Issue date
Australians Cole Tapper and Tyler Creevey held on to claim the 420 national championships title at Naval Point Club Lyttelton last weekend.
Seb Menzies and Blake McGlashan were the top Kiwis in second.
The pair jumped out to a handy lead in the four-day regatta, winning the first four races, but had to withstand a late charge from Seb Menzie and Blake McGlashan, who won three of the last four races.
Tapper and Creevey claimed the title by three points over Menzies and McGlashan. James Barnett and Sam Street were a further nine points behind in third.
Cara Higinbottom and Alice Floyd took out the girl's title, finishing 23 points ahead of Sofia Higgott and Lizzie Shapland, and were fifth overall in the 17-boat fleet.
"It was one of the bigger fleets we've seen for this event over recent years," Yachting New Zealand talent development manager Ian Neely said. "There were lots of keen, young teams and we've seen some pretty good improvement from them over the last six months."
The 420 nationals were used as a nomination regatta for July's youth sailing world championships in the US and the New Zealand selectors will soon meet to decide who goes forward to the NZL Sailing Foundation youth team.
Naval Point Club Lyttelton also hosted the Finn national championships, which were dominated by Karl Purdie, who won six of the 10 races and finished 10 points ahead of Raymond Hall. Mark Perrow was a further five points behind in third.
Results from the 420 national championships at Naval Point Club Lyttelton last weekend:
Boys
1st: Cole Tapper / Tyler Creevey (AUST) 1 1 1 1 (3) 1 3 2 3 2 2 - 17 points
2nd: Seb Menzies / Blake McGlashan (Murrays Bay SC) 5 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 (6) 1 - 20 pts
3rd: James Barnett / Sam Street (TYPBC / NPYC) 4 7 4 3 1 3 1 3 2 1 (18 DSQ) - 29 pts
Girls
1st: Cara Higinbottom / Alice Floyd (Mt Pleasant YC / Christchurch YC) 8 4 5 4 4 4 4 7 9 (10) 7 - 56 pts
2nd: Sofia Higgott / Lizzie Shapland (Maraetai SC / Kohimarama YC) 9 9 8 10 (18 DNF) 8 5 5 8 8 9 - 79 pts
3rd: Lucia Rapley / Marina Kenton-Smith (Christchurch YC / Chateris Bay YC) 10 15 11 14 9 (18 OCS) 13 12 15 4 5 - 108 pts
Full results can be found here.
Results from the Finn national championships at Naval Point Club Lyttelton last weekend:
1st: Karl Purdie 1 1 2 1 2 2 1 1 (3) 1 - 11 pts
2nd: Raymond Hall 1 3 4 3 1 1 2 2 5 (21 DNS) - 21 pts
3rd: Mark Perrow 1 6 1 2 3 3 3 4 4 (21 DNS) - 26 pts
Full results can be found here
