Steele holds lead in Harken Youth International Match Racing

by Melanie Benton on 13 Feb 2012
Chris Steele from the RNZYS has maintained his lead on the leader board, winning 4 races today from 5 matches. With a total of 14 wins overall he is only one point clear of Jordan Reece and two clear of David Hazard and Tim Coltman.

The Trans-Tasman rivalries are really beginning to show on the leader board but there are yet two final Flights of Round Robin Two to be sailed.

On 13 wins is Jordan Reece, of Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron. Reece has won convincingly 4 out of his 5 matches today, however George Brasell from Buckland Beach Yacht Club made him work with a 12 second margin between them, this being the closest racing for Reece today.

Ashlen Rooklyn, from Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, is placed third tonight on 12 points having won all his matches today. 'This morning was boring, there was no wind and we had to wait quite a while for the racing to start. Luckily there was good video of yesterday’s racing and we watched that. Then the wind filled in and we went sailing. We felt fast and the boat handling was good. In our last race versus Chris Steele we picked good wind shifts and just chipped away at each tack to put more distance between us. At the top mark we had a good lead and played our own race. I felt the team work and boat handling was 100% today. It is close between the top 5 teams and we are just chipping away race by race'.

With 11 points both Tim Coltman from Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club and David Hazard from the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, are not letting the leaders run away. Coltman had 3 wins today, one of them versus Hazard while Hazard who also won three matches today had this to say: 'We had a good start to the day with wins over Nicholas Howe, Carla Sexton and Katie de Lang. the crew work was good and we had sorted our gybe out. We had good speed in the light airs. We had full control against Tim Coltman during the prestart but lost the groove with a minute to go and Tim led the whole way round the track. Against Jordan Reece he won the start and we just couldn’t catch him. We hope to have a better day tomorrow; we have matches against Adam Middleton and Chris Steele. We are looking forward to the last match as there is a lot of rivalry between us and Chris'.

Next on the board with six points each are newcomer George Brasell and all women’s team Katie de Lange. Both Katie and George have had some tough matches today but have shown they can hold their own by not letting the front runners run away. Brasell won his first and fifth matches today and stayed close to the leaders for all other matches, holding them to between 10 to 20 seconds. Katie de Lange won her last match against Adam Middleton and also stayed close in the other four matches.

Three points for Adam Middleton and Nicholas Howe. Middleton from Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club sailed against Brasell first then had matches against the top four followed by de Lange late this afternoon. Nicholas Howe the second team from Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, who yesterday still hadn’t won a match in Round Robin two made a late comeback to win two of his five matches.

Carla Sexton from the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club sails with a mixed crew and they have displayed some great crew work and determination although she hasn’t put points on the board this round.

Points Table
Chris Steele - RNZYS - 14 wins / 2 losses
Jordan Reese - RSYS - 13 / 3
Ashlen Rooklyn - CYCA - 12 / 4
Tim Coltman - RPNYC - 11 / 5
David Hazard - RNZYS - 11 / 5
Katie de Lange - RNZYS - 6 / 10
George Brasell - BBYC - 6 / 10
Adam Middleton - RPNYC - 3 / 13
Nicholas Howe - RSYS - 3 / 13
Carla Sexton - RPAYC- 1 / 15

Round Robin Two
Results Flight Three
Match 2
Brasell beat Middleton by 1m50s Middleton
Hazard beat Howe 43s
Rooklyn beat Reece 46s
Steele beat Coltman 14s

Flight Four
Hazard beat Sexton 43s
Rooklyn beat de Lange 1m34s
Coltman beat Middleton 14s
Reece beat Howe 1m21s
Steele beat Brasell 26s


Flight Five
Howe beat Sexton by 10s
Rooklyn beat Coltman by 8s
Steele beat Middleton by 13s
Hazard beat de Lange by 13s
Reece beat Brasell by 12s

Flight Six
Coltman beat Hazard by 17s
Howe beat Brasell by 10s
Rooklyn beat Sexton by 27s
Reece beat Middleton by 1m
Steele beat de Lange by 16s




Flight Seven
Brasell beat Sexton by 22s
Coltman beat Howe by 18s
Reece beat Hazard by 43s
De lange beat Middleton by 19s
Rooklyn beat Steele by 1m47s


Round Robin Two concludes tomorrow morning – Tuesday 14th February – scheduled for a 10am start,with Flight eight and Nine to complete to find the finalists. With some top matches to be races it will be a nailbiter. Make sure to keep an eye on the website www.rnzys.org.nz for updates during the day.