The Youth Scheme returned earlier this week from the 2019 Harken Youth International Match Racing Championship in Sydney, hosted by the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club. The racing ran from the 21st – 24th of November, providing tough competition for our Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club team.
The race course had fair breeze every day and the warm Sydney climate made for some enjoyable times after each racing day. The team finished 8th out of 10 teams losing out to Jed Cruikshank from Australia in the 7th – 8th Final, 2- 0 to Cruikshank.
It wasn’t easy getting the team together for this event, they had to resort to seeking a fifth member from the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron to have a chance at being competitive in the Elliott 7’s. Big thanks to Ashton Scott for stepping in and representing RPNYC with the rest of our team.
Overall Harken, as the sailors call it, has been a great start to the match racing season and our sailors are looking forward to the other events in the calendar. Congrats to Alistair Gifford representing the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron on is well deserved victory, we look forward to seeing him here at the 2019 New Zealand Youth Match Racing Championships from the 11th – 15th of December.
Thanks to Port Nich and the Wellington Youth Sailing Trust for helping to make match racing possible for the young sailors.
