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Competitors on both sides were left contemplating port tacks, points and penalties as New Zealand took out the Zhik Trans-Tasman eSailing Championships by the narrowest of margins on Sunday.
The trans-Tasman showdown saw the six top sailors from the Zhik New Zealand eSailing Challenge take on six of Australia's top eSailors, with the combined scores of the top four from each country determining the overall winner.
Australia cleaned up in last year's inaugural event, filling the top four individual places, but New Zealand turned the tables in 2021 to win by a single point. New Zealand went into the fifth and final race with a handy 13-point lead but the gap closed considerably as some struggled to come to grips with the volatile F50s.
"It felt pretty good to win," said Aidan Gordon, who was the top sailor overall. "Australia usually beat us in a lot of things so it was good to get the better of them on this occasion. We are slowly getting better at it."
The New Zealand team had a few practice sessions together and stitched together a plan to work as a team. But Gordon said this was sometimes thrown out, with the key ingredient sailing fast.
It saw him overturn a disappointing first race in the five-race series, when he finished seventh, and Gordon went on to win three of the next four races.
He was well supported by Matt Blakey, who won the other two races and was second overall. Blakey lives in Melbourne and sailed for Australia last year but considers himself very much a Kiwi and took out the recent Zhik New Zealand eSailing Challenge.
Gordon, who finished 13th in the Nacra 17 at this year's eSailing Olympics, said the standard of eSailing in this country was improving and he ran weekly racing with many of the best on a Wednesday night as well as regular hook-ups with a number of Japanese eSailors.
He also felt the game presented opportunities to teach youngsters how to sail and is keen to try it out on a few at his local club, the Wakatipu Yacht Club in Queenstown, when they're allowed to return to the water after lockdown.
"You can teach them about how you can't sail into the wind, the point of sail and how to get around a race track before heading out on the water," he said. "I think it would be really useful. I'm a visual person so it would have been good for me."
For now, Gordon will have to be content with sailing on the screen. And making sure the Kiwis beat the Aussies again next year.
Results and standings from the Zhik Trans-Tasman eSailing Championships:
1st: Aidan Gordon (NZL) (7) 1 3 1 1 - 6 points
2nd: Matt Blakey (NZL) 1 7 1 4 (8) - 13 pts
3rd: Quinten Palmer (AUS) (9) 2 2 6 4 - 14 pts
New Zealand: 69 pts
Australia: 70 pts
- You can catch a full replay of the Zhik Trans-Tasman eSailing Championships here
- Anyone interested in joining the Wednesday night racing can contact Aidan Gordon on aidangordon_13@icloud.com.
