The final week of Leg 2 sees the port of Wellington welcome the boats of the fleet. The winners of 2 Pools had already been decided but the remaining 2 were still up grabs.
Pool A
All to play for in Pool A as The Cooler King begins the week at the front but poor sailing allows him to be quickly overtaken by Darlo Queens, Galatasarky and Its Just Not Cricket - and it was at the end of tack 4 that the first of these boats, Darlo Queens, crossed the finish line. Congratulations to FlaminGalah who becomes the second female skipper to claim a win in this leg 
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The next tack saw Galatasarky and Its Just Not Cricket fight for the 14 point spot and it was Galatasarky who was victorious using only 18% of his 5th tack - compared to 37% needed by Its Just Not Cricket.
With large points still available to next part of the fleet honed in on Wellington and tack 7 saw a 3 way dash for the line involving Donkeys Ride Again, Zuluwarriors, The Cooler King and LUFC 1963. The race for 4th and 5th was indeed close with Donkeys Ride Again just sneaking ahead of Zuluwarriors (40% vs 44%) - and The Cooler King picked up 6th just ahead of LUFC 1963 (71% vs 80%).
There was then a wait until tack 12 for the remaining finishers - FC Boscoppa coming in in front of Sultan of Barnet FC.
The remaining boats failed to finish within the alloted time. They were, in order of distance from the finish, Diminutive Midgets, Chester Draws, Lukes Giants, Special Riders, LANESRA and Bullys Special Prize.
Pool B
With 4 boats already in port 5th place was the best that could be achieved by the remaining boats in this pool and it was Crazy Canucks who secured that position of the first tack of the week.
There was then a 4 tack wait for the spectators until tack 5 when ……………….. came home. There then followed a procession as Eenog koning finished on tack 6, Self Cleaning Ovens on tack 7, Vellus Arsefield on tack 8, Honeyballs on tack 11 and finally grob’s grasshoppers on tack 11.
This left 4 boats still at sea when the claxon sounded and they were Mid Table Struggler, Nutstars, SuperSlaves and Atlético Tcf who all turned on their engines to motor into port.
Pool C
Again only 5th place and beyond were still to race for in this pool as 4 boats had finished in the previous week but there was not quarter given as Family Bereavements, Equipe Chat’s Noir and hodol kutkut were all to complete the leg on the first tack of the week - with Family Bereavements having the edge having to only use 7% of his tack distance.
6th and 7th were closer and it was Equipe Chat’s Noir who had the edge over hodol kutkut using only 45% of his tack (versus 54%)
Doomsday followed them in on tack 2 with The Drogs a couple of tacks back in 9th and Halfway Up Virginia in 10th on tack 6.
The crowd then had to wait until tack 10 before Green Peace crossed the line. He was then followed by Lythgoe’s Disciples on tack 11 and finally Time for Trumpton on tack 12.
This left only 2 boats still racing with Isaiah Forty:31 146Nm short and Naked Pirates still 695Nm short of waypoint 5 - surely a contender for this years wooden spoon having finished last in both of the legs so far.
Pool D
All the points were still available in Pool D and as such some spirited racing was guaranteed - and the spectator boats were not to be disappointed.
The Drog’s Ballacks and A Smoked Cheese Pig sailed side-by-side on tack 1 and did so again on tack 2 - a tack which saw them both cross the line. A photo was required to separate them and on studying this and the GPS readings it was The Drog’s Ballacks who was triumphant using just 1% less of his tack distance - 27% vs 28% - close racing indeed. Well done to skipper The Drog’s Ballacks for his victory 
. (No doubt A Smoked Cheese Pig’s skipper Karrde will put this down as a bad-beat which he will regale us with in the bars of Wellington 
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Tack 2 also saw 3rd and 4th place decided with A Team of Johnsons finishing ahead of atx1303 (67% vs 94%).
And the boats continued to come home in quick succession - with tack 3 seeing Smoke City take 5th in front of The Bare Bones in 6th (18% vs 53%) and Roman Villa finishing on tack 5.
Hoops! and Tramp Attack had their own little battle on tack 7 for 8th with Hoops! just having the extra distance (16%/20%). They were then followed in by Getafe King Life on tack 9, Y’all be bad on tack 10 and Kazma United on tack 11.
3 boats failed to finish in this pool - Leg 1 winner Apathetic Thistle was all at sea in 13th with Cow Tipping Frogs and No-Eye Deer behind him and now motoring home.
All the crews will now have an immediate turn-around for Leg 3 - the short hop from Wellington to Sydney - at the end of which there will be a 2 week rest-up for Christmas and New Year.
The draw for Leg 3 will be done shortly but until such time enjoy being, albeit briefly, on dry land.