2015 NZL Yachting Trust Youth Team start well   30 Dec 2015

2015 NZL Yachting Trust Youth Team start well at ISAF Youth Worlds

Day one at the ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships in Malaysia is done and dusted and the young kiwi team has put out a promising start. Six of the eight teams currently sit in the top ten.

An offshore breeze bought an interesting mix of conditions with wind strength varying between 10-25 knots over the day.

George Gautrey (pictured above © Christophe Launay) is currently sitting in 2nd after posting a 7th and a 2nd in racing today.

Looking back over a good consistent day in the office Chelsea Rees, of the 420 girls crew currently in 3rd, reports, “there were a lot of passing lanes and a lot of mistakes to be made. We minimised on errors and came away with a good day”.

Their male counterparts in the boys 420 had a tough day in the office with skipper Jono reporting, “it was a tricky day out there and we had a bit of difficulty picking the wind today. Our speed however was good and we take a lot of confidence out of that going into tomorrow”.

“Ruthlessly long” was the description of the RS:X sailors day from 8th placed Lauren Mackenzie after six hours spent on the water in exhausting physical conditions.

New Zealand’s 29er crews have both started consistently and sit in the top ten and Laser Radial girls representative Ali Nightingale pulled out a bullet to open the regatta.

Racing today ran from 10am until 7pm so there were a few tired eyes and faces around the boat park this evening. With a good forecast tomorrow the NZL Yachting Trust Youth Team is rearing to get back into it.

2015 ISAF Youth World Sailing Championships
NZL Yachting Trust Youth Team current standings

2nd George Gautrey (Laser Radial Boys) (7, 2)
10th Ali Nightingale (Laser Radial Girls)
22nd Finn Croft (RS:X Boys) (10, 20, 16)
8th Lauren Mackenzie (RS:X Girls) (5, 15, 10)
7th Greta Stewart and Kate Stewart (29er Girls) (6, 8)
9th Jackson Keon and Nick Egnot-Johnson (29er Boys) (5, 9, 8)
19th Jonathon Weston and Taylor Balogh (420 Boys) (18, 19)
3rd Kerensa Jennings and Chelsea Rees ( 420 Girls) (5, 2)

Full results here: http://isafyouthworlds.com/results/index.php

More about the ISAF Youth World Championships

The ISAF Youth World Championships feature racing for up and comers under 19 years of age and includes the Laser Radial, RS:X, 29er, 420 and SL16 classes. The regatta will gather together the world’s best youth sailors and will run from 27 December 2015 through until 3 January 2016 on the Malaysian island of Langkawi.

Plenty of the world’s best known yachtsmen and women have competed and medalled at the ISAF Youth World Championships which date back to 1971.

Among the list of New Zealanders to have stood on the ISAF Youth Worlds podium are Jo Aleh (2004 Silver, Laser Radial), Sir Russell Coutts (1979 Silver, Laser and 1981 Gold, Laser), Blair Tuke (2007 Silver, 29er), Dean Barker (1990 Gold, Laser and 1991 Silver, Laser) and Stuart Bannatyne (1989 Gold, Laser).

The ISAF run event is coming to the southern hemisphere for the first time in 15 years and as a consequence the NZL Yachting Trust Youth Team will miss Christmas and New Year in New Zealand with departure planned for 23 December. The last time the regatta was hosted south of the equator was in 2000 in Sydney, Australia.

The team is proudly supported by the following…
NZL Yachting Trust, Oceanbridge Shipping, ZHIK, HPSNZ

ENDS

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