Light conditions change the leader board on the final day of NZ OlympicSail

by Simon Wickham on 16 Apr 2001 Lake Taupo provided light breezes for the conclusion of Yachting New Zealand's
OlympicSail regatta.

New Zealand’s top Olympic class sailors had to pick their way through
patches of breeze on the course today. The conditions again testing the
precision and patience of the sailors as they worked hard to keep the boat
moving in light airs of 4 to 8 knots.

“It was another day of conditions that kept competitors on a knife edge
trying to get crucial boat speed in fickle breeze” says Yachting New Zealand
’s High Performance Manager, Peter Lester. “The light air lake sailing has
provided excellent training for those sailors heading to Europe and the
Northern Hemisphere regattas over our winter.”

Brazilian board sailor Martin Cordioli took out the last race for his first
win of the regatta but it was not enough to take the overall win from last
night’s leader Scott Radley. Radley sailed consistently throughout the
regatta to take out the title. In the Women's Boardsailing Sheena McKinnon
who led from day two finished first women and fourth overall in today’s race
to secure first overall for the regatta.

Overnight leader and Sydney 2000 Europe dinghy representative, Sarah Macky
could only grab one win today in the light airs with close rival Australian,
Jo Dikkenburg winning the other two. Macky had done enough in earlier races
to hold on to the overall win ahead of Dikkenburg.

Alistair Gair started today’s Laser racing with a buffer of 7 points from
Kris Decke and last year’s Youth World Champs representative, Andrew
Murdoch. Two costly last races placing 9th and 11th left Gair in second
behind the winner of the last race and overall winner, Andrew Murdoch.

In the Laser Radial class overnight leader Simon Baker had a forgettable
first race finishing last which gave Luke Judge the overall lead going into
the second to last race. A final charge from James Bilkey finishing 1st and
2nd in the last two races was not enough and Baker who finished race 10 and
11 ahead of Judge had enough in the bank to take the series.

In the Ok Dinghy Olympic Finn class representative Clifton Webb made a clean
sweep of today’s three races although it was not enough to claw back
overnight leader Nigel Mannering who finished the day with two second places
and a third to win the regatta from Russell Wood.

Andrew Brown and Jamie Hunt went into today’s racing 12-points ahead of
their closest competitor. Their fourth place in the first race of the day
secured the regatta for them and allowed them to drop both the last races to
take the overall win by 3 points. The Nick Taylor/Jen Cheyne combination
battled it out against Matt Davies/Kevin Burrows in the final two races for
second and third respectively. In the women's 470 Olympic rep Melinda
Henshaw with her new crew member since the Games, Sharon Ferris took out
race one. Their closest rival after day three, Shelly Hesson and Linda
Dickson finished last in the first race giving the Henshaw/Ferris duo enough
of a buffer to take first women overall.

Final standings after today’s racing are as follows:

Europe Dinghy

1st - Sarah Macky, 13 points (Kohimarama Yacht Club)

2nd - Jo Dikkenberg, 20 points, (Australia)

3rd - Abby Mason, 26 points ( Pupuke Sailing Club)

470 class open

1st - Andew Brown/Jamie Hunt, 18 points ( Murray’s Bay)

2nd -Nick Taylor/Jen Cheyne , 21 points (Muritai)

3rd - Mathew Davies/Kevin Burrows, 25 Points (RNZYS)

470 class Women

1st - Melinda Henshaw/Sharon Ferris, 26 points (Murray’s Bay)

2nd - Shelley Hesson/Linda Dickson, 30 points (Mt pleasant)

3rd - Charmaine Taite/Jenny Egnot, 51 points (Murray’s Bay)

Tornado catamaran

1st - Chris Skinner/Jason Williams, 7 points ( MHSC)

2nd - Geoff Copplestone/Tim Meldrum, 16 points (Takapuna)

Mistral Boards Men

1st - Scott Radley, 22 points (MOA)

2nd - Matin Cordioli, 25pts (Brazil)

3rd - James Wells, 26 points (Bucklands Beach Yacht Club)

Mistral Boards Women

1st - Sheena McKinnon, 43 points (MOA)

2nd - Julie Worth, 57 points (MOA)

3rd - Anna Eason, 75 points (Bucklands Beach Yacht Club)

OK Dinghy

1st - Nigel Mannering, 15 points (Napier)

2nd - Russell Wood, 19 points (PCSC)

3rd - Clifton Webb, 20 points (RNZYS)

Laser

1st - Andrew Murdoch, 31 points (Kerikeri)

2nd - Alastair Gair, 32 points (Murray’s Bay)

3rd - Kris Decke, 32 points (Takapuna)

Laser radial

1st - Simon Baker, 29 points (Torbay)

2nd - Luke Judge, 32 points (TBC)

3rd - J Bilkey, 36 points (Tamaki)

Full results will be posted on the web - follow the links from
www.yachtingnz.org.nz (go to ‘Latest news in brief’ - OlympicSail)

For further information at the event contact:
Simon Wickham, Chief Executive (025) 846 262
Peter Lester, High Performance Manager (025) 430 035