Leslie Egnot wins New Zealand Womens Keelboat Championships 2011

by Sara Tucker on 13 May 2011
Women’s Keelboat Racing veteran Leslie Egnot has won the 2011 New Zealand Women’s Keelboat Championships, sailed at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, Auckland, New Zealand.

Egnot and her ‘Team North Sails’ crew of Jenny Clarke, Keryn McMaster, Kylie Jameson, Felicity Lind-Mitchell, Sara Tucker & Amy Batchelor won the event which ended up consisting of just the minimum six races.

Danielle Bowater (RNZYS) finished in second place overall just 1 point behind Egnot and Samantha Osborne (RNZYS) finished third overall.

The championship was last held in 2009 when the RNZYS team helmed by Jessica Smyth won the series which was sailed out of the Royal Akarana Yacht Club in their fleet of Platu’s. After a year’s break Tom Macky, on behalf of the MRX Owners Association put in a bid to run the event in the Farr MRXs. Yachting New Zealand granted Macky approval and with the support of the RNZYS and many emails to ‘prospective ladies’ the dates were set.

Over 14 teams registered their interest and eventually 9 teams, each consisting of 7 women, entered. There were 8 teams from Auckland and 1 team from the Tauranga Yacht & Power Boat Club helmed by Holly Farmer.

Racing on Saturday was in the Northern Leading Area and the teams arrived eager and early at the dock and were out on the race course as a moderate breeze started to fill in.

Melinda Henshaw and crew won the first race with Samantha Osborne second and Joy Adams third. Egnot and Farmer both got ‘massive chunks’ of weed, although Farmer’s was more like a whole tree, on their keels and finished eighth and ninth respectively.

In race two the tables turned with Egnot taking first place, with Bowater second and Henshaw with another top 3 placing.

The youngest skipper in the championships, Sarah Toothill representing the Bucklands Beach Yacht Club, was the winner of race 3, with Egnot second and Farmer third.

After race 3 the breeze really filled in and the Race Committee lead by Celia Carson flew the flag to change down to Number 2 headsails. Race Four was another win to Egnot, and in Race 5 another rising young star Danielle Bowater, grabbed her first win.

In the final race of the day it was all the younger girls showing their stamina with Tootill adding another win to her score, Osborne second and Bowater third.

It was anyone’s guess who was going to be on top of the points table at the end of day one and each team was left to ponder that during the long motor home.

After de-rigging back at the dock, the points were calculated and it was Egnot leading by just 1 point clear of Bowater who was four points clear of Osborne.

Sunday began and went! No racing was completed. One race was started in the morning and abandoned. With the Race Committee and mark laying team, working overtime in the tricky conditions of a maximum Auckland tide and extreme light airs. One more race was started in the afternoon but was abandoned when the trailing boats rounded the bottom mark and hoisted their spinnakers on the final upwind leg, pointing at the leading boats still sailing upwind.

At prize giving thanks went to the MRX Owners Association and the RNZYS for all their efforts in organising the event. Thanks for a great weekend of racing, went to the hard-working Race Management team lead by Celia Carson who was a competitor and on the organising committee in the inaugural NZ Women’s Keelboat Championships 1990 finishing second, to Leslie Egnot.

Claire Johnson was awarded the Sportsmanship Trophy for being the first to enter her team.

Also a special mention to Farmer and her team from Tauranga who were, as always, awesome competitors!

The teams are all looking forward to next year’s event. Make sure you watch the RNZYS website for next year’s dates …. coming soon.

Final results
1st Leslie Egnot Kawau Island Yacht Club 19 points
2nd Danielle Bowater Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron 20 points
3rd Samantha Osborne Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron 24 points
4th Melinda Henshaw Royal Akarana Yacht Club 25 points
5th Sarah Tootill Bucklands Beach Yacht Club 26 points
6th Joy Adams Bucklands Beach Yacht Club 30.5 points
7th Holly Farmer Tauranga Yacht & Power Boat Club 35 points
8th Angie Crafer Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron 43.5 points
9th Claire Johnson Shorthanded Sailing Association of NZ 48 points

Honours Board
1990 Leslie Egnot
1991 Leslie Egnot
1992 ----
1993 Colleen Bassett
1994 Amy Waring
1995 Amy Waring
1996 Amy Waring
1997 Kylie Hogg
1998 Kylie Hogg
1999 Sharon Ferris
2000 Amy Waring
2001 Teresa Borrell
2002 Amber West
2003 Karleen Dickson
2004 ----
2005 ----
2006 Karleen Dickson
2007 Jan Dawson
2008 Jan Dawson
2009 Jess Smyth
2010 ----
2011 Leslie Egnot