Last week the NZL Open Skiff Team competed at their World Championships in Rimini, Italy. Two RAYC sailors Hugo Smith and Robert Abel – Patterson battled away in their first-ever World Championships, after some great results at the Italian Nationals earlier this month.
The timing of the World’s coincided perfectly with the sweltering Europe heat waves making for callous conditions for the young sailors. The first warning signals were scheduled for 2:30pm each day which is right when the shifty sea breeze would usually arrive. The entire fleet really struggled in the tricky conditions, with many cruel upsets on the leaderboard when races were run in as little as 2 – 5 knots. We are incredibly proud of our boys and how they conducted themselves throughout and have loved seeing them come away with a lot of new learnings, and some fantastic results.
Hugo Smith finished the regatta in 9th overall in the U15 category, after six top-ten results and a second place in the final race, followed by Robert Abel – Patterson who finished 70th, after showing a lot of potential with lots of top 30 results.
A huge congratulations boys, your hard work and determination over the last few months have really paid off and we look forward to seeing you both back sailing soon.
