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There’s no one quite like Veerle ten Have at the Yachting New Zealand youth trials this weekend.
Veerle ten Have.
That’s because the Tauranga boardsailor is the only competitor in the girl’s RS:X at the Manly Sailing Club. It doesn’t guarantee ten Have selection for December’s youth sailing world championships in China, with all nominees having to convince the selectors they are capable of a good result at the youth worlds, but it doesn’t harm her chances either.
Ten Have is competing against the four boys in the RS:X fleet and holding her own. She was second overall behind fellow Tauranga sailor Max van der Zalm after today’s third day and is the only one to take a race win off the boy's runaway leader.
“I just pretend they’re girls; not think, ‘I’m the only girl, I’ve got this’,” she said. “It’s not too hard to think like that. We are pretty close and get along really well.
“When you’re racing you sometimes notice it because they’re stronger. It’s different to girls racing but it’s good because it’s what I face overseas. It pushes you harder, they pump more and they are physically stronger and fitter.”
Ten Have is gaining more international experience after switching to boardsailing about 18 months ago and was 19th out of 40 at June’s RS:X youth world championships in Italy. But she missed last year’s 2016 Aon youth sailing world championships in Auckland and it’s something that still rankles.
“It was horrible I missed that because I was here when the youth worlds were on,” she said. “I had been competing overseas when the youth trials were on so I missed selection for the team.”
It’s part of the reason why she wants to impress this weekend and the youth worlds would also be another step on the way to achieving her goal of competing at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
Another pair who also have big ambitions are Greta Stewart and Henry Haslett, and they have an unassailable nine-point lead in the Nacra fleet at the youth trials.
Greta Stewart and Henry Haslett have won seven of the nine races in the Nacra fleet.
They went into today’s racing having won the first seven races but were beaten by Helena Sanderson and Jack Honey (Bay of Islands) in two of today's three races. It was a long day, with a big wait on the beach in between the first and second day as they waited for the breeze to fill in.
“We can’t say it’s going bad,” said Stewart, who is on the helm. “We are doing well at recovering from little things that go wrong, staying calm and keeping focused.”
It’s a trait that comes from plenty of experience. Stewart collected bronze medals at the last two youth sailing world championships with her older sister Kate in the 29er and Haslett was 13th with Josh Berry in the boy’s 420 at last year’s pinnacle event for youth sailors.
But they’re both new to the Nacra, teaming up in the boat about three months ago, and they’re still getting to grips with catamaran sailing.
“It’s a case of learn as we go,” Haslett said. “We haven’t spent much time in this boat, with Greta living overseas [in Bermuda] for the first half of this year. Every day is a learning day for us.
“They are the funnest boat you can sail in the youth classes but it was a huge jump for me [from a 420]. I mixed some of my 420 sailing with 29er and Waszp sailing as well so it helped the transition to the faster boats. The cats are a different beast altogether with two hulls and learning how to keep a boat healed over instead of dead flat.”
They are clearly quick learners, having recently won the NSW youth championships, and they have already wrapped up the Nacra class at the youth trials. Van der Zalm has also won the boy's RS:X and Seb Menzies and Blake McGlashan can't be overtaken in the boy's 420.
Some of the other classes are a lot closer and only one point separates the top crews in the boy’s 29er, there are two points between the leaders in the girl's Laser Radial and three separating the top two crews in the girl's 420.
Three races are scheduled tomorrow for the Nacra, RS:X and 29er fleets and one for the Laser Radial and 420s when more puff is expected off the Whangaparoa Peninsula.
Results and standing after the third day of the Yachting New Zealand youth trials at Manly Sailing Club today:
Nacra 15
1st: Greta Stewart / Henry Haslett (Murrays Bay Sailing Club / Waketere Boating Club) 1 1 1 1 1 1 (2) 1 2 - 10 points
2nd: Helena Sanderson / Jack Honey (Bay of Islands Yacht Club 2 3 (4 DNF) 2 2 2 (4 RET) 1 2 1 - 19 pts
3rd: Hamish McLaren / Rebecca Morgan (Royal Akarana Yacht Club) 3 2 2 3 3 3 (4 DNF) 3 3 3 - 25 pts
Boy's Laser Radial
1st: Josh Armit (MBSC) 1 1 1 1 2 (5) 1 2 - 9 pts
2nd: Alastair Gifford (Queen Charlotte Yacht Club) 2 (21 DSQ) 2 2 1 3 2 1 - 13 pts
3rd: Luke Cashmore (WBC) 7 6 8 7 7 2 (9) 4 - 41 pts
Girl's Laser Radial
1st: Annabelle Rennie-Younger (MBSC) 5 3 5 3 3 (10) 5 5 - 29 pts
2nd: Olivia Christie (Worser Bay) 3 2 4 4 5 (12) 6 7 - 31 pts
3rd: Samantha Stock (MBSC) 15 16 16 (17) 16 9 7 13 - 92 pts
Boy's 420
1st: Seb Menzies / Blake McGlashan (MBSC) (4) 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 - 9 pts
2nd: James Barnett / Sam Street (Tauranga Yacht & Power Boat Club / WBC / MBSC) 1 2 2 2 2 3 2 (4) - 14 pts
2nd: Robbie McCutcheon / Jono Weston (Wakatere) 3 1 4 4 3 2 (8) 2 - 19 pts
Girl's 420
1st: Xanthe Copeland / Annabel Cave (WBC) 2 4 3 3 4 (7) 6 7 - 29 pts
2nd: Ella Gladwell / Alice Haslett (WBC) 5 5 5 (9 RET) 7 4 3 3 - 32 pts
Boy's 29er
1st: Sebastian Lardies / Scott McKenzie (Kohimarama Yacht Club) 1 2 (4) 2 1 1 1 3 1 2 - 14 pts
2nd: Francesco Kayrouz / Jackson Keon (Wakatere / MBSC) 2 1 2 1 2 2 2 2 (4) 1 - 15 pts
3rd: Lewis Anderson / Pat Morgan (KYC) (8.0) 4 3 3 5 6 3 1 3 6 - 34 pts
Girl's 29er
1st: 2nd: Emma French / Zelda Ladefoged (MBSC) 6 8 8 6 (11) 7 6 6 6 4 - 57 pts
2nd: Crystal Sun / Olivia Hobbs (KYC) 7 6 (11) 5 9 3 8 8 10 8 - 64 pts
3rd: Kerensa Jennings / Safron Nixon (MBSC) 9 7 7 12 6 5 10 12 14 (15) - 82 pts
Boy's RS:X 8.5
1st: Max van der Zalm (TYPBC) (2) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 - 8 pts
2nd: Lloyd Perratt (MBSC) (4) 4 4 3 3 3 2 2 3 - 24 pts
3rd: Max Meffan (Nelson Yacht Club) 5 5 5 2 4 2 (6 BFD) 3 2 - 28 pts
Girl's RS:X 8.5
1st: Veerle ten Have (TYPBC) 1 3 3 (5) 2 4 3 4 4 - 24 pts
