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It was a Winter Champs like no other in recent years: Beautiful sunshine, flat seas and light breezes graced the racecourse between Rangitoto and Murrays Bay in Auckland’s North Shore for the sailors competing in the event that traditionally marks the divide between winter and summer sailing in Auckland.
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“Congratulations to the sailors that came out top,” says Club Commodore and owner of Stack Business Interiors, David Gunn.
“Sailing in light air requires concentration and physical ability - you did very well.”
Brother and sister sailing stars Alex and Andy Maloney both took a short break from their Olympic campaigns in order to present prizes to the divisional winners and placegetters:
In the fleet of 59 Optimists, Scott McKenzie of Kohi Yacht Club was the first male, and Greta Stewart of Wakatere Boating Club, the top female finisher. Both had a clear total points advantage over the next best placed male and female sailors. Eight newcomers to the Optimist fleet raced in their own division, With Caleb Armit of Murrays Bay winning six out of seven races to take the points prize.
Harry Milne of Wakatere took the P-Class title, with Penelope Wilson from MOYC, the first female. There were 14 sailors, aged 12-16, representing this speedy dinghy class, and 32 in the Starling: Cole Ripley from Taurang finished top of this fleet, and Celia Willison of Wakatere Boating Club, was the top female.
In the Techno board sailing class, Coral Headley from Tauranga won all seven of her races, to top the fleet of five. In the RSX class, Finn Croft was first and Maphia Pepper second.
Sam Meech won two of the four races to win the Laser (full rig) class, with Andy Maloney in second and Andrew McKenzie in third. 17 sailors competed in the Laser Radial, won by Matthew Kempers from Wakatere Boating Club, and with Ali Nightingale of CBYC the top female.
In the two handed 420s - a vital precurser to the Olympic 470 class - Olivia Mackay and Abby Goodwin from NSC tallied up a win against second placegetter Sam Barnett and Zac Merton from Tauranga Yacht and Powerboat Club. Brittany Wormall and Emma Stenhouse of NPCL were third. Murrays Bay boats a promising emerging 29er fleet and this division was won by Josh Handa and Tim Adair, with wins in four out of five races. William Mckenzie and Sam Simpson, from Kohimarama, were second.
This is the fourth year that Stack Business Interiors, which specialises in the design and management of office space and business interiors, has supported the Stack Winter Champs, and the business sees the event as a great way to invest in bright, ambitious young people.
Stack's design work has won a number of awards over the years, and its portfolio includes office design and construction management for HSBC, AMP Capital, THL, MacDow, Les Mills International, Mercedes-benz, The Warehouse and many more of New Zealand's leading organisations.
For more information on Stack Business Interiors, visit www.stack.co.nz, and to find out about the Stack Winter Champs and Murrays Bay Sailing Club, visit www.murraysbay.org.nz
Photos by John Adair
