Both the former leading boats in the two-handed Global Ocean Race called at Tauranga recently after they pulled out of the race leg across the Southern Ocean.

Former leader Buckley Systems cleared customs at Tauranga when Ross and Campbell Field stopped racing because of mast damage and injury to Ross Field.

Round the world racers Miranda Merron and Halvard Mabire.

Campagne de France cleared customs in Auckland and arrived in Tauranga this week to catch a container ship ride to Savannah Georgia.

The decision by Halvard Mabire and Miranda Merron to stop racing was based on a combination of weather and idiosyncratic race rules.

A ‘scoring gate' at 127.30W and 47S, which was intended to make the yachts sail far enough north to be clear of ice bergs, was instead herding them towards a cyclone, says Halvard.

This was after days of slogging into 30-40knot headwinds following the race restart in Wellington on January 29.

For Halvard and Miranda the conditions were the complete opposite of the high speed reaching expected from the leg.

'On one side there was the pack ice, and on the other the cyclone – so we decided to turn back,” says Miranda.

Campagne de France in Tauranga.

A few days later when they arrived in Auckland they learned race organisers had moved the scoring gate from 47s to 50s, a distance of 180nm or about 300km further south.

'If we had known that it would have meant we could have gone further south and into better conditions.”

Halvard and Miranda were anticipating a podium finish in a yacht they spent two years customising from a bare hull. Now they will miss two legs.

The final leg across the Atlantic starts at Charleston on May 20, finishing at Les Sables d'Olonne in France between Bordeux and Brest in the Bay of Biscay.

Campagne de France is loaded on Tuesday.

Halvard and Miranda will be flying.