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One club had more reason than most to celebrate results at the recent Tanner and Tauranga Cups sailed at the Evans Bay Yacht & Motor Boat Club in Wellington.
Sailors from the Kohimarama Yacht Club took out both the Tanner (Blake Hinsley) and Tauranga Cups (Sean Kensington) but, not only that, they also had the first girl (Stella Bilger) and Blake was second in the Tauranga Cup, picked up the Craig Monk Trophy for the top sailor over 55kg and was also joint winner of the P Class Traveller Series with Mason Mulcahy (Murrays Bay Sailing Club).
"It's fantastic," Kohimarama Yacht Club commodore Dan Alderson said. "The club has a real thing for the P-Class - it's a great class - and the kids enjoy it so much.
"We've always had a lot of Ps at the club. It takes up only half a season, finishing in January, and that fits in well with the Opti and Starling. We hosted the event last year and Chris Dickson came down and told the kids, 'if you can sail a P-Class, you can sail anything'."
Six Kohimarama sailors finished in the top 10 of the Tauranga Cup, which was sailed in challenging conditions. A couple of days were lost to strong winds but competitors also had to contend with swirling breezes and the jet stream from incoming planes landing at Wellington airport.
Hinsley won three of the six races in the Tanner Cup to finish two points ahead of Mulcahy, with Charlie Morton (also from Kohimarama) in third.
"I'm super-happy to have won this regatta," the 15-year-old Hinsley said afterwards. "All the really hard work and training I’ve done paid off in the end.”
He couldn't reel in Kensington in the Tauranga Cup, sailed across five races, with the 12-year-old Kensington posting four excellent results (2, 1, 1, 2) to finish seven points clear of his clubmate.
Kohimarama sailors have done the double previously, but usually by a single sailors - Carl Evans achieved the feat in 2006 - which shows the depth of talent they have at the club.
"It's a really keen group of sailors," Alderson said. "These kids often go out sailing together, not necessarily with a coach, and not all come from sailing families.
"There's also a really good group of parents who help each other out and they're backed up by some really good coaches, headed by George Gautrey."
Results from the Tanner Cup
1st: Blake Hinsley (Kohimarama Yact Club) 2 1 1 (9) 6 1 - 11 points 2nd: Mason Mulcahy (Murrays Bay Sailing Club) 1 2 2 (17) 5 3 - 13 pts 3rd: Charlie Morton (KYC) 3 6 3 3 4 (14) - 19 pts
Results from the Tauranga Cup
1st: Sean Kensington (KYC) 2 1 1 2 (15) - 6 pts 2nd: Blake Hinsley (KYC) 1 4 2 6 (30 DNF) - 13 pts 3rd: David Buchanan (Charteris Bay Yacht Club / Naval Point Club Lyttelton) 3 9 3 3 (13) - 18 pts
