Issue date
The New Zealand Team Sailing Association and Sandspit Yacht Club are preparing for this year’s Secondary Schools Team Sailing Nationals, led by event organiser Ross Sutherland.
The event will be held at Algies Bay, Warkworth, with sailing starting on 24th April and continuing through to Friday 29th, with 31 teams (225 sailors) representing schools from the Cook Islands down to Timaru.
Following on from the five recent regional regattas, which were held at various venues around the country, with a total of 56 teams participating, eight South Island teams are making the long trip north.
After the two New Zealand girls’ teams came first and second ahead of four Australian girls’ teams at the Interdoms in Canberra last year, there seems to be a fresh spark in the schools, with eleven all-girls’ teams entered. Napier Girls, New Plymouth Girls, Marlborough Girls’ College and Nelson College for Girls are expected to be top contenders for the Jim and Margaret Park Trophy for top girls’ team, with the Kerikeri Girls team climbing the ranks after their debut in 2013.
Among the open teams there is also plenty of competition. Top challengers for the Maersk Zealand Trophy are last year’s winners Auckland Grammar, along with consistent top place-getters Kerikeri Open. Also in the mix is Wentworth, who started school team sailing in 2011 and recently narrowly lost to Kerikeri at the North of the Bridge Regatta.
Kristin, is attending their third Nationals and is expected to be vying for the medals, along with stalwarts Kings and Westlake Boys. Queen Charlotte College, with three female skippers, won the Top of the South regatta and should hold a position in the top fleet.
Due to the consistently high numbers attending, the fleet is ranked into three divisions, based on previous results, with opportunities to progress through the fleet.
It is a huge undertaking to organise at least forty 420 sailing dinghies, 15 umpire boats, with qualified umpires, plus sailor change-over vessels with sufficient loading capacities, as well as the standard regatta requirements for the two courses.
NZTSA is grateful for the support of Yachting New Zealand in assisting in the running of an umpires’ course just prior to the event.
The regatta can be followed on the NZTSA website www.nzteamsailing.co.nz , which will have live scoring of the races from the finish boats.
