Black Sheep win 2008 Open Team Sailing Nationals

by Kirsty Laws on 2 Jun 2008 The final day of the 2008 Open National Team Sailing Championships was sailed at Algies Bay today. The Black Sheep won the event in a close final from top placed youth team Mahurangi.

After struggling through the first two days with minimal wind, the breeze finally arrived, and the final day was sailed in perfect team sailing conditions, with a steady 8-12 knot westerly. The Black Sheep team of Bradley Farrand, James Sandall, Reuben Corbett, Georgina Hill, Natasha Sheldon and Jesse Tuke, went through the Round Robin undefeated. In the semifinal against the Harriers from Kerikeri High School they won the first race, lost the second but recovered to win the third. In the second semifinal Mahurangi lost the first race to ADLA but took the next two and the finals spot.

The finals were exciting viewing with Black Sheep winning the first in the best-of-five series, then losing two to Mahurangi before taking the final two races and the title. They are now qualified to represent New Zealand at the World Team Sailing Championships in Perth in January 2009. Three New Zealand teams can attend, so there will be intense competition at the Spring Regatta in October, the next selection event.

The silver fleet final was won by the Aussies (Brisbane), from the Zephyrs (Bucklands Beach). The Aussies had struggled initially with the unfamiliar 420 yachts and single-flag protest system, but were performing strongly by the final day.

Final results

Gold Fleet
1 Black Sheep (Bradley Farrand/James Sandall/Reuben Corbett/Georgina Hill/Natasha Sheldon/Jesse Tuke
2 Mahurangi (Rachel Basevi/Benny Butcher/Callum Jones/Donna Hamilton/Grant Hamilton/Paul Hazard/Mark
Noyer
3 ADLA (Laurie Jury/Adrian Short/Jon Rix/Matthew Spray/Cindy Hamilton/Lexie Langley)
4 Harriers (Jeff Clarke/Dylan Wichman/Rosemary Sim/Harris Bindon/Jay Presst/Erik Thomas/Hamish Coote)

Silver fleet
1 Aussies (Sam Kerr/Steve Martin/John Robson/Alex Kerr/Lauren Robba/Mindy Sirianni)
2 Zephyrs (Ash Hammond/Luke Deegan/Hayden Cockburn/Clark Hepworth/Tyler Logan/Emily Martin/Michael
Rogers)
3 Brown Sheep (Jimmy Maloney/Andy Maloney/Matt Coutts/Brad Moss/Molly Meech/James Turner)
4 Black Beauty (Soren Crabb/Rawiri Geddes/Julea Hamilton/Charlie Cartwright/Andrea Hawtin/Olivia
Geddes/Moritz Reum
5 SID (Logan Sutherland/Fenn Anderson/Abby/Samantha Zonday/Callum Conroy/Hugo Van Dyke)
6 VUSC (Reece Julian/James Sorensen/Paul Verry/Camilla Morley/Hana McGuire/Rebecca Davies/Tim Sherry)
7 Babaganoosh (Tom Richardson/Tom Healey/Kayne Jacobsen/Ella Kroch/Emilie Burger/Eleni Hogg)
8 Taranaki (Gye Simkin/Michele Lockhead/Jordelle Simkin/Paul Moriarty/Stuart Sutherland/Charlotte Sutherland)