The wind was elusive this weekend, barely making an appearance for our young sailors competing at Junior Sail Auckland this weekend. Despite this Kohimarama Yacht Club did a flawless job getting our sailors out on the water both days and five races away for all fleets.
Our Green Fleet sailors are all new to competing in regattas and did a great job in such difficult conditions. Two of our sailors Yuhan Hao (4th) and Lucas Lee (8th) made it into the top 10, both had some spectacular moments with Lucas winning race 3 and Yuhan coming second in race 4. Tom, Blake and Ami are all extremely new to racing and we were so impressed with their stickability and perseverance.
Starling Development was also on Course A with two of our sailors racing amongst the fleet. Leo Nausbaum sailed himself into 5th place after two days of consistent results, finishing four out of five races inside the top 5.
The 29er squad was strong once again with Tom Pilkington and Morgan Lay a brand new pairing leading the charge for most of the regatta. This was Tom and Morgans’s second regatta together and to be racing so strongly this early on is a great sign. The boys finished second at Oceanbridge last weekend and after finishing Saturday in the lead they unfortunately slipped one point behind Will Leech and Sean Kensington to finish in second again. This is an exceptional result for such early days and we look forward to seeing where you both go this season. Hugo Smith and Louis Quere also raced together for the first time this regatta finishing in 5th place after two races in the top 3!
The RAYC ILCA squad was out in force once again with ten of our sailors making up the fifteen-boat fleet. Our high-performance manager Maria Ferrario has done a fantastic job creating and coaching our strongest race squad, and it was fantastic to have one of our sailors Liam Dimock win the regatta. Liam traded first and second most of the regatta which was just enough to clinch the win.
RAYC Fevas were equally as prominent this weekend with six of our boats making up the eight-boat fleet. We had two teams standing on the podium, with Tom Peters & Josh Dixon (2nd) and Anna Dold and Lola Hutchens (3rd overall and 1st Female). Tom and Josh swapped 1sts with the regatta winners and only missed out on the win by one point.
A massive congratulations to all of our sailors who competed this weekend. We were so proud to have such a strong presence at Junior Sail Auckland and of the incredible performance you all put on. Thank you to coaches Maria, Nico and Bec who gave up their weekends to coach our young sailors in the heat. As always KYC were great hosts and everyone had a fantastic time both on and off the water.
