Yes, I took the east coast. The west coast does have some advantages. Once you get around the top, it's a straight haul to the top of the south island - Able Tasman, which is a very large entrance, with generally settled weather. True, it's a lee shore, but sailing in a straight line it's a gonna be a very long way off most of the time. If you go down the east coast, you'll end up at castlepoint then have to round the corner and come up into cook, two of the worst regions on the north island, and at the end of the trip, so much more uncertain. (If you didn't have a point to prove, you could put into Napier, but I wanted to do it all in one go), but on the west coast, you'll get through the worst part fairly early, then end up with lots of easy options. I had a slight preference for the west coast, but it would have added two extra days to get up there, and also looked like it would be headwinds all the way at the time I was thinking of leaving.

while the east coast is some of the most chill sailing in the world

Haha, not once you get past the East Cape!