NZL Sailing Foundation Youth Team: Two crews left in the Medal chase after Day 4
by Michael Brown / Yachting NZ 14 Jul 2022 10:06 AEST
12 July 2022
Nicola Hume / Daniella Wooldridge (NZL) - Girls 420 - Allianz Youth World Sailing Championships - Day 4 - The Hague - July 2022 © Sailing Energy / World Sailing
George Lee Rush and Seb Menzies made up some ground on the leaders, in the Boys 29er skiff event, but not as much as they hoped, setting up an exciting final day at the Youth Sailing World Championships in The Hague tonight (NZ time).
The pair are now six points adrift of their Argentine rivals in the Boy's 29er with a maximum of two races scheduled to round out the regatta. The only problem, and it's a fairly big one, is the fact the breeze isn't expected to build until the afternoon and both the Boy's and Girl's 29er needs to be wrapped up by 3pm local time.
"There are a lot of variables," Lee Rush surmised. "But it's very exciting racing. Seb has been around the block a little bit but I'm new to all of this."
Lee Rush and Menzies are New Zealand's only realistic medal hope going into the final day of the youth worlds. Helena Sanderson and Cam McGlashan are fifth in the Nacra 15 but would need for results to go their way to find themselves on the podium.
15yr old Hugo Wigglesworth is still seventh in the Boy's Kitefoiling and Lucas Day and Sam Scott ninth in the Boy's 420.
Day and Scott posted their second top-three result of the regatta, illustrating their potential. Sanderson and McGlashan also banked two thirds (along with a ninth) and Caleb Armit was second in his last Boy's ILCA 6 race of the day to give the New Zealand flag more prominence at this event.
"Those results show our sailors have the ability to be at the front of the fleet but they've also been too inconsistent," New Zealand coach Sam Mackay said.
"It has been a very long regatta, with massive days on the water, and everyone is feeling it a bit but we had a team meeting tonight and we'd really like to see everyone finish strongly. For some combinations, it might be the last time they sail together, while for others it's a really valuable learning experience."
The sailors enjoyed the best conditions of the regatta so far, with the breeze building to around 14 knots by the end of the day.
It was the sort of conditions Lee Rush and Menzies had been hoping for but their day didn't exactly get off to the best start.
"We struggled in the first race," Lee Rush said. "We had a tight cross with the Argentinians so had to do some spins and there was a heap of tide so had to do some more spins for hitting a mark. We just weren't in the groove so had a shocking one there. But we managed to get up and go in the second and had good pace from there [to finish second and fourth].
"We were a bit gutted not to get a fourth race in [as had been scheduled] because there was plenty of breeze and plenty of time left but they just called it for some reason. It would have been nice to have another one today because the Argentinians weren't going that well. It would have been good to claw some more points back on them, but that's how the dice rolls some times."
Four crews are realistically battling it out for the three medals in the Boy's 29er, with Great Britain and Spain not far behind the Kiwis, so Lee Rush and Menzies will likely go out and sail the best races they can rather than get too caught up in all the calculations or targeting someone
"We could have a bit on," Lee Rush predicted. But where else would he rather be?
Results and standings after Day 5 of the Youth Sailing World Championships in The Hague:
Boy's Kitefoiling (19 boards)
1st: Maximilian Maeder (SGP) (3) 1 (2) 1 1 2 2 (7) 1 1 1 1 1 1 - 13 points
2nd: Riccardo Pianosi (ITA) 1 (2) 1 (2) (2) 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 - 17 pts
3rd: Jakub Jurowski (POL) 2 3 3 (11) (6) 5 (7) 2 2 3 5 5 3 4 4 - 39 pts
7th: Hugo Wigglesworth (NZL) 9 (DNC) 7 7 (11) 7 5 6 7 (14) 9 8 9 7 - 81 pts
Nacra 15 (14 boats)
1st: Grandjean / Fehlmann (SUI) 1 2 2 2 (4) 1 1 1 2 - 12 pts
2nd: Garcia de la Casa / Garcia de la Casa (ESP) 2 (4) 1 1 1 3 4 2 1 - 15 pts
3rd: Rideau / Moreau (FRA) 4 1 3 4 3 2 2 (UFD) 3 - 22 pts
5th: Helena Sanderson / Cam McGlashan (NZL) 5 6 4 (9) 6 5 3 3 9 - 41 pts
Girl's ILCA 6 (56 boats)
1st: Eve McMahon (IRL) 2 1 1 (3) 1 1 - 6 pts
2nd: Evie Saunders (AUS) 1 7 2 (10) 2 8 - 20 pts
3rd: Katharine Doble (USA) 3 6 (16) 4 7 2 - 22 pts
32nd: Teaghan Denney (NZL) 33 (41) 19 30 39 18 - 139 pts
Boy's ILCA 6 (61 boats)
1st: Peter Barnard (USA) 7 7 (2) 2 7 3 - 26 pts
2nd: Rocco Wright (IRL) 2 (17) 4 7 6 7 - 26 pts
3rd: Ole Schweckendiek (GER) 8 2 (29) 6 5 5 - 26 pts
14th: Caleb Armit (NZL) 4 24 (39) 28 15 2 - 73 pts
Girl's 29er (23 boats)
1st: Pefaur / Pantin (ARG) 3 2 3 3 1 3 (5) 3 2 (7) - 20 pts
2nd: Gout / Babin (FRA) 1 1 5 7 3 1 1 2 (9) (UFD) - 21 pts
3rd: Ichihashi / Goto (JPN) 2 3 2 (DNF) (23) 8 3 4 7 5 - 34 pts
16th: Lucy Leith / Lizzie Shapland (NZL) 20 18 16 (DNF) 15 17 8 9 6 (UFD) - 109 pts
Boy's 29er (24 boats)
1st: Videla / Funes de Rioja (ARG) 1 1 1 2 8 2 1 (9) 4 4 (9) - 24 pts
2nd: George Lee Rush / Seb Menzies (NZL) (7) 4 7 3 2 5 2 1 (14) 2 4 - 30 pts
3rd: Sesto Cosby / Wilkinson (GBR) (17) 2 3 4 3 7 4 (10) 1 5 6 - 35 pts
Girl's 420 (21 boats)
1st: Michelini / Bonifaccio (ITA) 2 7 8 4 3 4 (9) 2 - 30 pts
2nd: Perello / Mora (ESP 1 6 1 (UFD) 10 12 1 1 - 32 pts
3rd: Wehrie / Rinn (GER) 5 1 2 3 1 5 15 (BFD) - 32 pts
16th: Nicola Hume / Daniella Wooldridge (NZL) (21) 17 10 12 13 16 19 13 - 100 pts
Boy's 420 (23 boats)
1st: Levy / Gal (ISR) 1 1 10 4 (13) 6 3 1 - 26 pts
2nd: Barcelo / Villamueva (ESP) 2 (10) 1 5 1 8 9 9 - 35 pts
3rd: Sancho / Vozone (POR) 7 9 3 (17) 2 3 6 5 - 35 pts
9th: Lucas Day / Sam Scott (NZL) 11 7 11 3 9 (19) 12 3 - 56 pts
Girl's Windfoiling (29 boards)
1st: Tamar Steinberg (ISR) (1) (1) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 - 8 pts
2nd: Merve Vatah (TUR) 1 1 1 1 1 (7) 5 1 (17) 2 - 13 pts
3rd: Lina Erzen (SLO) (DNF) 3 5 3 5 1 1 5 3 (6) - 26 pts
18th: Aimee Bright (NZL) (DNF) 13 17 11 19 19 17 15 11 (DNS) - 122 pts
Boy's Windfoiling (31 boards)
1st: Charlie Dixon (GBR) 1 1 (3) 1 1 1 1 1 (17) 1 - 8 pts
2nd: Hidde van der Meer (NED) 1 3 1 1 7 7 (DNS) (9) 3 3 - 26 pts
3rd: Harry Joyner (AUS) (9) (9) 7 3 5 5 3 3 1 2 - 29 pts
29th: Jack Parr (NZL) (DNS) 25 27 27 25 15 25 31 (BFD) 24 - 199 pts
Full results youthworlds2022.sapsailing.com