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\nAs the oldest competitor, 79-year-old Malcolm Dickson is racing in his fourth solo trans-Tasman boat race.
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Alexia Russell\n<\/p>\n
The oldest competitor in this year’s solo trans-Tasman yacht race is also one of the favourites to take the title.<\/p>\n
What makes a person want to brave high seas and often rough conditions to race a boat singlehandedly to Australia?<\/p>\n
What makes that person not only enter the race four times, but do it just before their 80th birthday?<\/p>\n
Malcolm Dickson is that person, and he tells The Detail what drives him and how his life on the water has helped keep him young.<\/p>\n
This year, the management of the race has swapped from the New Plymouth Yacht Club to the Opua Cruising Club, which was looking for a signature event to run, just when New Plymouth decided to drop the Solo Trans-Tasman Yacht Challenge.<\/p>\n
Race director Julie Kidman says yachties were disappointed at the potential loss of the event – including husband Bill, who wanted to take part.<\/p>\n
Now, instead of barrelling straight into the Tasman when the gun goes off, the fleet will run up the Northland coast to Cape Reinga, before heading across to Southport in Queensland.<\/p>\n
Kidman says Opua is a customs port, so it’s a lot easier for the vessels to clear out of New Zealand, plus it has great marine services.<\/p>\n
There are currently 18 entrants, including Australian sailors who will race their yachts back home. Their support crews are expected to bring tourism dollars into the region, which is one reason why the government is helping to pay for it through the Major Events Fund.<\/p>\n
A festival of sorts is planned before the start date on 30 May, including a show by a former solo trans-Tasman racer – Mockers frontman Andrew Fagan.<\/p>\n
Kidman has visited the Southport club to make sure all will go smoothly at the end.<\/p>\n
“I don’t think they were expecting such a big fleet,” she says.<\/p>\n
“Back in the 2023 race, only six boats turned up, whereas when we were meeting with the Southport Yacht Club, we were, like, ‘Hey, we’ve got about 20 boats coming over’. It’s going to be a big deal.”<\/p>\n
Some have withdrawn since then, but that’s still a record for the race, which has run since 1970. The 2026 edition is the 16th race.<\/p>\n
![\"Malcolm](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4JQHUG9_Malcolm_Dickson_Sarau_jpg.jpeg\")
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\nMalcolm Dickson is among the entrants racing from Northland to Queensland.
\nPhoto: Supplied \/ Solo Trans-Tasman Yacht Challenge\n<\/p>\n
Boat designer and builder Malcolm Dickson first entered in 1978.<\/p>\n
“We all felt we were pioneering something for the future,” he says. “It was very different in the days of celestial navigation to what it is now.<\/p>\n
“The boats were a lot smaller and probably pretty primitive, compared with some of them nowadays.”<\/p>\n
His own boat, Sarau – a Dickson 55 – is a lot better fitted out.<\/p>\n
“I’ve spent most of the last year upgrading systems on the boat and she’s pretty good,” he said. “Everything that I can afford, but also everything that I can understand.<\/p>\n
“Coming from an earlier generation, I find this IT stuff and communications, and all this weather-mapping stuff pretty intimidating. I do my best to understand it all.”<\/p>\n
He’s also been clearing the decks of heavy objects, including the yacht’s microwave and washing machine.<\/p>\n
“There’s a two-page list of items on the hit list,” he says. “It’s interesting when you start to unload a boat, and you put a fish bin in the galley and take out all the things that you think you won’t need.<\/p>\n
“Each item weighs almost nothing, and you stack them in a fish bin and find you can hardly lift it.<\/p>\n
“You go through the boat like that and you get rid of a lot of the excess weight, and it all helps,” he says.<\/p>\n
For 79, Dickson is shipshape – except for his hearing, which he points out won’t be needed on a solo yacht race.<\/p>\n
He also finds that a lifetime of sailing, including circumnavigating the globe, means he has no balance problems, unlike many of his landlubbing peers.<\/p>\n
While this will be his fourth race, it’s his sixth solo crossing. In 1978, he won on handicap, he grabbed line honours with Sarau in 2023 and came second to son Hamish in 2018.<\/p>\n
This year, he has the biggest boat in the fleet and is again a favourite to win, depending on the weather.<\/p>\n
“If I wasn’t doing it myself, I’d be cruising with my wife,” he says. “When it comes to sailing, she’s as guilty as I am.<\/p>\n
“She’s a fantastic supporter. I think 2018 was probably a bit stressful for her, when she watched her husband and son disappear.”<\/p>\n
Wife Joan admits that was pretty tough.<\/p>\n
“It’s bad enough seeing one go, but both of them… and taking my boat with them, my home with them.”<\/p>\n
She says she had “every confidence they’d both get there, which is obviously what happened”.<\/p>\n
Such a trip, solo, is not for her.<\/p>\n
“It’s Malcolm’s thing,” she says. “I can’t say it gets any easier, but he’s got my full support.<\/p>\n
“Some things you’ve just got to go and do.”<\/p>\n
Malcolm himself never felt he wouldn’t make it.<\/p>\n
“I’ve always felt that no matter how bad the conditions, one way or another, we’ll get through.”<\/p>\n
Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here<\/a>.<\/p>\n You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook<\/a> or following us on Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the oldest competitor, 79-year-old Malcolm Dickson is racing in his fourth solo trans-Tasman boat race. Photo: RNZ…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376225,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-376224","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-podcasts","15":"tag-public-radio","16":"tag-radio-new-zealand","17":"tag-rnz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376224\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}