PredictWind Wingfoil Nationals - Sean Herbert leads after Day 1
by Suellen Hurling 6 Mar 2025 23:46 PST
PredictWind Wingfoil National Championships. Wakatere Boating Club. Day 1 - Friday 7 March © Suellen Hurling
Wakatere Boating Club on the water's edge of Narrow Neck Beach on Auckland's north shore came alive today with the opening of the 2025 PredictWind WingFoil National Championship.
Wingers from across New Zealand and even Australia descended on the community club for what was set to be an epic day of racing. The only thing that didn't turn up on time, was the wind! However, the PredictWind forecast was bang on, and everyone was racing by 1300 hours, two hours after the scheduled start time.
David Gunn, the New Zealand class president for the Wingfoils, took advantage of the delayed start by hosting an impromptu "sailors forum" to discuss the style of racing on offer, and what can be done to get more people into the class.
The goal is to have more club racing and significant events, with a ranking system in place so that sailors know where they stand before heading into a national championship regatta. The open discussion saw a lot of positivity in the room and a clear forward path for the class here in New Zealand.
Six races were completed for the self-appointed gold and silver fleets with 73 wingers on the race track. The remaining of the 107 fleet arrive on Saturday 8th March when the social division of weekend warrior wingers set sail.
While the conditions did increase enough for foiling to unfold, the race course was patchy, with the breeze oscillating. At one point there was a complete course change, however with the PredictWind MarkSet Bots as the course marks, changing everything was fast and efficient - and good for the environment!
Sean Herbert from Manly Sailing Cub leads the change in the gold fleet, getting bullets in five of the six races. A drop has already come into play, so that 6th he had from race one has already been discarded.
Sitting in second is Jeremiah Mcdonald from Bucklands Beach Yacht Club on 14 points and Kosta Gladiadis from Manly Sailing Club on 19 points in third.
The top ranked woman in the gold fleet is Stella Bilger from Wakatere Boating Club.
In the silver fleet Michael Scholes from Manly Sailing Club sits at the top of the leaderboard after that fleet's six races.
The top-ranked silver fleet woman is Ava Spencer from Australia, representing the Belmont 16-Foot Skiff Sailing Club.
Racing conditions for tomorrow, Saturday 8 March are light south-westerlies until about 1400 hours when the forecast shows 11-15 knots. The social sailors will join the fleet tomorrow! Standby for more winging action then.
Website: wakatere.org.nz/2025-nz-wingfoil-national-champs
Results: www.sailwave.com/results/WakatereBoatingClub/2025NZWindfoilNationalChamps.htm
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