Back to back titles for Price at Musto Intl Youth Match Racing Champs

by Olivia Price on 26 Nov 2016 Harry Price (CYCA) and his team of Harry Morton, Sam Ellis and Jack Hubbard win the Musto International Youth Match Racing Championship, defeating long-term rival Will Dargaville (RPAYC) three - one in the finals. George Anyon (RNZYS) took third place after winning the Petit Final against Will Boulden (RFBYC).

The semi-finals racing continued on Friday morning, after finishing two flights the afternoon before, in a five - nine knot shifty south-westerly breeze on Sydney Harbour. Wind strategy played a big part in the racing during the day, Anyon demonstrating a near perfect race in flight 3 by using the first shift to stay in phase and be almost a leg in front of Dargaville by the finish.

Flight 4 however went the other way, to allow Dargaville to win the semi-final three - one. Price was trailing Boulden for the first half of the race, but a big left shift levelled the playing field after the final top mark. Price took starboard advantage rights down the run, which paid off for him, giving a penalty to Boulden to lock down the match and progress to the Final three - zero.

The Petit Final was a hard fought series, Boulden took the win by a minute in the first match, however Anyon won the second match by a comfortable margin. The third match was lost at the start for Boulden, as Anyon pushed him over the line early to take a three length lead which he managed to the finish, to win the series two - one.

Price and Dargaville are no strangers to each other’s racing, and their pre starts at the Musto Youth 2016 showed how well they know each other’s style. They started at opposite ends of the line in Match One also spending the second work on opposite sides, both showing confidence in their wind strategy in the now 12-15 knot breeze. Yet it was Price who transferred a one length lead into a race win by 20 seconds. In Match Two, in yet another tight pre start, Price forced Dargaville below the pin lay line to start ahead, but Dargaville clawed his way back to a tight cross before the top mark, before having to follow Price in on the lay line. Price didn’t let his opponent breathe for the remainder of the race and won by over a minute.

In Match Three, Dargaville misjudged the pin lay line again to luff and start slow off the line. Price controlled the race until a sharp right shift for Dargaville meant that he took the lead, which he held to the finish line to take the series into another match, with scores two - one to Price. Eager to beat each other, Price and Dargaville attacked each other hard in the pre start, however a slight misjudgment by Dargaville at the start caused him to hit Price’s stern and receive a penalty.

“In Match Four, once we knew he had a penalty, we played it safe and never let Dargaville breathe. It was a hard fought regatta, today especially in the shiftier southerly breeze,” commented Price after the racing. “I want to thank my crew for this regatta, we were a tight knit team throughout. I also want to thank all the competitors, umpires, Race Committee and volunteers, my coach Jordan Reece, CYCA’s Pam Scrivenor and of course Musto for the regatta, and for supporting our team.”