YDL NZ Match Racing - Semi-Finalists selected at the end of Day 3

by Georgia Witt, RNZYS on 15 Oct 2016 Graeme Sutherland, Sam Meech, David Chapman and Chris Steele all advance into the semi-finals which begin Sunday at 10am.

Graeme Sutherland and his crew of David Hazard, Tim Snedden and Mike Bullot were the last to qualify for the semi-finals with a scoreline of 2 – 1 after losing his first quarter final race to David Wood. Sutherland then came back to take the next two races and his spot in the semi-finals.

Sutherland commented ”We came into the regatta not knowing what to expect results wise, today we had to learn how to match race again” he joked.

Olympic medallist Sam Meech with his crew of Andrew MacKenzie, Tom Betham and Jimmy Maloney grabbed the second semi-final spot after beating Malaysian Jeremy Koo 2-nil.

Single handed dinghy sailor Meech commented on how he had to quickly learn how to communicate with his crew “When the breeze shifted I would just start sailing really really low and get ready to gybe and not tell anyone, lucky my team are really, really good!”

Australian skipper David Chapman was the next to qualify proving that pulling a crew together last minute can work! His all New Zealand crew of Al Gair, Carl Evans and Sam Marshall won their quarter final 2 – nil against fellow Australian Evan Walker.

Grabbing the final spot in the semi’s was RNZYS’s Chris Steele and his 36 Below Racing crew of Harry Hull, Josh Salthouse and Harry Thurston who are all Youth Training Programme graduates securing their spot by beating the current Youth Training Programme team helmed by Matthew Hughes.

Chris Steele commented on his regatta so far “bit rusty for the fleet racing, we had to dust out the cobwebs, happy to be back into match racing.

All in all it was a great day on the water. With light and fluky conditions to fresh and for a few perhaps frightening, the day was full of some epic wipe outs and some awesome match racing.

At this afternoon's press conference the top ranked Sutherland choose to race Meech in the first Semi Final “It’s always a tough pick, as everyone is good but after we had to explain to Sam how to enter this afternoon we chose him” Sutherland joked!

Meech commented “I can’t wait for tomorrow - I am loving it!”

This leaves Chris Steele to race David Chapman. Steele commented “Should be a good trans-tasman clash! I am predicting fireworks and plenty of yelling!”

Tomorrow’s semi-finals are the first to win three races before the finals.

The final four will face off in a round of semi-finals then onto finals, all of which will be commentated by America’s Cup veteran and the ‘voice of yachting’ Peter Montgomery on frequency 102.4 FM, listen within a 1.5km radius of the RNZYS.

Today’s Results

Quarter Finals:
Sutherland beat Wood 2 – 1
Meech beat Koo 2 – 0
Chapman beat Walker 2 – 0
Steele beat Hughes 2 - 0

Super 16:
Sutherland beat Dawson 2 - 0
Meech beat Kayrouz 2 - 0
Chapman beat Dair 2 - 0
Hughes beat Hielkema 2 - 0
Walker beat Haybittle 2 - 0
Steele beat Marsh 2 - 0
Quere beat Wood 2 - 0
Koo beat Anyon 2 - 0

Final results:
5th Matthew Hughes RNZYS YTP
6th Evan Walker CYCA
7th Alan Quere CNC
8th Jeremy Koo RSYC
9th David Wood MCC
10th George Anyon RNZYS YTP
11th Robbs Hielkema BOIYC
12th Frankie Dair KCC
13th Oakley Marsh RPNYC
14th Patrick Haybittle RNZYS YTP
15th Erica Dawson MBSC AON Fasttrack
16th Francisco Kayrouz WBC KRISTIN SCHOOL
17th Celia Willison RNZYS YTP
18th Brian Trubovich RNZYS
19th Tom Fyfe MBSC

For full results click here