Long time sailing rivals team up to win torrid 29er NZ Nationals
by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com/nz 5 Jun 09:24 AEST
NZ 29er Nationals - Manly Sailing Club - June 2025 © Jacob Fewtrell Media
Long-time sailing buddies Will Mason and Will Leech teamed up to dominate the 2025 Polished Concrete NZ 29er Nationals at Manly SC in challenging conditions over King's Birthday weekend.
The fleet was packed with the top Junior and Youth sailing talent, with past national champions in the Optimist, P class, 29er, and Starling classes dotted all through the fleet.
Mason, the defending champion who helmed in the 2024 Nationals, sailed in this year's event as a forward hand after his crew from last year, Italian exchange student Giorgio Mattiuzzo, returned home.
The two Wills (both 16 years old) have been competing against each other for six years in Optimist, P-class, Starlings, and 29ers; however, this is the first time they have sailed together. Leech was third in the 2024 Nationals and 9th at the European Championships in Poland last year.
Nelsen Meacham (15 years) and Joe Leith (17 years) finished second overall, 12 points behind Mason/Leech, with Hugo Smith (15 years) and Louis Quere (15 years) third overall, 5 points astern.
Bella Jenkins (15yrs) and Jess Handley (16yrs) were the top female crew, finishing 12th in the Open event.
Winds gusting to 30kts pummelled the 31-boat fleet for the first two days, easing to a more benign 8-15kts for the remaining two days of the 16-race event.
The race management team, superbly led by Harold Bennett and Steve Pyatt, did well to get the regatta away, putting the course into the corner of Kawau Bay to give the fleet some shelter from the relentless SW breeze.
While many regattas would have been cancelled in winds above 20 knots, competitors were advised at the briefings that, although conditions were at the top end for racing and beyond that for some, this was a New Zealand National Championship. The decision of whether to race lay with the competitors. They were advised to feel comfortable about not racing if they thought it was beyond their capabilities.
To their credit, none of the fleet backed off.
While the high surrounding cliffs afforded some shelter, the downside was the marked shifts created by the surrounding topography.
Four races were completed each day, and remarkably, the racing stayed on schedule.
Although the conditions were extreme, exceeding the America's Cup wind limits on the first two days, the top three boats got themselves sorted out and dominated the top of the fleet. On the first two days, boat handling was at a premium, and to the credit of the sailors, their skills and boat preparation ensured that none of the top 12 failed to finish a race, more than justifying the decision to race.
The two Wills were the most consistent crew in the fleet, finishing in the top three in 12 races and fourth in the other two, which made up their point score.
Mason and Leech's two discard races (7th and 8th places) both resulted from getting on the wrong side of wind shifts, from which they found it impossible to recover.
Their boat handling was the best of the fleet - not capsizing once in 16 races - in the flighty Bethwaite-designed skiffs.
Day 1 - Friday: Winds from 17 to 28 knots greeted the fleet. The left-hand side dominated, sailing close to shore at Manly. The two Wills opened their account with three wins, marred by an eighth place in Race 2, when they got caught on the wrong side of a major windshift.
Meacham/Leith turned a consistent scorecard of two second places and two fourth places to be second overall by a 1pt margin on the day.
Smith/Quere finished the day in third overall, starting well with a second and a win in the first two races before notching up a 6th and 4th.
Day 2 - Saturday: Winds from 18 to 30 knots, cold, southwesterly, very shifty. The top three placings were more evenly distributed amongst the top five boats, with Meecham/Leith adding 9pts to their total. Leech/Mason and Smith/Quere both clocked up 10pts from what was the windiest day of the series. Tom Pilkington and Campbell Stanton, making the most of a 25kg weight advantage, injected themselves into the regatta with a win in Race 7, but two sixths placings dropped them to 18 points from the Day 2 racing. Matteo Barker and Morgan Ley scored 23pts for the day under the low points system.
Day 3 -Sunday: The breezes remained in the SW but eased back to Winds from 10 to 16 knots. Matteo Barker and Morgan Lay, who finished fourth overall in the series, were more at ease in the lighter winds and scored the best card for the day, scoring a total of 12 points.
Mason/Leech sailed in the middle of the track, taking shifts, and was the second best-performed crew, scoring 13pts for the day, with Smith/Quere the third on the day with 18pts coming right in Race 11 with a second place. Meacham/Leith had a day to forget, starting well with a 1, 2 result, but crashed out in the next two races, scoring 11 and 12 places - which became their two discard placings.
Day 4 - Monday: The squally breeze remained in the same direction as the previous days but slightly stronger than Day 3, at 8 to 15 knots. Leech/Mason put their stamp on the regatta, scoring only 8pts from two race wins, a second and a fourth. They set themselves up for the day with a massive win in the first race - Race 13 - continued to roam at the top of the fleet and won the series with a race to spare. Meacham/Leith were the second-best performers on the day, scoring 13 points to take second overall. Smith/Quere scored their two discard races (7, 8), which were their discard scores, but finished strongly with a win and a second to confirm third overall.
A large group of 29er sailors head off in the coming months for the world championships in Foz do Douro, Portugal, with the class returning to Portugal in December for the World Youth Sailing Championships, for which the NZ trials are expected to be held in September.
For full results here (PDF format)
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