Harken Match Racing- Light winds and big shifts dictate the finals

by Sara Roberts on 15 Feb 2011
CYCA crew Jay Griffin and his crew of Henry Kernot, Hamish Hardy and Will Parker sailed well in the extreme light airs which presented themselves on the Auckland Harbour this afternoon, to win the 2011 Harken Youth International Match Racing Championships.

The schedule for today was finals Griffin v David Hazard (RNZYS) first to win three.

Petit-final, Josh Porebski (RPNYC) and Jordan Reece (RSYS) first to win two, but only one race in each could be completed.

Griffin beat Hazard by 5 seconds and Reece beat Porebski by 43 seconds.

Race Two was started and then abandoned, and after much discussion between the Umpires and Race Committee the knock out series had to be terminated due to a lack of wind.

Meaning Griffin winning the only finals race is the overall 2011 Harken Youth International Match Racing Championship. Griffin who qualified for the final in fourth place commented 'We won the first race and were pretty happy with that. It hasn’t really sunk in yet that we have won. Coach Rob Bell helped a lot and did a good job, the Umpires and Race Committee did really well. It was a good regatta with really tight racing and we were happy to be anywhere in the top four.'

David Hazard was a bit shell-shocked after considering that the results would go back to who was the top placed skipper after the round robins. His crew Callum Jones commented 'At the end of the day we did what we could. We were leading, then we got a big shift and he got into puff and we couldn’t get back into them. All the team are continuing for another year in the RNZYS Lion Foundation Youth Training Programme and Hazard commented 'We had a great regatta, it was heaps of fun and we learnt heaps. We are always improving.'

In the petit-final Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron’s Jordan Reece beat Wellington’s Josh Porebski to take third place overall.

Commodore of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, Ross Masters commented at prizegiving 'We are really pleased with the work-out the teams have given the new Elliott 7’s and we have received so much great feedback that they continue to far exceed our expectations'. Masters thanked all the fantastic umpires, race management volunteers, support personnel, host families, and the ever growing group of Squadron members who all help put on this great youth event.

Also a special mention to our naming rights sponsors HARKEN New Zealand, whom he presented with a photo of the Harken sponsored Elliott 7.

The Dinghy Locker was full of teams, members, friends and family celebrating the great four days of racing and everyone is looking forward to next year already!

Today’s Results
Final
Griffin beat Hazard by 5s
Petit Final
Reece beat Porebski by 43s

Final Results
1st Jay Griffin, Cruising Yacht Club of Australia
2nd David Hazard, Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron
3rd Jordan Reece, Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron
4th Josh Porebski, Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club
5th Codie Banks, Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron
6th Valerio Galati, Lega Navale Italiana Trani
7th Adam Middleton, Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club
8th Stephanie Doyle, Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club