ILCA NZ Nationals - Day 3: Another beautiful day on the Sound
by Nick Page 22 Jan 11:28 GMT
23 January 2022
NZ ILCA National Championships - Day 3, Queen Charlotte Yacht Club, Picton © Christel Hopkins
Patience was the name of the game for the beginning of Day 3. The fleet was on course for a 1pm start as scheduled, with a light easterly blowing. The first race started, only to be abandoned a few minutes later when the breeze completely died.
After a bit of a wait a good NW breeze developed and allowed all three scheduled races to be completed. Blowing directly off the northern shore of the sound the breeze was rather fickle, varying in strength from around 8 to 15 knots, always gusty and shifty, making for another physically testing day for all the sailors. It was again warm with clear blue skies, attracting a few extra spectators onto the course. We again enjoyed very close racing in all the fleets, with places changing frequently as the shifts and pressure lines came through. It was certainly not a lottery though and the leaders generally consolidated their positions in all fleets.
In the ILCA 7's it was again a two out of three bullet day for reigning World Champ Tom Saunders, but he did prove human, slipping to third in the second race of the day after misjudging the tide and hitting the top mark. This race was led for a long time by Luke Deegan but it was finally George Gautrey that got the gun from Luke and Tom. So with only tomorrow's two scheduled races remaining Tom is in a strong position at the head of the fleet with George a clear second. Behind them it is a tight battle between Luke Cashmore and Luke Deegan for the final podium spot, with Samoan Olympic rep Eroni Leilua still in with a shot as well from 5th overall. In the Masters the top three are close and have a significant points advantage over the rest of the Masters field. Andrew Dellabarca (GM) again had a strong and consistent day to hold a narrow lead in the Masters fleet from Chris Decke (M), with leading Apprentice Master Tim Pitcaithly close behind.
In the ILCA 6's Caleb Armit (YB) enjoyed a stellar day, taking out all three races to build a really strong lead on the fleet. Second placed George Lane (O) had a tougher day with a few errors creeping in (he shared the pesky mark problem with Tom). Dylan Forsyth (YB) just held onto third overall but Zach Stibbe (YB) moved strongly up the leaderboard with a great 2/3/2 record today to sit 4th overall. The leading 4 women all has slightly up and down days but Olivia Christie (OW) did enough to lie 5th overall and lead the women with Annabelle Rennie-Younger (OW) and Greta Pilkington (YG) tied on points only 2 behind Olivia, while Emily Overend (OW) is very much still in contention only a couple of points further back.
In the ILCA 6 Masters Phil Wild (AM) again dominated, winning 2 races, but allowed Werner Hennig (GM) through to win the first race of the day. So going into the final day Phil has a good lead from Master Ed Tam with Werner in 3rd. Pete Thomas in 6th overall is the leading GGM while Helen Spencer continues to be the leading Master Woman ahead of Hamilton teammate Lucia Chagas.
Two races are scheduled for the final day tomorrow, hopefully with an earlier midday start if the wind gods cooperate.
For full results click here