Issue date
Sailors have to contend with a lot of environmental factors when competing but rarely smoke and the Australian bushfires have cast a pall over a number of regattas across the Tasman recently.
No racing was possible on the final two days of the Australian Youth Championships in Port Phillip in Melbourne due largely to poor air quality and many other events were raced amid a thick haze.
This included last week's Australian 29er national championships won by Seb Menzies and Blake McGlashan.
"It's definitely a new experience," said Menzies who was speaking while seeking refuge inside. "The smoke affects me pretty badly because of my asthma and there were also a number of delays. It's pretty weird not be able to see much past the top mark."
Menzies and McGlashan edged Ethan Galbraith and Charles Zemman and Axel Fleet and Kieran Bucktin in the 29er nationals - fellow Kiwis Brayden Hamilton and Jack Frewin were not far behind in fourth - but recognised they were the beneficiaries of the rivals racing each other to finish as first Australians.
"We feel a bit bad because we wouldn't have won if they hadn't done that to each other," Menzies said. "It's kind of good just to beat the Aussies."
It also represents their first international title in the 29er following their switch from the 420 and carried on a period of success that was yesterday recognised by being named finalists in the emerging talent category of the Haberg Awards.
The pair backed up last week's result by finishing sixth in the abbreviated Australian Youth Championships that finished yesterday but only six races out of a scheduled 12 were possible and only eight points separated the top six boats.
Three other New Zealand crews were also competing in the 29er at the youth championships, with Mattias Coutts and Cailen Rochford 10th, Brayden Hamilton and Jack Frewin 11th and Ted Houry and Quinn Kusanic 40th.
There were also some good results at the youth championships in the 420, with Mason Mulcahy and Andre van Dam fourth and Amelia Angus and Rebecca Hume second in the female standings and 13th overall.
Fran Kayrouz and Carrington Brady were fifth in the Nacra 15 with Hamish McLaren and Sofia Higgott one place further back in sixth.
New Zealand's top Laser and Laser Radial sailors competed at the Australian Laser championships in Melbourne on the same waters that will be used for next month's Laser and Laser Radial world championships.
Sam Meech was second in the Laser behind Australian rival Matt Wearn with Kiwis George Gautrey third, Tom Saunders fourth and teenager Josh Armit 22nd.
The persistent smoke wasn't the only unusual feature, however, with sea breezes strangely absent all week.
Caleb Armit was the top under-17 sailor and 34th overall, Thomas Mulcahy 37th and multiple world masters champion Scott Leith the top Kiwi in 23rd in a fleet that featured a number of Olympians.
"It was good to see so many of our top youth sailors head over to Australia for some quality racing in big fleets," Yachting New Zealand talent development manager Geoff Woolley said. "There were several encouraging results and it was especially pleasing to see Seb and Blake take out the 29er nationals.
"Everyone should be pretty fired up for the rest of the summer and hopefully a number head overseas during the winter. It's a pretty exciting year ahead with the youth sailing world championships at the end of the year and heaps of time to get prepared."
Results and standings from the Australian 29er championships:
1st: Seb Menzies / Blake McGlashan (NZL) (11) 4 3 1 2 2 (11) 3 1 1 8 5 5 - 35 points
2nd: Ethan Galbraith / Charles Zemman (AUS) 5 RDG 1 1 2 3 (11) 3 2 3 8 6 2 (23) - 36 pts
3rd: Axel Fleet / Kieran Bucktin (AUS) (3 RDG) 1 1 1 2 1 6 1 (36 UFD) 2 4 3 16 - 38 pts
4th: Brayden Hamilton / Jack Frewin (NZL) 1 (18) 9 7 1 5 (5) 4 2 4 2 4 1 40 pts
Silver Fleet (34 boats)
1st: Mattias Coutts / Cailen Rochford (NZL) 3 (36 DNF) 36 DNF 36 DNF 13 4 1 1 1 1 (35 BFD) 1 1 - 98 pts
11th: Ted Houry / Quinn Kusanic (NZL) 18 18 26 19 (36 BFD) 22 (35 RET) 35 RET 12 5 1 9 8 SP - 173 pts
Results and standings from the Australian Laser championships:
Laser (69 boats)
1st: Matt Wearn (AUS) 2 6 1 (12) 2 3 6 1 4 3 (7) - 28 pts
2nd: Sam Meech (NZL) 8 8 4 2 1 (12) (70 BFD) 2 3 1 10 - 39 pts
3rd: George Gautrey (NZL) 9 9 5 3 4 (14) 9 3 (17) 8 2 - 52 pts
4th: Tom Saunders (NZL) 5 (14) 6 8 5 13 1 (15) 12 2 1 - 53 pts
22nd: Josh Armit (NZL) (32) (48) 28 24 21 8 18 28 21 17 20 - 185 pts
32nd: Luke Deegan (NZL) (36) 26 19 23 34 (37) 23 32 31 26 29 - 243 pts
61st: John Hayman (NZL) 59 61 (62) 62 56 57 55 (64) 57 55 57 - 519 pts
Laser Radial gold fleet (63 boats)
1st: Marit Bouwmeester (NED) (5) 5 2 3 1 8 (18) 11 4 2 - 37 pts
2nd: Maxime Jonker (NED) 7 (25) 11 1 3 3 (25) 1 1 7 7 - 41 pts
3rd: Brody Riley (AUS) (18) 12 8 (28) 6 6 6 4 3 5 2 - 52 pts
23rd: Scott Leith (NZL) (26) 19 18 16 17 27 4 20 18 (29) 27 - 166 pts
34th: Caleb Armit (NZL) 24 26 15 8 (35) (64 BFD) 38 49 26 13 15 - 204 pts
37th: Thomas Mulcahy (NZL) 22 7 27 35 20 7 23 52 52 21 (61) - 231 pts
48th: Olivia Christie (NZL) 14 (33) 14 26 28 17 (59) 35 41 45 53 - 273 pts
51st: Annabelle Rennie-Younger (NZL) 15 19 (33) 18 23 22 (55) 48 42 44 54 - 285 pts
52nd: Matthew Rist (NZL) 30 23 29 27 (36) 39 10 (61) 35 50 51 - 294 pts
Silver fleet (63 boats)
15th: Greta Pilkington (NZL) (45) 41 (52) 45 42 4 20 23 16 16 16 - 223 pts
17th: Roger Winton (NZL) (64 BFD) (43) 33 41 27 26 21 17 25 23 12 - 225 pts
34th: Isabella Boyd (NZL) 40 38 (51) (51) 44 22 25 36 40 40 42 - 327 pts
Results and standing from the 420 Australian national and open championships:
(30 boats)
1st: Daniel Links / Ferguson (AUS) 3 1 1 1 (7) 2 1 1 4 (5) 1 1 - 16 pts
2nd: James Jackson / Lachie Caldwell (AUS) 2 2 2 2 1 (4) 4 4 2 1 4 (5) - 24 pts
3rd: Linus Talacko / Lachlan Grogan (AUS) 5 9 3 3 2 1 3 2 (21) (13) 2 3 - 33 pts
5th: Mason Mulcahy / Andre van Dam (NZL) (15) 7 4 11 4 6 5 5 3 3 3 (16) - 51 pts
17th: Kiera Sinton / Leah Sinton (NZL) (19) (23) 16 6 14.5 17 10 18 6 13 14 18 - 132.5 pts
19th: Lucy Leith / Cameron McGlashan (NZL) (31 UFD) (24) 20 21 18 20 16 15 7 6 7 8 - 138 pts
Results and standings from the Australian Youth Championships:
29er (48 boats)
1st: Archie Cropley / Jack Hildebrand (AUS) 3 5 (8) 1 6 2 - 17 pts
2nd: Oscar O'Donoghue / Rupert Hamilton (AUS) 5 1 2 (27) 2 9 - 19 pts
3rd: Ethan Galbraith / Charles Zemman (AUS) 1 2 (9) 6 5 6 - 20 pts
6th: Seb Menzies / Blake McGlashan (NZL) 6 12 1 5 1 (18) - 25 pts
10th: Mattias Coutts / Cailen Rochford (NZL) 7 3 7 15 24 (30) 56 pts
11th: Brayden Hamilton / Jack Frewin (NZL) 9 17 12 14 (22 PRP) 4 - 56 pts
40th: Ted Houry / Quinn Kusanic (NZL) 18 25 (49 BFD) 42 49 DNC 49 DNC - 184 pts
420 (30 boats)
1st: Linus Talacko / Lachlan Grogan (AUS) 4 1 3 (14) 5 1 - 14 pts
2nd: Jamie Bougher / Ryan Littlechild (AUS) (7) 2 4 1 3 4 - 14 pts
3rd: James Jackson / Lachie Caldwell (AUS) 5 5 2 2 (14) 2 - 16 pts
4th: Mason Mulcahy / Andre van Dam (NZL) 3 4 1 4 (7) 6 - 18 pts
13th: Amelia Angus / Rebecca Hume (NZL) 12 16 11 11 (17) 14 - 64 pts
19th: Lucy Leith / Cameron McGlashan (NZL) (23) 14 18 12 20.5 18 - 84.5
20th: Kiera Sinton / Leah Sinton (NZL) 17 15 15 20 (20.5) 22 - 98.5 pts
Laser Radial (48 boats)
1st: Michael Compton (AUS) 4 (7) 3 5 1 2 - 15 pts
2nd: Stefan Elliott-Shircore (AUS) 1 3 1 8 3 (26) 42 - 16 pts
3rd: Frazer Brew (AUS) 7 1 (25) 1 6 3 - 18 pts
20th: Greta Pilkington (NZL) (27) 21 21 6 21 20 - 89 pts
Nacra 15 (10 boats)
1st: Georgia Payne / Nathan Bryant (AUS) 1 1 1 2 (5) 4 - 9 pts
2nd: Brin Liddell / Rhiannan Brown (AUS) (5) 2 3 1 2 1 - 9 pts
3rd: Cole Tapper / Evie Haseldine (AUS) 3 (6) 5 3 4 2 - 17 pts
5th: Fran Kayrouz / Carrington Brady (NZL) 4 (8) 6 7 3 3 - 23 pts
6th: Hamish McLaren / Sofia Higgott (NZL) 6 4 4 5 10 (11 UFD) - 29 pts
Full results
- Seb Menzies and Blake McGalshan backed up their win at the Australian 29er nationals by finishing sixth in the 29er at the Australian Youth Championships. Photo: Beau Outteridge / Australian Youth Championships.
