RAYC throughout the years has had a handful of very successful Starling sailors, and after this weekend’s performance from Louis Quere and Leo Brown at the Starling North Island, they both look set to join the Hall of Fame. The pair were last season’s Junior Sailors of the Year, after taking out the RS Feva Nationals title and having great Starling seasons, and with the RAYC season opening yesterday the pair have started the season with a bang with Louis winning the title and Leo finishing not far behind in fifth.
This is Louis first major regatta win and the second time RAYC has clinched the title in 5 years with Eli Liefting winning it back in 2018. The regatta brought some extremely tough conditions with 2m waves and up to 20-knot winds. With waves that large it was often hard to even make out the top mark but Louis managed himself beautifully taking out wins in the first two races of Saturday. Louis had one unfortunate OCS on Sunday but picked himself up after the disappointment and finished the regatta on a high with another race win to seal his fate as the 2023 Starling North Island Champion!
Leo also had a fantastic regatta, finishing in 5th with only 8 points separating him and Louis. After a breakage in race one that saw him receive a DNF Leo bounced back well, winning the final race of day one. Leo sailed fast and picked his way around the course well to come out with six fantastic races and without the gear breakage in race one his performance would have seen him bump up the leaderboard even higher.
Congratulations to both sailors we are extremely proud of your performances over the weekend and the hard work you have been putting in all year to deserve these great results. A huge well done to Louis, especially on his win and we can’t wait to see how far you will both go this summer season.
