Wellingtonians showed top form at the 2020 New Zealand Match Racing National Championships hosted by the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club with locals Albert Stanley and crew taking home the title over Will Wright and his Team.
The event was held in Wellington over 4 days and had an array of testing conditions for the sailors.
Locals teams from the Wellington Youth Sailing Trust (WYST) came out fighting against a group of talented teams from Auckland, and it was Wright who dominated the first round-robin with 7 wins and 0 losses.
Stanley and Robbie McCutcheon (RNZYS) drew for 2nd and 3rd with a 5-2 scorecard and it came down to one deciding race between Niall Malone and Megan Thomson (both from the RNZYS) for a spot in the finals. But Malone managed to squeeze through.
For the semis, Wright chose Malone which saw Wright come out on top securing himself a spot in the finals. Stanley and McCutcheon had an intense semi-finals match with Stanley getting caught on the committee boat resulting in a black flag for McCutcheon and for an all Wellington final.
After an intense final series between Wright and Stanley, Stanley managed to get the job done 3-0 and was crowned the 2020 Youth Match Racing National Champion.
WYST Chair Paul Davies was absolutely delighted with the weekend and the result. “I couldn’t be more proud of the Teams and their Coach Callum Radford after the weekend”.
“It was also awesome to see members of the WYST development squad participating in local crews as well as filling in for other teams. It really does show that while our Youth Scheme may be small – our coaching and development programme is really showing results”.
Both Stanley and Wright have exceptional pedigree. Stanley was the runner-up last year and is the cousin of Josh Junior – 2-time winner of the event, Finn Gold Cup holder and a part of the winning America’s Cup team. The Wright family is also well-known in Wellington, with Dad Greg ‘Bubble’ Wright a National Champion in the Zephyr Class and siblings Finn and Polly also came through the Wellington Youth Scheme.
The next event on the calendar for the Youth Scheme will be the CentrePort International Match Racing regatta 3-7 March 2021.
Final standings.
1st – (RPNYC) Albert Stanley, Jon Barnett, Wilbur Stanley & Annabel Evans.
2nd – (RPNYC) Will Wright, Harry Milne, Helena Terry & James Bitchener.
3rd – (RNZYS) Robbie McCutcheon, Sam Street, Ora Mead (RPNYC), Chester Duffett
4th – (RIYC*) Niall Malone, Ollie Gilmour, Cameron Marks (*Royal Irish Yacht Club)
5th – (RNZYS) Megan Thomson, Serena Woodall, Anna Merchant & Josi Andres
6th – (RNZYS) Max McLachlan, Holly McNeil, Caitlin Brown (RPNYC), Alex Lee
7th – (RNZYS) Brad Salthouse, Oliver Lloyd, Nick Winter, Maeve White
8th – (RPNYC) Luke Armstrong, Sam Streeter & Hugo Matterson.
Full Results here:
https://www.matchracingresults.com/2020/nzl-youth-national-championship/
IMAGES:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=RPNYCWYST&set=a.1002886979786404
Contact: Paul Davies
WYST Chair
021 252 7882 | ministryofsailing@gmail.com