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George Lane wasn't fazed when he lined up for the make-or-break race in his quest to become New Zealand's latest world champion sailor in Poland last night.
After all, he's grown accustomed to dealing with pressure situations in recent weeks.
Lane held off the challenge of Montenegro’s Nikola Golubovic and Brit Jon Emmett in the final and decisive race at the ILCA 6 (Laser Radial) world championships in Dziwnow to claim the title at his third attempt, despite relatively little time in the boat over the past few months.
“At the start of this event, I had one kid who was 23 months old and one kid who was 23 days old,” Lane laughed.
“I’ve not done a lot of sailing since the national championships [at Murray’s Bay in Auckland in January]. Instead, I’ve been working on my parenting game a lot and backing up some brownie points with my wife, Grace, so that I could get away on this trip.”
Not that more time on the water would have helped much, the 31-year-old Hamiltonian admits.
“All my recent training has been on very flat, very small lakes and when I came here, it was big waves every day.
“Even when there's no wind, there's a lot of waves. I had to go deep into my playbook and try to remember some of the stuff from when I was still based in Auckland.”
Lane was at the front of the 15-boat fleet throughout the event, securing top-five finishes in all 12 races – including four race wins.
“We had a really big range of conditions," he said. "Halfway through the competition, we had three pretty windy days, followed by three very light days.
“A couple of the guys are very quick in the light, while others are very quick in the breeze. The people who could string together a few good results ended up coming to the front and I think my consistency paid off.”
George Lane secured the world title with victory in the final race. Photo / Jenny Armstrong. Main photo / Marek Wilczek
With the title riding on results in the last race, Lane sought the advice of Yachting New Zealand coach and Olympic gold medallist Jenny Armstrong.
“Three of us were still able to take the win and five of us could have got onto the podium in the last race,” he said.
“Jenny and I had a chat beforehand, and we decided that I would just try to win the race and see what happens. Turns out it was good enough.”
Lane is the first Kiwi to bag a medal at the event since Blair McLay's bronze in 2005 and the first to win gold in 22 years.
Mike Bullot is the only other New Zealander to have won the ILCA 6 men's title with his victory in 2001 in Vilanova.
Lane’s come up short at the world championships twice before.
“I have had a few cracks at it now, so it's nice to finally get one over the line. It’s a very special feeling, surreal.”
Three other Kiwis were also in action in Poland, with Zach Stibbe claiming an impressive 61st place in the 259-strong youth men’s fleet and Naiomi Ferrissey and Gabriella Kenton-Smith finishing 31st and 95th respectively against 98 other competitors in the youth women’s competition.
Final standings and results from the 2023 ILCA 6 youth and men’s world championships in Dziwnow, Poland:
ILCA 6 men (15 boats)
1st: George Lane (NZ) (5) 4 3 1 5 5 1 5 5 1 4 1 - 35 points
2nd: Nikola Golubovic (MNE) 2 3 5 5 (8) 6 3 1 1 2 3 6 - 37 pts
3rd: Jon Emmett (GBR) 4 5 6 2 3 (9) 5 3 4 3 1 2 - 38 pts
Youth men (259 boats)
1st: Mattia Cesana (Ita) 2 1 3 7 5 2 15 3 9 (16) 4 11 - 62 pts
2nd: Dima Karabadzhak (Ukr) 9 13 4 2 (BFD) 1 25 15 3 1 1 16 - 90 pts
3rd: Hidde Schraffordt (Ned) 3 1 7 3 2 2 10 5 33 28 10 (51) - 104 pts
61st: Zach Stibbe (NZ) 30 20 21 2 12 22 (57) 51 41 44 56 54 - 353 pts
Youth women (100 boats)
1st: Emma Mattivi (Ita) 7 2 2 2 1 4 20 (22) 6 2 7 1 - 54 pts
2nd: Ginevra Caracciolo (Ita) 3 1 1 8 11 2 7 5 17 3 10 (22) - 68 pts
3rd: Roos Wind (Ned) 1 1 1 6 2 8 19 9 (22) 10 3 20 - 80 pts
31st: Naiomi Ferrissey (NZ) 20 23 32 16 7 19 21 (41) 24 12 35 21 - 230 pts
95th: Gabriella Kenton-Smith (NZ) 27 22 41 44 34 38 (48) 43 43 48 48 46 - 434 pts
Full results here.
