Issue date
The 2012 NZL Yachting Trust Youth Team fared well in the final races of the Four Star Pizza ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships, competing as they did all week in fickle and light wind conditions.
“This year was an exceptionally tough and trying event and all the sailors did well to stay focused right to the very end” said lead coach Ian Neely. “The team really finished off the last race of the regatta strongly.”
Gemma Jones and Tomer Simhony in the SL16 won the final race of the regatta, bumping them up to finish fifth place overall in what was a very hard fought for fleet. Over the twelve race series, these two young sailors finished all but one race inside the top ten, and carded two race wins.
“Their start was fantastic and they lead from then right until the finish. Gemma and Tomer had a cracking last race” said Ian.[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1211","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"300","style":"width: 300px; height: 180px; margin: 5px; float: right;","width":"500"}}]]
Three of the five Kiwi crews bettered their final standings as a result of this last race, while the other two stayed the same on this day of many upsets for other teams
For Tomer Simhony, the fifth place finish is the same result as last year when he was sailing with now 420 skipper Ellie Copeland.
Ellie Copeland and Erica Dawson also finished fifth overall, wrapping up their regatta with a seventh place finish in the final race. They too sailed a very consistent regatta, and in events like this where the points table is so close, maintaining consistency is of utmost importance.
Despite sailing one of their best races (fourth in the last race), Alex Munro and Trent Rippey’s overall standing remained eighth. After tonight’s opening ceremonies and a couple hours sleep, Alex and Trent will be on their way to Germany for the 29er worlds accompanied by Coach Jim Maloney.
Also finishing the regatta on a high note was Laser Radial Sailor Andrew McKenzie, and 420 Men’s team Jayvee Buchanan and Matthew Morrison who both improved their final results. The rest of the team will now make their way back home to NZ, except coach Ian Neely who will be coaching NZ’s Olympic Laser Radial sailor Sara Winther.
Final Standings
5th- Ellie Copeland and Erica Dawson- Female 420 (1, 21, 10, 5, 11, 3, 5, 5, 11, 5, 10, 7)
5th- Gemma Jones and Tomer Simhony- SL16 Multihull (12, 4, 5, 5, 1, 6, 10, 5, 9, 5, 4, 1)
8th- Alex Munro and Trent Rippey: 29er skiff (17, 9, 8, 5, 4, 11, 6, 23, 5, 5, 7, 4)
16th - Andrew McKenzie- Laser Radial (59 BFD, 50, 18, 14, 14, 29, 12, 1, 7, 5, 59 BFD, 6)
21st- Jayvee Buchanan and Matthew Morrison- Male 420 (13, 10, 28, 23, 20, 28, 26, 16, 7, 9, 25, 18)
To follow the NZL Yachting Trust Youth Team, ‘like’ Yachting New Zealand on Facebook , visit Y-SAIL on the YNZ website for exclusive youth content, or the full results on the official regatta website.
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More Photos available upon request
For more information, contact:
Kristine Lederis
Yachting New Zealand
Kristine@yachtingnz.org.nz
021 871 301
