Issue date
The 2022 Aon Yachting Excellence Awards are just around the corner and some winners have already been announced. In the first of a three-part series, meet the winners in the youth performance category supported by Harken.
Caleb Armit (Murrays Bay Sailing Club)
Photo: Sailing Energy
Caleb has been this country’s top ILCA 6 youth sailor for some time and got the chance to prove his ability on the world stage this year after a period of isolation for New Zealand sailors. He started out by finishing second at Kiel Week, which was an open division, and backed it up with third at the ILCA 6 youth world championships in the United States. On top of that, he won virtually everything on the domestic front including the Oceanbridge NZL Sailing Regatta, Laser national championships and Auckland championships.
Isla Barker (Murrays Bay Sailing Club)
Photo: Live Sail Die
A long line of top sailors have won titles at the Optimist national championships and Isla Barker added her name to that list at this year’s regatta in Napier. Isla sailed consistently well throughout at the highly-competitive four-day regatta, achieving a number of top-10 results overall to claim her first national title. The youngster has progressed well over the last 12 months, and was also second at this year’s Auckland Anniversary Day Regatta at Wakatere.
Mattias Coutts (Manly Sailing Club)
Some of the world’s best sailors competed in the Moth at this year’s Foiling Week at Lake Garda and at the end of the week 16-year-old Mattias Coutts finished ahead of most of them to secure third. Mattias, who is a former Open Skiff world champion, sailed impressively well, only once finishing outside the top six in the 70-boat fleet, to announce himself in the high-performance foiling dinghy. He also finished second with Kosta Gladiadis in the 29er at the Oceanbridge NZL Sailing Regatta and was second at the Moth South Island championships against another international fleet.
Lucas Day & Sam Scott (Murrays Bay Sailing Club)
Photo: Sailing Energy
A top-10 result at a world championships is a significant achievement and Lucas Day and Sam Scott did that when they finished ninth in the male/mixed 420 at this year’s youth worlds at The Hague. The pair showed their potential with a couple of top-three results in treacherous conditions and were also 11th at Kiel Week. They were also first at both the Oceanbridge NZL Sailing Regatta and 420 North Island Championships and second at the national championships and Auckland championships. Lucas also skippered Westlake Boys High School to success at the Harken Secondary Schools Keelboat Championships and Auckland Cup for secondary schools teams racing.
Sean Kensington (Kohimarama Yacht Club)
Photo: Richard Beauchamp
Sean was last year a recipient of the Aon Emerging Talent Award and has continued to shine at junior and youth level. The Kohimarama Yacht Club sailor won this year’s Starling national championships in Napier, despite not spending much time in the boat in the leadup to the event, as he took control on the final day. Sean’s main focus is on the 29er and, together with older brother Rowan, was fifth at both this year’s Oceanbridge NZL Sailing Regatta and 29er national championships.
Will Leech (Charteris Bay Yacht Club)
Photo: Yachting New Zealand
Will Leech was another Aon Emerging Talent recipient at last year's awards and rounded out his time in the Optimist as one of the most successful sailors in the class domestically. He won this year’s national title in Napier, backing up his win of 12 months previously, and was also second at the 2020 Opti nationals. On top of his success this year, Will was also second at the Auckland championships and third at the P Class national championships.
Seb Menzies and George Lee Rush (Murrays Bay Sailing Club / Wakatere Boating Club)
Photo: Kiel Week
Seb Menzies and George Lee Rush are two of this country's most promising young sailors. They teamed up together at the end of 2021 and have won virtually everything they have entered. The kicked off by dominating on the domestic front, winning both the 29er national championships and Oceanbridge NZL Sailing Regatta, with the latter earning them a spot in the NZL Sailing Foundation Youth Team to compete at the youth sailing world championships. The pair travelled to Europe in June and won both Kiel Week (the world's biggest regatta) and then 29er European Championships before finishing third at the youth worlds at The Hague. Seb and George then switched to the bigger 49erFX (an Olympic class boat) and at their first ever event in the class convincingly won the 49erFX junior world title for under-23 sailors.
Kate Rasmussen and Madi Russell (Maraetai Sailing Club)
New Zealand has a distinguished record at the RS Feva world championships and added to that in Weymouth this year when Kate Rasmussen and Madi Russell won the women’s world title. The pair sailed consistently well to comfortably secure the women’s title and they were also eighth overall in the 185-boat fleet. On top of that, Rasmussen and Russell are back-to-back national women’s champions and also took first place in both the 2022 RS Feva New Zealand Traveller Series and RS Feva winter championships.
Helena Sanderson and Cam McGlashan (Bay of Islands Yacht Club / Murrays Bay Sailing Club)
Photo: Sailing Energy
Finishing fifth at the youth sailing world championships is an impressive achievement, but even more so when you’ve been sailing together for less than three months. Helena and Cam teamed up to ensure New Zealand sent a representative in the Nacra 15 to the youth worlds. The light winds at The Hague didn’t exactly suit them but they put together a series of good scores to finish just outside the medals. Helena’s undoubted skills also caught the eye of Live Ocean Racing and she joined the team for a round of the ETF26 series when they were second at Foiling Week on Lake Garda.
Hugo Wigglesworth (Manly Sailing Club)
Photo: Sailing Energy
Hugo was the youngest member among the NZL Sailing Foundation Youth Team at this year’s youth worlds at 16 but raced beyond his years to finish seventh in his first major international regatta. The youngster, who has been kiteboarding since he was seven, was also second in the open fleet at this year’s Oceanbridge NZL Sailing Regatta and promises to have a good future in the new Olympic class.
