Kerikeri High School wins Harken School Series

by Sara Tucker on 3 Apr 2011
The Kerikeri High School team of helm of O’Shea Butler, Sam King, Sam Brierley & Klaus Ohlendorf continued their winning streak in the RNZYS Harken Schools Regatta, adding another 6 wins, 1 second and 1 fourth to their points table. A great days sailing when your worst race is a fourth.

The 40 young sailors got to experience a range of conditions over the 2-day event with light airs racing on Saturday and then moderate breezes building to 15 knots this afternoon which really tested their skills when the races were only 20 minutes long.

The Kerikeri High School team follow on the tradition of winning this event, after getting their Schools name on the trophy for the past 3 years.

The Kings College team put in another great performance on the water and held on to their second placing overall, just infront of Rangitoto College who also held onto their third placing.

The big movers of the day were the two St. Kentigern College teams who were sitting in ninth and 10th place after day one. The team helmed by Stewart Dodson added 3 podium finishes to their score and jumped up the leader board to fourth place overall.

The other team helmed by George Brasell jumped up to sixth place overall.

In between the two boys teams was the only all female team representing Westlake Girls High School. The ladies had a very consistent day on the water and were only pushed down one place to finish fourth overall surrounded by much ‘heavier’ teams!

Even Race Officer, Gerald Flynn commented on the fast and furious day on the water 'It was a great day and we were glad to complete all 12 races. It was great to see how the youths sailed with the much larger HARKEN spinnakers onboard today'.

At prizegiving there were lots of smiles and tired faces. The top 3 teams were presented with HARKEN vouchers for their School Sailing Teams.

General Manager of HARKEN New Zealand, Garry Lock was there to present the vouchers and also commend the teams for the fantastic racing and great skills shown in the new Elliott 7’s.

Lock and RNZYS Commodore Ross Masters were grateful for the support of all the Auckland Schools and especially Kerikeri and the Canterbury Combined Schools team for coming all the way to Auckland for the event.

All involved are already looking forward to next year! If you have a school sailing team interesting in competing please contact one of our Coaching Staff.

Final results
KeriKeri High School – O’Shea Butler (Boat 2. Watts & Hughes) 16 points
Kings College – Jack Collinson (Boat 1. International) 46 points
Rangitoto College – Alex Dyet (Boat 3. Team Telecom) 59 points
St. Kentigern College – Stewart Dodson (Boat 6. Western Mailing) 69 points
Westlake Girls High School – Holly Hamlin (Boat 9. Doyle Sails) 70 points
St. Kentigern College – George Brasell (Boat 8. Yachting Developments) 73 points
Albany Senior High School – Erica Dawson (Boat 5. Whiting Power) 74 points
Westlake Boys High School – Sam Schofield (Boat 4. Harken) 87 points
Canterbury Combined Schools– Jay Harris (10. Boating NZ Magazine) 91 points
Mahurangi College – Angus Adamson (Boat 7. Soar Printing) 93 points

Background
The RNZYS HARKEN Schools Regatta is an annual event hosted by the RNZYS and sponsored by HARKEN NEW ZEALAND since 2007. It is an initiative by the RNZYS Lion Foundation Youth Training Programme Committee to promote the programme to schools in the wider Auckland region.

Forty eight Auckland High Schools were invited to enter with 8 taking up the challenge plus teams from Kerikeri High School and a Canterbury Combined Schools team who have made the journey all the way to Auckland for two days of one-design racing.

Honours Board
2007 Auckland Grammar School
2008 Westlake Boys High School
2009 Kerikeri Sailing Academy
2010 Kerikeri High School
2011 Kerikeri High School