Nespresso Int'l Youth MR Cup: Two host club teams lead - Day 2
by Andrew Delves 22 Feb 2019 08:28 GMT
22 February 2019
RNZYS Performance Programme Teams lead by James Wilson and Nick Egnot-Johnson are leading the 14-boat fleet after two days of match racing in Auckland at the Nespresso Youth International Match Racing Cup.
Round Robin racing is nearly completed, with only two flights left to race on Saturday, but it’s the local Squadron teams that are beginning to rise to the top. Wilson and Egnot-Johnson are both sitting on eleven wins with only one loss, with Jordan Stevenson’s RNZYS Youth Training programme team the next best with 10 wins and two losses.
Egnot-Johnson and his Knots Racing team had a good day out there today in what were tough and sometimes wet conditions. – “We definitely felt better today than we did yesterday, we felt pretty quick and had some really solid wins. We had a great race against Jordy {Stevenson} where we just managed to pip him on the final downwind. The boys are pretty confident heading into the weekend but there is still plenty of tough competition to come.”
Wilson - sailing with fellow RNZYS PP sailors Taylor Balogh, Josh Wijohn and Marco Hull – also had an impressive day on the water, with their only loss coming to Stevenson in what was also a close battle. Wilson is hoping to keep up the good form and go one better than his second place finish in 2018 - “Yeah we are going pretty well and learning quite a bit as we go. We haven’t sailed together as a team much but we’re starting to gel and sail well. I’m hoping we can keep improving and carry our form into the finals on the weekend.”
Sitting in fourth place is Tom Grimes from the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s Youth Academy, who is sitting on eight wins, and even though a few races didn’t go his way today he is still very confident heading into tomorrow - “I’m really happy with how we are going to be honest. Some of the races didn’t go our way but you’ve got to trade the losses for the learnings sometimes and I feel like those losses will help us a lot over the rest of the regatta. The team are feeling pretty confident for the finals and we just can’t wait to get back into it tomorrow”
Tom Picot from New Caledonia and kiwi Oakley Marsh are also sitting on eight wins, and both are guaranteed to make the top 8 once the round robin concludes tomorrow.
The last two spots for quarterfinals are very much up for grabs though with David Wood from the Balboa Yacht Club in California sitting on five wins, and just below him are Patrick Harris (RNZYS YTP), Callum Radford (RPNYC) and Juliet Costanzo (RPAYC) on four wins a piece – setting up an exciting finish to the round robin in the morning.
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