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Mike Bullot needed to call on all of his experience to hold off Mattias Coutts and take the International Moth Freshwater South Island Championships in Queenstown over the long weekend.
Bullot, who is a former Laser world championships silver medallist and was 20th at last year's Moth world championships, pipped Coutts by one point across the 11-race series to take the title. Jake Pye was a further five points back in third.
Liv Mackay finished as the top female, fending off fellow NZL SailGP Team member and 2020 Tokyo Olympian Erica Dawson.
It was a quality fleet that assembled in Queenstown, and it also featured Tokyo Olympian Micah Wilkinson (fourth) and Dutch Olympian and former Laser world champion Nicholas Heiner (ninth).
The 12-strong fleet contended with a variety of conditions, from wind and rain to sunshine, and put on a show for many locals.
Catch highlights of day 2 racing here and day three racing here.
A feature of the racing was the fact it was in a prime position on Lake Wakatipu, which was only possible because of the use of mark bots provided by Russell Coutts.
Race officer Pete Henderson was using the mark bots for the first time and was impressed with how easy they were to use.
"Just for reference, the start line was about 300m deep and the gate 220m deep and without the mark bots we could not sail in the premium sailing area," he said.
Results and standings from the International Moth Freshwater South Island Championships in Queenstown:
1st: Mike Bullot 3 2 1 (6) 1 1 1 3 (6) 1 2 - 15 points
2nd: Mattias Coutts (Manly Sailing Club) 1 1 (3) 2 (3) 3 2 1 3 2 1 - 16 pts
3rd: Jake Pye (Manly Sailing Club) 2 3 2 1 2 2 3 (4) (8) 3 3 - 21 pts
8th: Liv Mackay (Napier Sailing Club) 9 9 8 4 6 8 8 (10) 9 (10) 9 - 70 pts
