Matthew Steven takes Wellington Youth Yachting Supreme Award

by Youth Scheme Media on 28 Mar 2009
Mayor Kerry Prendergast announced Mathew Steven as the Supreme Award winner at the Wellington Yachting Talent Development Programme Awards.

In announcing the award the Mayor said 'the Yachting Talent Development programme has the clear aim of increasing the number of Wellington youth sailors achieving on the International stage and it has certainly been a stellar first year for the programme. I am delighted that the Wellington City Council has been able to play a part in the success of these young sailors.'

Of the twenty two sailors involved in the programme twelve sailors reached the standard required to be eligible for an award. To be eligible sailors needed to have been selected for a New Zealand team or to have achieved a podium finish in a national, international or world championship. Wellington Yachting Association president Brian Budd said 'with such a competitive line up the selection panel had a tough job choosing the supreme award winner'.

Steven took out the award with a string of podium results that included winning the OK Dinghy Junior World champion title, skippering the team that won the National Youth Match Racing Championship and being mainsheet hand for the team that won the World University Match Racing Championship. 'I am really honoured to receive this award. We have a great bunch of sailors in Wellington at the moment and we are all pushing each other really hard.'

In talking about the future Steven said 'in Match Racing we've got plans to keep competing on the Trans Tasman circuit over the next two years and improve our world ranking to a point where we can break into the World Match Racing Tour. The OK Dinghy World Championships are in Wellington early next year and I am keen to try and win the junior title again'.

Grant Dalton was the guest speaker at the awards and he congratulated the young Wellington sailors on a very successful year which had not gone unnoticed by Emirates Team New Zealand. 'Our team is not getting any younger so it is great to see that the future of yachting in New Zealand is in such good heart with so many young sailors performing so well. It is great to see the young Wellington sailors do so well, keep it up' said Dalton.

The success doesn't stop there for Wellington Youth Yachting. As the awards were about to be announced news came through from Japan that young Wellington sailor Josh Porebski had won the Japanese Yachting Federation youth team selection trials.