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George Lee Rush had spent about three hours in a Starling before this week's national championships but can now consider himself the best Starling sailor in the country.
The 16-year-old, who is a former two-time Optimist national champion, thinks the range of sailing he does in different classes was a significant factor in his win this week at the 50th sailing of the Barfoot & Thompson Starling National Championships.
His main focus is the 29er, which he sails with Josh Schon, but he also dabbles in the 49erFX and 420 (through teams racing) and spends his spare time playing on a wingfoil.
"I’m just trying to keep my range of sailing open because this regatta shows that sailing a lot of boats helps your overall sailing a huge amount," said Lee Rush, who picked up the Sir Peter Blake Memorial Trophy at last year's Peter Blake Regatta.
"It was my first regatta in the boat, which was my brother's old one. I had only about three hours in it beforehand so I just had to stick to what I know I’m good at which is not necessarily sailing to the boat but sailing to the conditions. I thought I could do pretty well but I had no idea how my speed and boat handling would compare to the rest of the fleet."
It was clearly very good across the 12 races and Lee Rush finished 11 points clear of Josh Hyde, with Robbie Wooldridge three points back in third. All three sail out of the Wakatere Boating Club to illustrate the depth at the club and there were also two others from Wakatere in the top seven overall.
George Lee Rush sailed consistently well, with nine top-five results across the 12 races. Photo: Josh McCormack.
Competitors had to contend with a wide variety of conditions over the three days of racing after the first day was abandoned due to a lack of wind. The first and only day of qualifying was staged in a building and challenging north-easterly of more than 25 knots which then gave way to two days of light and shifty offshore winds.
Murrays Bay Sailing Club member Nicola Hume dealt with it the best in the girl's competition, taking the title from Grace Still (Glendowie Boating Club) and Daniella Wooldridge.
The 14-year-old had a few nervous moments on the last day, especially when she was black-flagged on the penultimate race.
"I was pretty nervous," Hume admitted. "All the time I was sitting waiting for the fleet to complete their race I tried to reset. It was a new race for me, the last race of the regatta and I just had to play it cool like all the other races I did.
"This was a big goal of mine. I have always wanted to be in the Starling class and it’s just amazing that I got it first time around."
Nicola Hume had a top result of third in one race. Photo: Josh McCormack.
She adds the Starling title to the girl's P Class title she picked up in January and Hume one day hopes to turn the sport into a career.
"Up until now I have been doing it for fun, and it’s still really fun, but I would really like to turn it into a career, whether it’s in media or engineering. I just need to keep sailing, keep enjoying it and keep pushing myself."
She doesn't need to look far for guidance and inspiration, with older sisters Rebecca and Megan achieving good success in their own sailing.
Elsewhere, Zoe Mains (GBC) won the silver fleet overall, with Alex Norman (MBSC/WBC) first boy, and Katie Mulcahy (MBSC) finished on top in the Starling development fleet in her first regatta in the class.
Results and standings from the Barfoot & Thompson Starling National Championships at the Kohimarama Yacht Club:
Gold fleet (47 boats)
Boy's
1st: George Lee Rush (Wakatere Boating Club) 6 2 1 4 1 2 4 (18) 3 5 1 (12) - 29 points
2nd: Josh Hyde (WBC) 2 1 1 2 10 7 8 (20) 1 3 5 (17) - 40 pts
3rd: Robbie Wooldridge (WBC) 3 2 2 6 4 5 6 (34) 2 11 2 (48 BFD) - 43 pts
Girl's
1st: Nicola Hume (Murrays Bay Sailing Club) 25 11 26 15 6 3 13 12 7 27 (48 BFD) (30) - 145 pts
2nd: Grace Still (Glendowie Boating Club) 16 13 (28) 24 21 16 11 21 5 24 25 (48 BFD) - 176 pts
3rd: Daniella Wooldridge (WBC) 12 9 9 6 (39) 24 37 38 (42) 14 15 38 - 202 pts
Silver fleet (47 boats)
Girl's
1st: Zoe Mains (GBC) (33) 25 25 (48 RET) 18 2 2 4 2 4 4 2 1 - 88 pts
2nd: Debbie Fewtrell (Bay of Islands Yacht Club) 18 (48 DNF) (48 DNF) 14 48 UFD 19 3 1 3 3 7 7 - 123 pts
3rd: Vivien Webster Chung (WBC) 20 23 (48 OCS) (48 RET) 4 8 4 48 UFD 1 2 12 10 - 132 pts
Boy's
1st: Alex Norman (MBSC/WBC) (28) 22 (36) 25 8 3 1 6 16 12 1 1 - 95 pts
2nd: Finn Balchin (Napier Sailing Club) 23 28 (48 RET) (48 RET) 3 1 10 3 8 14 2 4 - 96 pts
3rd: Andre McGregor (NSC) 19 28 (48 RET) (48 RET) 15 10 7 5 25 15 17 3 - 144 pts
Development fleet (12 boats)
1st: Katie Mulcahy (MBSC) (2) 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 - 9 pts
2nd: Sofia Currie (Maraetai Sailing Club) (6) 1 2 1 3 2 2 2 - 13 pts
3rd: Blake Jeffery (WBC) 3 4 4 6 (11) 3 3 3 - 26 pts
Full results here
