ISAF Youth Worlds

New Zealand continues to look strong in the Laser and Boy’s 29er classes at the ISAF Youth World Championships holding second place in both. Just two days of racing remain at the event being sailed in Kingston, Canada.

Read the full report from YNZ by clicking the headline

Two kiwis in 2nd halfway through Youth Worlds

New Zealand holds 2nd place in two of the seven classes being contested at the ISAF Youth World Championships in Kingston, Canada. Now at the halfway point in the event, the kiwis in the Laser and Boy’s 29er classes are well placed for a medal if they maintain current form.

Paul Snow-Hansen and Blair Tuke had a great day on the water recording two 3rd’s and a 2nd in the three races sailed today. They beat current leaders Sagaard and Kristensen of Denmark in all three races today and edged closer to the top spot, now just two points behind.

Josh Junior climbed from 4th place into 2nd after the two races sailed in the Lasers today. His father, Dean Stanley is in Canada.

“Race one on the Laser track was sailed in about 5-8 knots of breeze. Josh recovered from 9th at the top mark to be 3rd at the bottom gate. From there he slowly ground his way into second place and had a match race along the last reach, eventually finishing 2nd, 1 metre behind the German,” says Stanley.

“Race two saw the breeze rise to a steady 15 knots. After a good start and a drag race to the left Josh missed a right hander which saw him placed 8th at the top mark. By the bottom gate he had surged through a tight group to round in second place a boat length astern of the Cypriot but clipped the buoy in the process. A good recovery from the penalty saw him placed 4th at the finish.”

Elsewhere in the NZL Yachting Trust Youth Team there were two bullets, one for Cushla Hume-Merry in the Laser Radial, and one for Sarah and Emma Berry in the girl’s 29er.

The sailors will now enjoy a rest day before resuming racing for three final days to decide the medals.

Story courtesy of YNZ.

Mahurangi College win the Bucklands Beach Match Racing Development Week.

Last week four teams took part in a intensive Match Racing course held out of Bucklands Beach Yacht Club, the event was sailed on the clubs fleet of J24 keel boats with a crew of four.

With the wind up over 30 knots on both Tuesday and Wednesday, the students only had two days of on the water coaching before the final Match Racing regatta on Friday.
The teams adapted from dinghies to keel boats very quickly and after the two days of coaching and training they had their boat handling skills sorted.

The regatta itself was sailed in a patchy 4-5 knots of wind, with only one round robin being able to be completed.

The racing was incredibly close with Mahurangi College helmed by Stephanie Hazard coming from behind to win two out the three races they sailed. Second place was the local team helmed by Luke Deegan from MacLean's College. They very narrowly missed out on first place after leading Hazard around the course but were unable to clear a penalty they received from an unforced error in the prestart.
The winning team is invited to the Bucklands Beach Open Match Racing regatta on the 12th August.

Final Results
1st Mahurangi College
2nd Macleans/Howick/Auckland Grammar
3rd Whangerai High School
4th KeriKeri High School

NZL Yachting Trust Youth Team Annoucned

From YACHTING NZ

Yachting New Zealand today announces the NZL Yachting Trust Youth Team for 2007.

The ten member team, who was selected based on performance at key regattas this season, will travel to Kingstown, Canada to represent New Zealand at the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF Youth World Championships 2007.

The final selection regatta, Hyundai YouthSail 07, concluded in Wellington last weekend, and the official team is announced today. New Zealand will be represented by one entry in each of the seven classes to be sailed at the ISAF World Youth Championships.

The NZL Yachting Trust Youth team for 2007 includes…

Josh Nixon, Takapuna Boating Club - Boy’s RS:X Windsurfing
Justina Sellers, Howick Sailing Club – Girl’s RS:X Windsurfing
Josh Junior, Worser Bay Boating Club – Boy’s single-handed Laser
Cushla Hume-Merry, Evans Bay Yacht & Motorboat Club – Girl’s single-handed Laser Radial
Paul Snow-Hansen & Blair Tuke, Wakatere Boating Club – Boy’s double-handed 29er
Sarah Berry & Emma Berry, Worser Bay Boating Club – Girl’s double-handed 29er
Tim Coltman & Ben Goodwin, Muritai Yacht Club – Open Multihull, Hobie 16

YNZ’s High Performance & Youth Director, Marty Watson comments about the talent in the team.

“This year, stand out performers in the trials have been Josh Junior in the Laser and Josh Nixon in the men’s windsurfer,” says Watson. “Both have had good results at international regattas in their respective divisions and were dominant at the trials.”

“Our double-handed and multihull sailors were selected from a very competitive series which came down to the wire. We feel this is a sign of a rapidly improving standard in double handed sailing in the nation. The winners of these divisions no doubt have the right qualities.”

The ISAF World Youth Championships is an annual regatta attracting the world’s best youth sailors representing their countries. 277 sailors from a record breaking 63 nations competed in Weymouth, England at the 2006 event.

The regatta is well known for revealing sailing stars of the future and is regarded as somewhat of a Youth equivalent to the Olympic Games. Past medal winners for New Zealand include Chris Dickson, Russell Coutts, Dean Barker, Dan Slater, Thomas Ashley and many more.

Racing at the 2007 event runs over seven days starting on 14 July, with teams being welcomed two days prior. The venue is the Portsmouth Olympic Harbour which was designed and built to host the sailing event for the 1976 Olympic Games. Kingston has hosted an annual CORK sailing event in August every year since 1969.

Kingston is located at the eastern end of Lake Ontario and the head of the St. Lawrence River, the combination of land mass, islands and thermal effects produce excellent wind and wave conditions with very little current.

Winds during July are predominantly from a south-westerly direction, with an afternoon wind range of 10-15 knots. Water temperatures are expected to vary between 18 to 22 degrees (Celsius) with normal air temperature being 25 to 35 degrees.

Principle sponsor of the NZL Yachting Trust Youth Team is the NZL Yachting Trust. Supporting sponsors include New Zealand Academy of Sport, ASB Bank & Line 7.

Profile Information

Josh Nixon - Windsurfer
Takapuna Boating Club, North Shore, Auckland
1st – Hyundai YouthSail 07 (winning 8 from 9 races)
Did not compete at Nationals due to injury
1st Youth – Sail Auckland (9th overall in a fleet of 21)

Justina Sellers – Windsurfer
Howick Sailing Club, Auckland
1st New Zealand Girl – Hyundai YouthSail 07
2nd Youth – Sail Auckland
Member of the NZL Yachting Trust Youth Team 2006 – 9th overall at ISAF Youth World Championships 2006

Josh Junior – Laser
Worser Bay Boating Club, Wellington
1st – Hyundai YouthSail 07 (winning 6 from 8 races)
1st Youth – Sail Auckland 2007 (7th overall in a fleet of 44)
1st Youth – New Zealand Laser National Championships 2007 (3rd overall)

Cushla Hume-Merry – Laser Radial
Evans Bay Yacht & Motorboat Club, Wellington
1st Girl – Hyundai YouthSail 07
1st Youth Girl – Sail Auckland Regatta 2007
1st Youth Girl - New Zealand Laser Radial National Championships 2007

Paul Snow-Hansen & Blair Tuke – Double-handed 29er
Wakatere Boating Club, North Shore, Auckland
2nd – Hyundai YouthSail 07 – 420 class
2nd – 420 National Championships 2007

Sarah Berry & Emma Berry – Double-handed 29er
Worser Bay Boating Club, Wellington
2nd – Hyundai YouthSail 07 – 420 class
3rd Girl’s – 420 National Championships 2007 (6th overall)

Tim Coltman & Ben Goodwin – Open Multihull, Hobie 16
Muritai Yacht Club
1st – Hyundai YouthSail 07 - 420 class
5th - 420 National Championships 2007

Wellington school boys win Under 20 Youth Match Racing National championships

From DEAN STANLEY

Unlike the Americas Cup in Valencia the Yachting New Zealand Youth Match Racing championships ran to schedule in perfect sailing conditions on Wellington harbour at the weekend.

After three days of close racing the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club team of Josh Junior (Wellington High school), Matthew Steven (Rongotai College) and Chris Jones (Onslow College) were awarded the Warren "Wolfie" Williams memorial trophy as winners of the inaugural National Youth Match Racing Championships.

Junior and team did not miss a beat during the double round robin and semifinal phases of the championships, winning every match they sailed. Phil Robertson, William Tiller and Scott Morrison from the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron (home of Emirates Team New Zealand) were equally dominant only losing two matches to Junior and crew in the preliminary phases of the regatta.

From MARY-ELLEN BATCHELOR

The six-day event that is Secondary Schools Sailing Teams Racing Nationals took place in New Plymouth last week. 150 male and female sailors, including the current world 420 champion, represented 20 schools from around New Zealand.

The winner as decided in an exciting two round final, and came down to the final race among the first and second placed teams, and the third and fourth placed teams. For the placings of third and fourth it was decided on the line. And in both cases the final winning team was in a losing position for a major part of the race. This all made for exciting viewing.

Tauranga Boys' College was first, runners up were Mahurangi College with Queen Charlotte College third, followed by Whangarei Boys' High School.

Tauranga only recorded one loss during the total event, which was to Mahurangi in the Final and the only team to beat Mahurangi during the regatta was Tauranga.

Queen Charlotte was the first South Island team ever to record a top 3 place and it was first time that Whangarei Boys has made the finals.

The girls' final saw some close racing, with the local girls from New Plymouth Girls High, who finished second in the silver and having to settle for second place this year to Westlake Girls, who sailed very well to win the Girls final. Nelson Girls and Waikato Dio were both able to record wins in the finals to make the outcoming more interesting.

Wellington Boys' High School won the silver fleet.

The top three teams from the gold fleet will travel to Australia in October to defend the interdominion title currently held by New Zealand

Hyundai Youthsail Regatta Concludes

From JODIE PERKINS

Perfect sailing conditions were reported from Wellington with clear sunny skies and breeze of up to 12 knots allowing for an on time start to racing after two days abandonment already in the regatta due to gale force winds. All four fleets competing sailed five races today to complete the series.

In the RS:X windsurfing, Josh Nixon came close to a clean sweep, winning all but one of the nine races sailed in the regatta. Nixon was so dominant his nearest rival, visiting Australian windsurfer, Alisha Kawalla was 15 points adrift at the conclusion of the regatta.

Josh Junior from host club Worser Bay Boating Club in Wellington, was another stand-out performer at Hyundai YouthSail 07. Junior finished eight points clear of club-mate Mathew Steven in the Laser class. He didn’t finish outside the top two, scoring an impressive six wins from eights races.

Andy Maloney of Auckland took out the Laser Radial class with four wins from five races on the water today. Sam Meech from Tauranga was second overall.

Cushla Hume-Merry, another Wellington local was third overall and first girl to finish, making her the favourite for the girl’s single-handed position in the NZL Yachting Trust Youth Team to be named later next week.

Tim Coltman and Ben Goodwin have won the 420 class in a close fought battle where the leading pair changed numerous times. The pair is from Muritai Yacht Club in Wellington. Paul Snow-Hansen and Blair Tuke were second overall five points behind the winners. Sarah and Emma Berry from Worser Bay Boating Club were the top girls in the 420 class and finished in third overall in the fleet of 21.

Hyundai YouthSail 07 was the last and most important regatta to count owards selection for the NZL Yachting Trust Youth Team which will represent New Zealand at the ISAF Youth World Championships in Canada in July. The team will be announced by Yachting New Zealand late next week.

Windy Wellington hampers start of premier youth sailing regatta

Racing was due to start today at Hyundai YouthSail 07 on Wellington harbour, however strong winds and gale warnings meant no sailing. Organisers of the premier national event for youth sailing are hoping for better conditions tomorrow.
70 young sailors from around New Zealand are entered in the event, in which racing takes place in seven different classes over five days. No racing today means that the reserve day set for Sunday may be used.

Hyundai YouthSail 07 is the final regatta to count for selection into the NZL Yachting Trust Youth Team which travels to Canada in July to compete at the event known as the youth Olympics of sailing; the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships 2007. Competition is tight, particularly in the double-handed classes, for a spot on the national team.

Gearlocker support youth sailors

Gearlocker - Westhaven's best outdoors-wear specialist - has signed up to be the official apparel supplier to the RNZYS Youth sailing team. Providing Base layer, Jackets and Bouyancy for 40 junior sailors is no small ask and Gearlocker's Helly Hansen kit looks great and is comfortable and functional - in short, the gear of choice for these young stars.

Gearlocker's online store will be coming soon to Crew.org.nz. Stay tuned...

Robertson RNZYS wins 2007 Youth International

Phil Robertson and his crew of William Tiller & James Williamson completed the double by winning the RNZYS Youth International today & the Royal Port Nicholson Youth International last week.

Robertson and crew had three tough races against Robert Gibbs (CYCA) in this afternoon’s light airs racing but really shone through to take the finals 3 – nil.

Robertson ad’s his name to a long list of youth sailors who have gone on in their career’s – to reach the top of their sport, Gavin Brady, James Spithil & Cameron Appleton to name a few.