. That marks two days in a row that she’s beaten out four competitors. In the Pacific Cup division, Steinlager II crossed the finish line first. Now she and her sole category competitor, Antaeus, each have a victory.
Day two was Ocean Media Day, sponsored by Australia-based Ocean magazine. Hillary Buckman, editor of Ocean, was aboard Silencio for the race. “Brilliant sailing today, lots of wind,” she commented after the start. Indeed, the forecast was for winds to reach 20 knots as the day advanced. And, an hour and a half after the staggered start, the prediction started coming true.

Given the 26-nautical-mile course for today’s race, there was good opportunity for the competitors to challenge one another. Bliss and Silvertip, each in the Millennium Cup division, closely jockeyed for position for most of the race. In fact, they finished a mere 27 seconds apart, with Bliss edging Silvertip out. There was also a good half-hour stretch where all of the New Zealand Millennium Cup yachts battled amid boats participating in the Bay of Islands Sailing Week (above), making for quite the sight.
Ultimately, since Silencio had established quite a lead straight from the start, she crossed the finish line first. “It was an intense day of racing on board Silencio,” Hillary Buckman tells us. “With a superstar lineup of crew consisting of John Cutler as skipper, Dawn Riley as tactician, Susie Leach as navigator – all America’s Cup legends – and Nicky Souter as trimmer, there was no doubt that the owner likes to win!” Three minutes after that Perini Navi finished, Janice of Wyoming, an Alloy Yachts build, took second place. Prior to her reaching the line, though, both Steinlager II and Antaeus completed the Pacific Cup division competition.
Incidentally, Steinlager II (below)s quite a notable maxi ketch. Nicknamed “Big Red” for her red hull and spinnaker, she’s the only yacht to have won all six legs of the Whitbread Round the World Race. LOA is 83’7” (25.5 meters). She’s a Bruce Farr design built in 1989.

The above-mentioned mixing and mingling with the Bay of Islands Sailing Week crews didn’t end during the day. All were invited to attend the evening’s social events.
The final New Zealand Millennium Cup race is tomorrow. Take a look at the scoreboard below so far: strong chances for even more close racing to wrap things up.
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