Youth Trials - Stewart and Haslett tie up Nacras with a day to spare

by Yachting NZ edited by Sail-World.com on 14 Oct 2017 Greta Stewart and Henry Haslett have an unassailable nine-point lead in the Nacra fleet at the Yachting New Zealand Youth Trials, after winning seven of the nine races in the Nacra fleet.

They went into today’s racing having won the first seven races but were beaten by Helena Sanderson and Jack Honey (Bay of Islands) in two of today's three races. It was a long day, with a big wait on the beach in between the first and second day as they waited for the breeze to fill in.

“We can’t say it’s going bad,” said Stewart, who is on the helm. “We are doing well at recovering from little things that go wrong, staying calm and keeping focused.”

It’s a trait that comes from plenty of experience. Stewart collected bronze medals at the last two youth sailing world championships with her older sister Kate in the 29er and Haslett was 13th with Josh Berry in the boy’s 420 at last year’s pinnacle event for youth sailors.

But they’re both new to the Nacra, teaming up in the boat about three months ago, and they’re still getting to grips with catamaran sailing.

“It’s a case of learn as we go,” Haslett said. “We haven’t spent much time in this boat, with Greta living overseas [in Bermuda] for the first half of this year. Every day is a learning day for us.

“They are the funnest boat you can sail in the youth classes but it was a huge jump for me [from a 420]. I mixed some of my 420 sailing with 29er and Waszp sailing as well so it helped the transition to the faster boats. The cats are a different beast altogether with two hulls and learning how to keep a boat healed over instead of dead flat.”

They are clearly quick learners, having recently won the NSW youth championships, and they have already wrapped up the Nacra class at the youth trials. Van der Zalm has also won the boy's RS:X and Seb Menzies and Blake McGlashan can't be overtaken in the boy's 420.

Some of the other classes are a lot closer and only one point separates the top crews in the boy’s 29er, there are two points between the leaders in the girl's Laser Radial and three separating the top two crews in the girl's 420.

Three races are scheduled Sunday for the Nacra, RS:X and 29er fleets and one for the Laser Radial and 420s when more puff is expected off the Whangaparoa Peninsula.

For the full YNZ report clicj here

Results and standing after the third day of the Yachting New Zealand youth trials at Manly Sailing Club Saturday:

Nacra 15

1st: Greta Stewart / Henry Haslett (Murrays Bay Sailing Club / Waketere Boating Club) 1 1 1 1 1 1 (2) 1 2 - 10 points
2nd: Helena Sanderson / Jack Honey (Bay of Islands Yacht Club 2 3 (4 DNF) 2 2 2 (4 RET) 1 2 1 - 19 pts
3rd: Hamish McLaren / Rebecca Morgan (Royal Akarana Yacht Club) 3 2 2 3 3 3 (4 DNF) 3 3 3 - 25 pts

Boy's Laser Radial

1st: Josh Armit (MBSC) 1 1 1 1 2 (5) 1 2 - 9 pts
2nd: Alastair Gifford (Queen Charlotte Yacht Club) 2 (21 DSQ) 2 2 1 3 2 1 - 13 pts
3rd: Luke Cashmore (WBC) 7 6 8 7 7 2 (9) 4 - 41 pts

Girl's Laser Radial

1st: Annabelle Rennie-Younger (MBSC) 5 3 5 3 3 (10) 5 5 - 29 pts
2nd: Olivia Christie (Worser Bay) 3 2 4 4 5 (12) 6 7 - 31 pts
3rd: Samantha Stock (MBSC) 15 16 16 (17) 16 9 7 13 - 92 pts

Boy's 420

1st: Seb Menzies / Blake McGlashan (MBSC) (4) 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 - 9 pts
2nd: James Barnett / Sam Street (Tauranga Yacht & Power Boat Club / WBC / MBSC) 1 2 2 2 2 3 2 (4) - 14 pts
2nd: Robbie McCutcheon / Jono Weston (Wakatere) 3 1 4 4 3 2 (8) 2 - 19 pts

Girl's 420

1st: Xanthe Copeland / Annabel Cave (WBC) 2 4 3 3 4 (7) 6 7 - 29 pts
2nd: Ella Gladwell / Alice Haslett (WBC) 5 5 5 (9 RET) 7 4 3 3 - 32 pts

Boy's 29er

1st: Sebastian Lardies / Scott McKenzie (Kohimarama Yacht Club) 1 2 (4) 2 1 1 1 3 1 2 - 14 pts
2nd: Francesco Kayrouz / Jackson Keon (Wakatere / MBSC) 2 1 2 1 2 2 2 2 (4) 1 - 15 pts
3rd: Lewis Anderson / Pat Morgan (KYC) (8.0) 4 3 3 5 6 3 1 3 6 - 34 pts

Girl's 29er

1st: second: Emma French / Zelda Ladefoged (MBSC) 6 8 8 6 (11) 7 6 6 6 4 - 57 pts
2nd: Crystal Sun / Olivia Hobbs (KYC) 7 6 (11) 5 9 3 8 8 10 8 - 64 pts
3rd: Kerensa Jennings / Safron Nixon (MBSC) 9 7 7 12 6 5 10 12 14 (15) - 82 pts

Boy's RS:X 8.5

1st: Max van der Zalm (TYPBC) (2) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 - 8 pts
2nd: Lloyd Perratt (MBSC) (4) 4 4 3 3 3 2 2 3 - 24 pts
3rd: Max Meffan (Nelson Yacht Club) 5 5 5 2 4 2 (6 BFD) 3 2 - 28 pts

Girl's RS:X 8.5

1st: Veerle ten Have (TYPBC) 1 3 3 (5) 2 4 3 4 4 - 24 pts