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Nick Egnot-Johnson and his Knots Racing team survived a nervy final day to win the 2021 Theland NZ Open National Keelboat Championship at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.
Egnot-Johnson and the team of Graeme Sutherland, Zak Merton, Alastair Gifford, Sam Barnett and Bradley McLaughlin held a comfortable five-point lead following the first day of racing after notching four wins and a third in the 11-boat fleet.
Chris Steele and his Theland Race Team sat in second but knew they needed to shake things up to catch Egnot-Johnson.
The first race of the day was a classic, as both boats entered a match racing dual. Steele pushed out Egnot-Johnson at the top mark which, in turn, allowed other boats to sail underneath them and overtake.
Steele led Egnot-Johnson out of that exchange but as they took different routes to the finish it was Egnot-Johnson who found the better breeze to survive the match racing onslaught and finish third in that race with Steele one back in fourth.
When asked about his tactics later that evening, Steele said: “Well, if you’re not first you’re last. We had to try something to get some points back on Nick. We gave it a good nudge, but it didn’t quite work out for us in the end.”
Chris Steele and his crew couldn't quite do enough to take the title. Banner image: The Knots Racing team celebrate their win. Photos: Andrew Delves / RNZYS.
Steele fought back to win the second race of the day, with Egnot-Johnson finishing well back in seventh, setting up an exciting final race. Steele needed to finish at least three places ahead of his rival to win the title.
The battle came down to the wire, especially with a congested fleet for most of the race. But Egnot-Johnson sailed impressively to cross in third, two places ahead of Steele, which gave the Knots Racing team their second Theland NZ Open National Keelboat Championship in three years.
“We had a decent lead heading into today but after a couple of bad results the gap closed right down heading into that final race," Egnot Johnson said. "That [final race] was tough and Chris was trying his best to push us down the fleet which made it super tricky, but we managed to get a couple of left shifts that really helped and we got there, just, in the end.
“As a skipper in these boats, you’re really just following your crew around the course and the guys have done an amazing job this weekend. I couldn’t have done it without them.
"It’s a great feeling to now be a two-time champion of this event. Last year we had a really tough result finishing sixth so it’s awesome to come back from that. We are really stoked.”
Tom Saunders was the big mover on Sunday, notching up two wins and a second to finish as runner-up overall, but acknowledged he was a beneficiary of Steele’s pursuit of Egnot-Johnson.
“I think I owe Chris a round of beers because he really let us get a few results today," Saunders said at prizegiving. "I would also like to say a big thanks to my crew, to the regatta sponsors Theland, to the race committee and to the RNZYS for putting on a great event.”
Final results:
1st – Nick Egnot-Johnson (Knots Racing / RNZYS)
2nd – Tom Saunders (TYPBC)
3rd – Chris Steele (Theland Race Team / RNZYS)
4th – Harry Thurston (Hotel Montreal Sailing / AYC)
5th – Graham Cunningham (RNZYS)
6th – Megan Thomson (2.0 Racing / RNZYS)
7th – Robbie McCutcheon (RNZYS PP)
8th – Sally Garrett (RAYC)
9th – Max McLachlan (Mastercard YTP / RNZYS)
10th – Peter Sumich (RNZYS)
11th – Peron Pearse (RNZYS)
Full results HERE
