YDL NZ Match Racing: Four through to the Quarters - Day 2
by Andrew Delves, RNZYS 5 Oct 2018 05:32 PDT
6 October 2018
Yachting Developments Ltd New Zealand Match Racing Chamionships - Day 2 © Andrew Delves
Day 2 of the Yachting Developments NZMRC got underway at ten o’clock this morning in beautiful sunshine on the water outside the RNZYS. First up were the two remaining fleet races for the Silver and Gold fleets to determine the final seeding heading into the match racing knockout round of sixteen.
After the completion of the fleet racing, it was Josh Junior who topped the leaderboard and secured the number one seed. Leonard Takahashi had a good couple of races notching up a third and a first which sent him into second overall. Third was Nick Egnot-Johnson and his Knots Racing Team, with Laurie Jury fourth, Chris Steele 5th and young RNZYS YTP Sailor Jordan Stevenson in 6th. Rounding out the top eight was Frankie Dair (RNZYS YTP) and Yann Rigal from Tahiti. By finishing in the top eight, it meant these skippers could choose who they would race in the knockout round of 16.
However before the Round of 16 could get underway there needed to be a do or die playoff match race between the sixteenth and seventeenth ranked competitors, YTP sailor Megan Thomson and RNZYS club stalwart Brian Trubovich, with the loser heading home early. Trubovich took out the first match but it was Thomson, and her team dubbed the Thomson Trawlers who won the next two matches and qualified for the round of 16.
Now that the top 16 was set, the top four ranked competitors took to the water to take on their chosen opponents in a first to three match. Junior chose Thompson, Takahashi chose young Josh Berry, Egnot-Johnson chose RNZYS YTP skipper Nick Gardiner, and Jury chose Callum Radford’s Wellington team.
As one might expect with the top four taking on the lowest ranked racers, all four matches ended up being three – nil, but there were some pretty close races amongst them, including the match-up between Egnot-Johnson and Gardiner. “It was really good to get into some match racing this afternoon, we really enjoyed the fleet racing, but it was nice to get started again and get into our match racing processes. Nick Gardiner put up a really strong fight against us. We felt quite rusty today - I think it must have been bad nutrition or something, but it was still good to get it done three nil.”
Leonard Takahashi, a former Kristin School student, took on Josh Berry and his Kristin School team. Takahashi was pretty happy with how his Pacific Racing Team went after not doing any match racing for a while - “Yeah it was good to do some match racing practice and get back into it. It’s been about three months since we’ve done any match racing, a few pre-starts and working things out with the team. We are stoked to come out and qualify for the quarterfinals.”
Top seed Josh Junior made light work of Thomson’s Trawlers, with plenty of pre-start penalties meaning he had an easy run to finish in all three matches. Junior and his all-star team showed their class all day on the water and are certainly deserving of their number one ranking.
The other match with Jury taking on Radford’s Wellington/RPNYC Youth Scheme Team also looks pretty one-sided on paper. However, all three matches were pretty close, with Radford taking the lead a few times and never fell too far behind the experienced 2009 champion.
Tomorrow morning will see the remaining four matches of the round of sixteen take place to determine the final four spots in the quarterfinals, and they are all set to be absolute classics. Two-time champion Chris Steele will take on Eli Liefting’s Selwyn College Team. Jordan Stevenson will take on Celia Willison and her all-girl NZ Women’s Match Race Team, Frankie Dair and Patrick Harris will have an all RNZYS YTP battle, and RNZYS Performance Programme Skipper James Wilson – who has Olympic Sailor Alex Maloney on his team – will take on Tahitian Yann Rigal.
Racing will get underway at 10 am at the RNZYS.
LIVE Results can be found here: matchracingresults.com
Follow the RNZYS on Facebook Page for daily updates, photos and press releases following each days racing: rnzys.org.nz/sailing-events