Bayleys NZ Laser Nationals - A snowy backdrop to Day 2 at Taupo

by Nick Page on 20 Jan 2017 Fresh snow overnight on the mountains at the southern end of Lake Taupo and a moderate SW breeze meant that sailors arriving at the yacht club this morning were greeted by bracing temperatures which resulted in most sailors wearing enough layers of clothing when going on the water to qualify for Michellin man ads.

However the clouds mostly cleared, the sun came out and the breeze moderated to provide a challenging but beautiful days sailing with all races completed to schedule. While breeze had a little more South in it than yesterday and was much lighter it was again challenging for all with strength varying from almost nothing to 15 knots and 20 degrees shifts, all every few minutes, combing to significantly shake up the results in several divisions and make consistency hard to achieve.

Day 2 Results:

In the Open there is a fantastic contest developing between the NZL and Chinese teams. New Zealand sailors are 1,3, 5 and 7 at the end of day 2 with the Chinese team 2, 4, 6 and eighth. Still leading is defending champion Andrew Mckenzie, but only by a single point from Jianan Wu who had a really strong day and was the model of consistency with two first and a second. Tom Saunders is only 4 points back in third overall with recent youth graduate George Gautrey scoring a bullet in the last race to move up to fifth overall.

In the Radial another fantastic contest is developing. After five races top youths Alastair Gifford and Josh Armit are tied on points with a good break on third place Susannah Pyatt. Josh won one of today's three races while the other were won by master Scott Leith and youth Albert Stanley, both of who's overall ranking should benefit tomorrow once a discard comes in as both are currently carrying an OCS. Both Alastair and Josh have been super consistent so far so it may be a case of who blinks first in deciding the ultimate winner. Another notable feature is that there are three women in the top six with Stephanie Devaux Lovell in fourth and Youth Worlds rep Olivia Christie in sixth joining Susannah to keep the guys honest.

In the Masters Race 3 was completely dominated by Nick Brewer from Tamaki. He picked the right hander on the first beat and was never threatened after that. Race 4 was a completely different affair with the lead changing several times and was finally decided only as the fleet neared the finish line when Giles Grigg found some pressure in the left corner and sailed around the leading bunch to record the win. Mark Oliver and Anthony Merrington also featured at the top of the fleet in both races to consolidate top three spots overall with Giles. Defending champion Andrew Dellabarca and past champion Kris Decke both suffered from ending up on the wrong side of the first beat in both races to give themselves a challenge for the rest of the series.

In the Masters Radial overnight leader Phil Wild found the day more challenging, like Andrew and Kris in the Standards getting on the wrong side on the first beat to make life difficult for himself but still managed to lead overall at the end of the day. Race 1 was won by Werner Hennig from Hamilton, who managed to hold onto an early break while in Race 2 Richard Blakey just scraped in on the line over GM past World Champ Mike Keeton, who enjoyed the lighter conditions today.

Richard had a tough first race today and is another who will be looking forward to a discard coming into play. Leading Grand Master is Hamish Atkinson from Christchurch who has again shown super consistency to sit second overall while defending champion Ed Tam sits fourth after a tough second race.

With tomorrow's forecast for completely different condition, light Northeasterlies, and half the series still to come there are sure to be opportunities and plenty of further challenges for all.

For full results click here