Issue date
The first winners of this year's Barfoot & Thompson Yachting Excellence Awards have been announced, with club stalwarts and race committee members through to rising stars and seasoned international sailors honoured.
As in previous years, winners in four categories have been unveiled early with the major awards to be handed out at a gala event at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron on November 22.
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The full list of winners in the Radix Nutrition Performance Awards category can be found below.
Click here for the Yamaha New Zealand Service Awards and Kiwi Yachting Cruising Award winners
Click here for the Andoo Youth Performance Awards winners
Radix Nutrition Performance Awards
Jo Aleh and Molly Meech
Jo Aleh (Torbay Sailing Club) and Molly Meech (Royal Akarana Yacht Club)
Jo and Molly made good progress in their third season as a 49erFX team, following up their first medal race together at the sailing world championships in The Hague in late 2023 with their first international podium place this year. They were third overall at the French Olympic Week in April and fought back well after a slow start in light conditions at the Olympic Games in Marseille, eventually ending their campaign with a seventh place.
Josh Armit
Josh Armit (Wakatere Boating Club)
Josh underlined why he is regarded as one of the most talented sailors in the country with an exceptional year. Still only 22, he claimed top-10 results at the Princess Sofia and the French Olympic Week regattas in March and April before narrowly missing out on the windfoiling bronze medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics in Marseille. He also represented Emirates Team New Zealand at the youth America's Cup in Barcelona and finished fourth at the wingfoil World Cup in Italy.
Francesco Kayrouz and Hamish McLaren
Francesco Kayrouz (Torbay Sailing Club) and Hamish McLaren (Royal Akarana Yacht Club)
Francesco and Hamish achieved their proudest sailing moment as a crew with the silver medal at the 2024 49er junior world championships in Galicia, Spain, in July, capping a consistent regatta with a sensational final day. In fourth place heading into the last three races, the young Auckland duo scored 2, 2, and 5 to secure second place, finishing 12 points behind winners Richard Schultheis and Youenn Bertin of Malta.
Eli Liefting
Eli Liefting (Royal Akarana Yacht Club)
Eli added his name to the growing list of Kiwi windfoilers making waves on the world stage by winning the bronze medal at the under-23 world championships in Switzerland in August. The 22-year-old, who is part of Yachting New Zealand's Aon Fast Track program, achieved the best result of his iQFOiL career so far on Lake Silvaplana after qualifying for the final of the men’s medal series, which was ultimately abandoned due to a lack of breeze.
Isaac McHardie and Will McKenzie
Isaac McHardie and Will McKenzie (Torbay Sailing Club)
A dream that began with an exchange of messages between two mates seven years earlier came true on the waters off Marseille in early August when Isaac and Will crossed the finish line third in the men's skiff (49er) medal race to claim silver. The result secured New Zealand a fourth podium spot in the class in the last four Olympics - with Pete Burling and Blair Tuke's gold in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 bookended by silvers in London and Tokyo.
Tom Saunders
Tom Saunders (Tauranga Yacht and Powerboat Club)
The veteran ILCA 7 sailor and former class world champion lined up in Marseille brimming with confidence after a strong start to 2024. He booked his spot at the Games with a fifth-place finish at the world championships in Adelaide in January and followed it up with top 10s at major regattas in Spain and France. Tom finished seventh at Paris 2024, with light conditions badly affecting the men's dinghy fleet as several races were cancelled.
Sam Street
Sam Street (New Plymouth Yacht Club)
In December, the versatile sailor made history with back-to-back titles at the Waszp World Games in Sorrento, Australia, before winning the Hartley 16 national title in Waiuku in February. To top it off, he was crowned 2024 Male Sailor of the Year at the annual Foiling Awards in April - only the second Kiwi to win the top honour and the first since Peter Burling in 2018. Sam also placed third at the NZ Moth national championships.
Veerle ten Have
Veerle ten Have (Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron)
Veerle qualified for the medal series of the women's windfoil at Paris 2024 after showing plenty of promise in qualifying. Untimely mistakes ultimately proved costly, however, as she was eliminated in the quarterfinal to finish 10th overall. Her speed and accuracy off the start line, coupled with strong results elsewhere in Europe, have ensured that the 23-year-old from Tauranga will be among the windsurfers to watch next season - and beyond.
Megan Thomson and the 2.0 Racing team
Megan Thomson (2.0 Racing Team)
Megan Thomson secured the highest-ever finish by a female skipper at a World Match Racing Tour final when she helmed the 2.0 Racing Team to third place in Shenzhen, China, in December. They also finished third on the Women’s World Match Racing Tour leaderboard before returning home to win the 2023 Women’s Match Racing championships. Megan is the number one female match racer in the world and has consistently been near the top 10 on the open world rankings this year.
Micah Wilkinson and Erica Dawson
Micah Wilkinson (Ngaroto Sailing Club) and Erica Dawson (Murrays Bay Sailing Club)
Micah and Erica claimed New Zealand's second sailing medal of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and broke a 36-year drought when they won bronze in the mixed multihull (Nacra 17). It's the second time they've made an international podium together - after their silver at the European championships in 2022 - and it is the first time since Rex Sellers and Chris Timms in Seoul in 1988 that a Kiwi crew has managed to win an Olympic medal in the catamaran class.
