Susannah Pyatt has come from behind win in NZ Women’s Match Racing
by Amber Roberts on 3 Mar 2013
Final Day, New Zealand Womens Match Racing Championship - Royal NZ Yacht Squadron Richard Gladwell
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Susannah Pyatt and her team of Jenna Hansen, Olivia Powrie and Heather Trudgen, representing the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, won the 2013 New Zealand Women’s Match Racing Championships, which concluded on the Waitemata Harbour on Sunday.
After the win was confirmed, Pyatt commented, 'We are pretty ecstatic actually; I can’t stop smiling, we did it!' Pyatt claims the Leith Mossman Memorial Trophy for 2013.
Pyatt won two out of three races against Melinda Henshaw (RNZYS) in the Semi Finals, despite losing the first race to Henshaw by 40 seconds; the biggest margin of the semis.
On a day of little to tricky winds, Pyatt came from fourth position after Round Robin 1 to win the regatta from Samantha Osborne (RNZYS) who has dominated throughout the event.
On the final day of racing, and with Auckland’s breeze being difficult, the leaderboard – which had been relatively consistent to this point - had a massive shift. In second place Henshaw, also representing the RNZYS, came from behind to secure second overall behind Pyatt.
After dominating the regatta for two days, Osborne was relegated to third overall. Osborne was unsure how to sum up her lack of fortune today; 'What I’m thinking you can’t really write down; we messed up, it was a tricky day.' In the Petit Finals Osborne won two of her three races against Pierce by relatively slim margins.
In fourth place overall Pierce (RNZYS Lion Foundation Youth Training Programme), who has been consistent in her position throughout the regatta, commented, 'Our result was good overall but our lack of training showed through in these tough conditions; however overall I’m happy.'
PRO Mike Best summed the day up as frustrating; 'We had 60-70 degree wind shifts and 0-15 knots.'
The RNZYS congratulates Pyatt, her crew and the all the other competitors who took part in this fantastic regatta and looks forward to welcoming everyone back for next year’s event.
Final Placings
1st Susannah Pyatt Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron
2nd Melinda Henshaw Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron
3rd Samantha Osborne Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron
4th Claudia Pierce RNZYS Lion Foundation Youth Training Programme
5th Hannah Osborne RNZYS Lion Foundation Youth Training Programme
6th Michelle Tait Buckland’s Beach Yacht Club
7th Genevieve Kayat New Zealand Multihull Yacht Club
Semi Finals and Finals
Flight One
Henshaw beat Osborne (DNF)
Pyatt beat Pierce (DNF)
Flight Two Results
Osborne S beat Henshaw by 4m 50s
Pyatt beat Pierce by 56s
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