Russ Evans wins NZ Moth title vacant for nine years

by Suellen Davies on 14 Feb 2017 Russ Evans has won the 2017 Moth New Zealand Championship, the first time the trophy has been awarded since 2008.

Hosted by Royal Akarana Yacht Club, Evans won the regatta by two points ahead of Pierluigi de Felice who unfortunately had a crash coming into the finish time on the final race which would inevitably decide the final outcome.

Over the two-day regatta 10 races were completed with two drops. The border line conditions made for challenging racing with a constant 15-20 knots both days. Due to the wind direction, racing took place east of Bean Rock, meaning the sailors also had ferry wake to contend with.

Speaking at the prize giving, Evans congratulated the other competitors on a great regatta.

“PG (de Felice), sorry about that crash on the last race, but that’s sailing!” said Evans.

“Yes that’s true! That’s sailing!” was the response from de Felice.

Third place went to Stuart Goodes, who had to withdraw from the final two races due to damage.

Fourth place went to Brad Marsh, who on Saturday said “that was the best day of Moth racing I’ve ever had in my life!” Sunday was a different story and Marsh was quoted as saying “that was the worst day of Moth racing I’ve ever had in my life…”

The next time the Moth fleet descends on RAYC will be the 1-2nd April for the annual Sail Akarana regatta. The two-day event will see entrants across numerous classes including 18’ Skiffs, 12’ Skiffs, Flying, 15, M-Class, RS Feva, Starling, A-Class, RS700, Waszps and Moths.

Results

1st – Russ Evans 12pts

3rd – Stuart Goodes 25pts
4th – Brad Marsh 29pts
5th – Hamish Pepper 33pts

Full Results:

Series Results [Moth] for Division 1 up to Race 10 (Drops = 2)

Place	Ties	Sail No	Skipper	Sers Score	Race 10	Race 9	Race 8	Race 7	Race 6	Race 5	Race 4	Race 3	Race 2	Race 1
1		4082	Russ Evans	12.0	1.0	1.0	[3.0]	1.0	2.0	[3.0]	1.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
2		4117	Pierluigi de Felice	14.0	3.0	4.0	1.0	[6.0F]	1.0	1.0	2.0	[4.0]	1.0	1.0
3		4326	Stuart Goodes	25.0	6.0S	[6.0S]	[6.0S]	3.0	3.0	2.0	3.0	1.0	3.0	4.0
4		4088	Brad Marsh	29.0	4.0	3.0	4.0	4.0	[5.0]	4.0	4.0	3.0	[4.0]	3.0
5		44	Hamish Pepper	33.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	4.0	8.0C	8.0C	[8.0C]	[8.0C]	5.0
6		TBC	Tom Baker	64.0	8.0C	8.0C	8.0C	8.0C	8.0C	8.0C	8.0C	8.0C	[8.0C]	[8.0C]
6		3098	Jordan Stevenson	64.0	8.0C	8.0C	8.0C	8.0C	8.0C	8.0C	8.0C	8.0C	[8.0C]	[8.0C]