TRUXTON
| Design | Tiller 34 |
| Sail Number | 6563 |
| Length overall | 10.80m |
| Length waterline | 10.8m |
| Beam | 3.2m |
| Draft | 2.54m |
| About the boat: | Truxton is a Tiller 34 designed and built by David Tiller. Truxton competed in the 2017 RNI and will be back on the course this year with co-skippers William Horne and Iain Gifford. Truxton has recently been in the beauty shop with a keel modification that should help with lower drag. Don’t be surprised to see these guys punching above their weight on PHRF and line in both tomorrows Coastal Classic and the 2020 RNI! |
| Home base | Tauranga |
| Truxton Sailing |
WILLIAM HORNE
| Name | William Horne |
| Age | 49 |
| Relationship to Co – Skipper | Sailing friends. |
| Have you done the RNI before? | 2011 Windarra Cav 36 2014 Berenice Mitchenson 39 2017 Truxton |
| Yacht Club | RNZYS, KBC & SSANZ. |
| Tell us a little about your sailing history/ background | Grew up on boats, done a few pacific crossings and loads of coastal racing and cruising, oh and 3 RNI’s. |
| What appeals most about doing the RNI | Four races in one, long legs and varied weather, great completion and great debriefs. |
| What are your essential food items during the race? | Chocolate. |
| What will your meals be like during the race? | Freeze dried hell. |
| What’s your favourite point of sail and why? | Anything but upwind in 30 knots. Apart from that any breeze we can run the masthead gennaker up is nice. |
| What do you like most about the boat you are sailing on? | Strong and goes fast downwind. |
| Describe your skipper/co-skipper in 5 words | Willing, able, keen, reliable and tolerant. |
| Tell us about the training and buildup that you have been doing for this race both on and off the water? | Lots of sailing and will probably do a bit of fitness work when we are not working on the boat. |
| What’s your favourite drink and why? | Hot Milo at 2 in the morning, makes everything better. Then Rum once we finish preferably Mount Gay I think every sailor knows why. |
| Will you be taking any luxury items on the race? – If so, what is it and why? | Not really, Drysuit and sleeping bag are about as luxurious as it gets on Truxton. |
| What’s your biggest fear when you think about the RNI? | 30 plus knot Southwester down the West Coast. |
| Who’s your biggest opposition and why? | Usually ourselves, if we can get close to Motorboat would be nice. |
| Tell us about your biggest supporters | Our long suffering partners who put up with all our crazy ideas. I don’t thing they get much more sleep than we do when we are on the ocean. |
| What’s most exciting/challenging about this race for you? | Great competition and driving the boat hard in varied weather. |
IAIN GIFFORD
| Name | Iain Gifford |
| Age | 48 |
| Relationship to Co – Skipper | Good Friends. |
| Have you done the RNI before? | 2011 Windarra Cav 36 2014 Berenice Mitchenson 39 2017 Truxton |
| Yacht Club | SSANZ & Mount Maunganui Yacht Club. |
| Tell us a little about your sailing history/ background | I have been sailing for nearly 10 years now, it started out just racing around Tauranga Harbour then I met Wil one Wednesday night and he was looking for crew to do the Auckland to White Island race, I thought this sounded like an adventure so along I went. Ever since that race it’s been one adventure after another. |
| What appeals most about doing the RNI | Skipper said, this time it will be all reaching and running, Truxton’s favorite. |
| What will your meals be like during the race? | Meals will be few and far between. |
| What do you like most about the boat you are sailing on? | The speed Truxton is capable of and the way it does it so effortlessly . |
| What’s your favourite drink and why? | Rum. It’s the only cure for deep mental scarring. |