NZ Secondary Schools Teams Racing Day 3 - Teams Racing in Full Gear
by Hamish Hey on 1 May 2013
Contestants - NZ Secondary School Teams Racing Nationals Hamish Hey
Two teams have stepped up to challenge Tauranga Boys College in the NZ Secondary Schools Teams Racing Nationals on Lake Taupo.
In conditions ranging from 8 to 15 knots last years runners up Lindsfarne College from the Hawkes Bay and KeriKeri both outscored Tauranga in the second round to close the gap and be placed second and third respectively behind the first round winners.
The leader board remains tight with the top teams all taking races from each other and five points separating the top five teams. In the overall standings KeriKeri (5pts) are hot on the heels of Tauranga (4 pts), with Westlake Boys (7pts) in third and Mahurangi (8pts) in fourth just ahead of Lindsfarne (9pts) in fifth.
The conditions freshened as the day progressed making an exciting spectacle on the water front with racing in close proximity to the shore, the town is abuzz with the coloured sails making a picture perfect spectacle.
In the silver fleet Napier Girls were in dominant form winning all nine races and earning a place in Gold fleet with a win over Marlborough Girls in the repo charge. Behind them the racing was tight. Timaru Boys lead the challenge, but testament to how even this fleet is, they scored 6 wins to the 9 of Napier Girls, with five teams – Chch Boys, Glendowie, New Plymouth Boys, Waimea and Went worth are tied 5 on points.
Meanwhile in the Bronze fleet, Macleans found a winning way today going unbeaten then beat New Plymouth Girls in the repo charge to return to the Silver fleet for tomorrow’s third round of racing. Local teams Tauhara and Taupo Nui a Tia College had yet another ding dong battle, with the lesser fancied Taupo Nui again taking the honours and in doing so denying Tauhara (the only team to take a win of Macleans in the round which started on Tuesday) a chance to progress upwards in the repo charge.
Round 3 gets underway on Thursday morning at 9.15am.
For full results visit the NZTSA website : http://teamnz.myblog.net.nz/
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