Design  Elliott 10.5
Length  10.5
Draft  2.6
Displacement  3.9
Features / Modifications Carbon rig, retracting prod, square top main. 
Yacht Strengths Anything aft of the beam but specializing in after match functions.
Yacht History Ex Butcher, Ex Squealer

About Josh

Name  Josh ‘BooBoo’ Tucker
Age  41
From Auckland these days with much time spent in Hawkes Bay and Wellington, but born in Christchurch.
Work Sailmaker, working at Evolution Sails
Yacht Club  RNZYS, SSANZ
Why do you want to do the RNZ It’s just what we do. A real challenge and to be part of a small elite group who have done it. 

It’s all about the adventure.
What are the biggest races you’ve competed in Sydney Hobart x4, Tasman Triangle, Fiji x4, Noumea x3, Cape Town to Rio, Transpac x 2, Transatlantic, Fastnet, Middle sea race, Groupama Race x2, Hong Kong to Vietnam x4, Hong Kong to Hainan and Philippines,  Sydney Southport x2, RNI x 3. I think that’s about it.

Also heaps of super yacht sailing, a season in Alaska cruising. Oh and just sailed 16,000nm with the family.
How did you get into sailing Lived on a boat as a kid, always fascinated by keelboat sailing and focused on the offshore racing.
Sailing background Started doing bow on Y11s when I was 14, then progressed up to do my first Sydney Hobart at age 17 and second one at 19 with Damon Jolliffe. Then moved to Auckland and did the RNZYS youth training programme, where I met my wife Sara.
How long have you 2 sailed together / how did you meet / what races have you done together in the past Sailed together since the 1997 Sydney Hobart and now many boats in between. 1 RNI race together, many SSANZ series and won our fair share of sailing events together.

So been sailing together for 21 years. Maybe we need to have a 21st party.
Funny stories Damon is actually a bit of a dick. 
Scariest yachting moment Losing a mast in the Southern Ocean 2000nm from Cape Horn on the Open 60 Hugo Boss. We had to sail 2000nm under jury rig around Cape Horn.
What is your offshore Vice Nothing, I am officially the man.
What do you hope to get out of doing the RNZ A hangover.

No really, that’s gonna happen.

And its likely to be rather a large one.
What inside tips do you have for others wanting to compete in 2 handed racing at this level  Team work and preparation. put lots of time into it. 

Take each hurdle one at a time and work out how best to either minimize losses or maximize gain. sometimes you only need a small amount of leverage to make gains on the fleet. 

If in doubt- always put the biggest one up. God will help you take it down.
What’s your team motto  Go hard or go home. Feed it the jandal.
Biggest yachting achievement Safely getting my boat and family through 16,000nm of ocean sailing from France to NZ.
Family Married, 3 boys – 6, 8 and 10 years old. Must be noted that the boys have all done 16,000nm in the last year.
When you cross the finish line, what will you be most hanging out for?  RUM – Maybe a hot pie

and to see the family.
Any other information you can think is relevant / funny / inspiring / etc  Not sure, but I’m sure someone probably has some funny stories about us. 

We have been known to be obnoxious.

Probably also funny that after just completing 16,000nm of ocean sailing over the last year, most people would want a break from sailing. not me.

About Damon

Name Damon Jolliffe
Age  37
From Grew up in Wellington, moved to Auckland to go to university in 2000 and never left.
Work Sealegs International Ltd
Yacht Club RNZYS, SSANZ
Why do you want to do the RNZ It’s a bucket list race that not many people have completed.  It’s the longest race in the NZ sailing calendar and the chance to do it doesn’t come around very often.
What are the biggest races you’ve competed in Sydney Hobart x 3, in 1997 Sydney Hobart I was the youngest competitor at 15 years of age on the Wellington yacht Andiamo.  Fiji, RNI x 3 (twice 2H, and once fully crewed), numerous ocean passages, lots of international regatts and I went sailing in a sunburst once.
How did you get into sailing Parents had a cruising yacht when I was young, lived on a yacht for 5 years with my mum, dad and brother growing up so it just naturally happened.  It’s not a sport but a lifestyle.
Sailing background Played around a lot in dinghies with friends, did optis and a little bit of P class, then moved into racing keelers when 13 years old, sailed on the Spencer 44 Whispers II in Wellington then the Davidson 55 Andiamo.  Moved to Auckland in 2000 and joined the RNZYS youth training programme, completed in numerous regattas and match racing events.
How long have you 2 sailed together / how did you meet / what races have you done together in the past Meet when I was 15, Josh 19, 2 young fellas on tour doing the 1997 Sydney – Hobart, including delivery to and from Australia.  Done too many miles together now. Our biggest achievement thus far was winning the last RNI on board the Sunfast 3600 Racing.
Funny stories We don’t have any funny stories,  we are deadly serious 100% of the time.
Scariest yachting moment
What is your offshore vice Got to have a good range of hot sauces available at any one time.  With our uncanny knack of finishing races at 6am in the morning, a good toasted sandwich and coffee usually go down fairly well at 3am.
What do you hope to get out of doing the RNZ Tick it off the bucket list and that sense of achievement straight after crossing the finish line in Auckland that will last for all of 2 minutes before our focus changes to competing in the Melbourne Osaka in 2023.
What inside tips do you have for others wanting to compete in 2 handed racing at this level It’s all about preparation and team work.  The beauty of 2 handed sailing is it can be brutally honest and there are no excuses, either you made a wrong decision or the boat wasn’t up to it which usually comes back to you in the form of lack of preparation.  

Work out what each other’s strengths are and use them.  

Probably the biggest thing is make sure you have sailed together a lot before you go into a long distance race like this.  The more you sail together, the more similar your thinking patterns become, and if you know what the other guy is thinking and doing then decision making and manoeuvres become a whole lot easier.  The last thing you want to do is a long race with someone that you don’t get along with, worst idea ever.

What’s your team motto Usually it’s ‘do it once and do it right’, but ironically for this race it’s more like ‘she’ll be right’ as we are nowhere near where we should be due to lack of time for preparation but it’s a bucket list race and the opportunity may not come again for a long time.
Biggest yachting achievement Winning RNI 2017.
Family Married to Jacqui for 9 yrs, 2 children, Isla 5yr, Zach 3yr.
When you cross the finish line, what will you be most hanging out for? To see the family and a good race debrief session and hearing Skinners new version of ‘reach reach tack tack big boat wins.’
Any other information you can think is relevant / funny / inspiring / etc We are rather late to the RNZ program having only purchased Motorboat II (ex-Squealer) in September 2018.  With a huge amount of work to do on the boat to get it to the level we want, we are resigned to the fact that we will be nowhere near ready come race day. Knowing that we had to prioritise which jobs get done and which to axe, so our focus is on ensuring we have a big kick arse Fusion stereo, ice maker, smoke machine, laser lights and disco ball, all being essential items for this race.   

When we hit the start line we will have only sailed the boat a hand full of times with only 1 long distance being the Akarana 350.  We certainly do not know how to maximise the boats performance and will spend the entire race trying to work that out. Never being ones for convention, we are actually using the RNZ as the build-up for the RNI 2020 with the goal of being the first team to win back to back RNI’s after our victory on total corrected time in 2017.