After some stiff conditions earlier in the regatta the New Zealand Open and Masters Nationals held at Murrays Bay (Auckland) concluded on 22 January with two races in the lightest breezes of the series. It was a highly successful event which saw a record ILCA 6 youth turnout, new champions in almost every division, a really strong women fleet and most importantly lots of happy faces after 10 great races.
In the ILCA 6 Open fleet the women reigned supreme, with a women’s trifecta at the head of the 60 boat fleet.
Annabel Rennie-Younger, who was tied for the lead going into todays races, had a consistent day to wrap up the title by 9 points. Greta Pilkington, who had a stellar day with two bullets, jump up to second overall in the rankings, while Olivia Christie, who was joint overnight leader, struggled a bit with the light conditions and had a couple of tougher races to end up third overall.
In the 40 boat ILCA 7 fleet the title was there for the taking for Luke Deegan after his exceptional day yesterday and he made no mistakes, with two top 4 placings seeing him finish 12 points clear at the top of the table to convincingly take the title. He was followed by a pair of U21 sailors, both showing real talent in their first season in the ILCA 7. Caleb Armit had two good races on the final day to finish a clear second ahead of Dylan Forsyth in third. Scott Leith was forth overall and the first ILCA 7 Master.
In the 25 strong Radial Masters fleet Phil Wild had the series wrapped up with a race to spare, winning todays first race and then having the luxury of sitting out the last race. Top AM Josh Edmonds was second overall ahead of Master’s David Johnson and Ed Tam in third and forth overall.
Next years Nationals will be in Napier and a continuation of the 50 years of Laser/ILCA tradition of exceptional quality one design racing.
Full details are on the ILCANZ web site https://www.nzlaser.org/ and results are Here.
The featured and many more photo by Live Sail Die are Here