Kristin School wins Harken Schools Regatta

by Sara Tucker on 9 Mar 2014
The Kristin School team of Leonard Takahashi, Sam Hassall, Rory McCutcheon and Oscar Gunn have won the 2014 Harken Schools Regatta.

15 year old Takahashi improved his results on the water today winning the Gold Fleet with a total of 16 points, after qualifying yesterday in fifth place overall. 'We had a difficult day yesterday but today the whole team improved and everything just went our way. All the competitors were really good and the racing was very close.'

Second overall, just one point behind was William McKenzie and his team from Glendowie College of Greg Hunter, Lisa Dartnall and Noam Whiteside. Rounding off the top three was young Henry Haslett and his crew from Kings College with 21 points overall. 'We bounced back from yesterday’s tough day on the water and were very happy with how we ended up' commented bowman Angus McKenzie.

When ask how he enjoyed the regatta Haslett commented 'It was heaps of fun, really tricky conditions but very rewarding when you do well.' The King College team had a fantastic day on the water with 3 thirds and 1 first but after a bad drop in race three where they trawled the spinnaker and were unable to finish the race so the maximum 11 points or DNF was added to their score.

Fourth overall were last year’s winning team Hutt International Boys School. George Gautrey and his crew of Callum Pritchard, Dan McDowall and Jono Francis ended the day very well with 2 first and 1 third but an OCS in race two meant they too would carry the maximum 11 point score.

The three day regatta was plagued by light airs and the Race Committee had the unenviable task of trying to complete 6 races on Friday & Saturday before the potential 8 races on Sunday.

The Race Committee persevered and on all three days took the fleet straight into the Big Shoal Bay area where they could hide from the large tidal flow of Auckland Harbour. 'We were lucky that the tides were suitable this weekend so that Big Shoal Bay was an option' commented Race Officer Gerald Flynn. 'It was great to complete the regatta and get all the scheduled races in and on time.'

This year’s event was originally a weekend regatta open to ten teams, but when more teams requested entries the Squadron Youth Committee extended it to include an additional 4 teams with racing held on Friday as well. This meant two groups would race, a Qualifying

A group of 4 schools on Friday of which the top 2 would go through to the Gold fleet and a Qualifying B group of 10 schools on Saturday of which the top 8 would go through to Gold fleet. This left 4 in the Silver Fleet to race up to 3 races on Sunday morning and the Gold Fleet with up to 5 races on Sunday afternoon.

Final Results

1st Kristin School A Leonard Takahashi
2nd Glendowie College William McKenzie
3rd Kings College Henry Haslett
4th Hutt International Boys School George Gautrey
5th KeriKeri High School Patrick Harris
6th St. Kentigern College Stephanie Kirkman
7th Auckland Grammar Sam Simpson
8th Rangitoto College Matt Kelly
9th Westlake Boys High School Josh Handa
10th Canterbury Combined Holly Harris
11th Takapuna Grammar Aidan Nicholas
12th Mahurangi College Jordan Stevenson
13th Long Bay College Joe Buckley
14th Kristin School B Hamish McGill

The Harken Schools Regatta was an initiate established by the Youth Training Committee to promote the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron Lion Foundation Youth Training Programme to schools in the wider Auckland Region. Since it’s beginnings in 2007 when the event was sailing in Elliott 6’s and only four schools entered it has grown not only in size but is now attracting schools from all over New Zealand. The event has been sailed in the Youth Training Programme Elliott 7’s since 2011.

For further information on the Harken Schools Regatta or the RNZYS Lion Foundation Youth Training Programme please contact Sara Tucker stucker@rnzys.org.nz 021 271 9286 or Coach Guy Pilkington gpilkington@rnzys.org.nz 0274 918 962.