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The New Zealand sailors made a strong start to the youth sailing world championships in Corpus Christi today with six inside the top 10, including Veerle ten Have who leads the girl's RS:X.
Veerle ten Have leads the girl's RS:X after the first day of the youth worlds. Photo: Sailing Energy / World Sailing.
Seb Lardies and Scott McKenzie are second in the boy's 29er, Josh Armit fourth in the boy's Laser Radial, Greta Stewart and Tom Fyfe ninth in the Nacra 15, Max van der Zalm ninth in the boy's RS:X and Seb Menzies and Blake McGlashan 10th in the boy's 420.
It represented a good start to the pinnacle event for youth sailors and most of the New Zealanders revelled in the perfect 12-14 knots conditions at Corpus Christi.
"It was a really good, solid start to the regatta," Yachting New Zealand head youth coach Matt Thomas said. "It was good to see all the main contenders in solid positions to go forward."
Ten Have has set herself up well in the girl's boardsailing, posting two race wins and a second to establish a one-point lead over Great Britain's Islay Watson. She dominated the pin end off the start line and was consistently quick around the race course.
"I did really well today with two bullets and a second so I'm really happy," said ten Have, who was recently selected to compete at October's Youth Olympics in Argentina. "I had good speed and I won every single start.
"The plan is to go out and do what I did today as it was a pretty good day; but not fall in as I dropped my rig on a gybe in the last race."
Lardies and McKenzie banked three good scores, with a third, first and a fifth, and are one point behind leaders Henry Larkings and Miles Davey of Australia. The pair are expected to be among the contenders in the boy's 29er after showing some good lead-in form in regattas in Germany and Poland and know what to expect at such an important regatta after finishing eighth at last year's youth worlds in China.
"They sailed really solidly from start to finish in each race," Thomas said. "They took a really good, methodical approach to the start of the regatta which puts them in a great position. They were tidy and had good speed and, crucially, didn't make any silly errors."
It was a similar story for Armit, who is among the favourites in the boy's Laser Radial. The under-17 Laser Radial world champion started his regatta with a sixth and a third in today's two races to leave him only one point off the lead held by Argentina's Juan Cardozo. The boy's Laser Radial is the biggest fleet at the youth worlds, with 58 competitors.
As many as 382 sailors from 66 countries are competing at Corpus Christi this week. Some of New Zealand’s top sailors have won titles at this level, including Chris Dickson (1978-80), Russell Coutts (1981), Dean Barker (1990), Tom Ashley (2002) and Sam Meech (2009).
Results from the first day of the youth sailing world championships at Corpus Christi today:
Boy's 420 (23 boats)
1st: Joseph Hermus / Walter Henry (USA) 3 2 - 5 points
2nd: Matthias Menis / Nicolas Starc (ITA) 9 1 - 10 pts
3rd: Kacper Paszek / Bartek Reiter (POL) 5 5 - 10 pts
10th: Seb Menzies / Blake McGlashan (NZL) 4 13 (17) - 17 pts
Girl's 420 (22 boats)
1st: Carmen Cowles / Emma Cowles (USA) 1 1 - 2 pts
2nd: Vita Heathcote / Emilia Boyle (GBR) 4 2 - 6 pts
3rd: Julia Minana Delhom / Silvia Sebastia Borso di Carminati (ESP) 2 4 - 6 pts
12th: Cara Higinbottom / Alice Floyd (NZL) 11 12 - 23 pts
Boy's 29er (25 boats)
1st: Henry Larkings / Miles Davey (AUS) 1 (2) 2 - 3 pts
2nd: Seb Lardies / Scott McKenzie (NZL) 3 1 (5) - 4 pts
3rd: Federico Zampiccoli / Luca Fracassi (ITA) 2 4 (6) - 6 pts
Girl's 29er (23 boats)
1st: Pia Andersen / Nora Edland (NOR) 2 1 (3) - 3 pts
2nd: Zoya Novikova / Diana Sabirova (RUS) (4) 3 1 - 4 pts
3rd: Maru Scheel / Freya Feilcke (GER) 1 5 (9) - 6 pts
17th: Sophia Fyfe / Alice Haslett (NZL) 17 (24 UFD) 12 - 29 pts
Nacra 15 (24 boats)
1st: Silas Muhle / Romy Mackenbrock (GER) 1 (6) 1 - 2 pts
2nd: Henri Demesmaeker / Frederique van Eupen (BEL) 2 1 (25 DNF) - 3 pts
3rd: Teresa Romairone / Dante Cittadini (ARG) (3) 2 3 - 5 pts
9th: Greta Stewart / Tom Fyfe (NZL) 10 (12) 4 - 14 pts
Boy's Laser Radial (58 boats)
1st: Juan Cardozo (ARG) 7 1 - 8 pts
2nd: Uffe Tomasgaard (NOR) 4 4 - 8 pts
3rd: Zac Littlewood (AUS) 1 8 - 9 pts
4th: Josh Armit (NZL) 6 3 - 9 pts
Girl's Laser Radial (46 boats)
1st: Emma Savelon (NED) 1 2 - 3 pts
2nd: Charlotte Rose (USA) 4 1 - 5 pts
3rd: Wiktoria Golebiowska (POL) 2 3 - 5 pts
23rd: Samantha Stock (NZL) 25 23 - 48 pts
Boy's RS:X (27 boards)
1st: Geronimo Nores (USA) (1) 1 1 - 2 pts
2nd: Nicolo Renna (ITA) (2) 2 2 - 4 pts
3rd: Aleksander Przychodzen (POL) 3 (4) 4 - 7 pts
9th: Max van der Zalm (NZL) 7 (16) 9 - 16 pts
Girl's RS:X (17 boards)
1st: Veerle ten Have (NZL) 1 1 (2) - 2 pts
2nd: Islay Watson (GBR) (3) 2 1 - 3 pts
3rd: Giorgia Speciale (ITA) 2 (3) 3 - 5 pts
Full results here
- The team are proudly supported by the NZL Sailing Foundation (previously known as the NZL Yachting Trust), Oceanbridge, Zhik and HPSNZ.
