Samantha Osborne retains lead on Day 2 of NZ Womens Match Racing

by Amber Roberts on 2 Mar 2013
Samantha Osborne (RNZYS) retains the lead on Day 2 of the 2013 New Zealand Women’s Match Racing Championships, being conducted by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron .

As with the previous day, second highest ranked skipper in the event, Osborne won all of her six races by good margins. Osborne’s win against second place holder Susannah Pyatt was by a margin of 26 seconds. Osborne commented, 'Today we were more confident, more clinical; we learned a lot yesterday and today we were able to capitalize on it. Today felt a lot more fluid.'

Pyatt (RNZYS) had an outstanding day with results that moved her from Round Robin 1 fourth place to second after the completion of Round Robin Two. Pyatt’s leap up the leaderboard was due to wins against Michelle Tait (37 seconds), Hannah Osborne (17 seconds), Melinda Henshaw (1 minute, 9 seconds) and Claudia Pierce ( 19 seconds).

After another consistent day, and retaining her third place position, Pierce’s (RNZYS Lion Foundation Youth Training Programme) two losses were to Samantha Osborne and Pyatt. A noted win of Pierce’s, in the battle of the Lion Foundation Youth Training Programme skippers, was against Hannah Osborne by 25 seconds.

Next overall was Melinda Henshaw (RNZYS) in fourth spot who moved up from fifth spot after a good day on the water.

It was not the best of days for Hannah Osborne who lost her Round Robin One second placing to slip to fifth spot overall. Hannah’s errors cost her on a day of results that left Osborne and crew gutted with their results.

Michelle Tait (BBYC) maintained her sixth spot from Round Robin One; Tait commented, 'Today was better than yesterday; we learned a lot during the regatta and I’ve noticed a hug improvement in our team. This has been a huge learning curve and a very positive experience.'

Again newcomer to match racing Genevieve Kayat was unable to post a win on the board, on a day that included a DNF against Pyatt in Flight Four due to her failing to finish. Despite her day Kayat was ever positive; 'Everything felt better today; we had a fun day and have learned so much from this regatta.'

On the third and final day of the regatta the top four sailors will go through to the Semi Finals. The forecast for Sunday is 10-15 knot westerly.

So after a great day two of the regatta the points table looks like this:

Samantha Osborne – Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron 6/0/6
Susannah Pyatt – Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron 5/1/6
Claudia Pierce - RNZYS Lion Foundation Youth Training Programme 4/2/6
Melinda Henshaw – Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron 3/3/6
Michelle Tait – Buckland’s Beach Yacht Club 2/4/6
Hannah Osborne – Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron 1/5/6
Genevieve Kayat – New Zealand Multihull Yacht Club 0/6/6

Round Robin 1 Placings Win/ Loss/ Races

Samantha Osborne 6/0/6
Hannah Osborne 4/2/6
Claudia Pierce 4/2/6
Susannah Pyatt 3/3/6
Melinda Henshaw 3/3/6
Michelle Tait 1/5/6
Genevieve Kayat 0/6/6

For results and regular updates throughout the regatta visit the Squadron homepage www.rnzys.org.nz and our Facebook page www.facebook.com/Royal_New_Zealand_Yacht_Squadron