" It went very slowly. There was a breeze, but not a lot of a breeze," race officer David Stringer said.
The race came down to tactics, with the first two boats, Deep Purple and Reprieve staying between 250m and 350m apart for the entire day.
Hybrid "sport trailer yacht" Deep Purple, skippered by Clive Manners-Wood, of Queenstown, took line honours but Reprieve and Dunedin skipper Richard Hawkins won the Donald Hay Cup as the first trailer sailer yacht across the line.
"I think Reprieve were right on Deep Purple's hammer before Devil's Point and they made a small mistake there and never really gained it until ... near the finish," Mr Stringer said.
Only four yachts out of 27 made it to Queenstown in the race time limit.
But he said everyone got home safely and the only damage was a few hangovers on Saturday morning, from celebrations in Kingston following Friday's Pub to Pub race.
"Hyperactive won that in a staggering time of 2hr 20min. The whole fleet got down there very, very quick on Friday," Mr Stringer said.
This year's turnout was down on recent years, but the trend for travel this year was significantly down for most regattas.
Results. - Deep Purple, Clive Manners-Wood (Queenstown), line honours; Reprieve, Richard Hawkins (Dunedin), 1; Hyperactive, Gavin Shaw, (Queenstown), 2; Jade II, Hamish Jackson (Queenstown), 3.
