Issue date
George Lee Rush dominated racing at the North Island Optimist championships in Napier at the weekend, winning seven of the eight races to finish comfortably ahead of his nearest rival.
The 13-year-old, who sails out of the Wakatere Boating Club, continued on his form of 2017/18 when he won the national title and also finished the season as the country's top-ranked Optimist sailor.
Lee Rush finished on a perfect seven points from the North Island championships, with his drop a fifth placing in the penultimate race. He was 23 points ahead of Kohimarama's Rowan Kensington with Hugo McMullen (Hamilton Yacht Club/Kohimarama) a further two points behind in third.
Kohimarama's Amelia Angus was the top girl and seventh overall, with the Murrays Bay Sailing Club pair of Lucy Leith 12th and Naiomi Ferrissey 14th.
The first two days of the three-day regatta favoured the lighter sailors, with predominantly gentle winds, but this all changed on the final day as winds close to 20 knots buffeted the course.
The regatta also ran alongside the third round of the Traveller Series for Starlings, with Quinn Kusanic (Bay of Islands Yacht Club) making it three wins from three, narrowly finishing ahead of Kaan Yazici (Wakatere).
Most will now line up for the Sir Peter Blake Regatta at Torbay on December 1-2.
Results and standings from the North Island Optimist championships at the Napier Sailing Club:
Gold fleet (56 boats)
1st: George Lee Rush (Wakatere Boating Club) 1 1 1 1 1 1 (5) 1 - 7 points
2nd: Rowan Kensington (Kohimarama Yacht Club) 5 3 7 3 4 (13) 4 4 - 30 pts
3rd: Hugo McMullen (Hamilton Yacht Club/Kohimarama) 1 3 7 1 2 (39) 15 3 - 32 pts
Also
7th: Amelia Angus (Kohimarama) 7 1 5 6 (12) 10 2 9 - 40 pts
12th: Lucy Leith (Murrays Bay Sailing Club) 13 7 8 4 6 20 6 (22) - 64 pts
14th: Naiomi Ferrissey (Murrays Bay) 2 6 4 (15) 13 15 12 14 - 66 pts
Silver fleet (56 boats)
1st: Levi Jenkins (Kohimarama) 23 28 29 30 (38) 3 8 3 - 124 pts
2nd: Sam Elworthy (Murrays Bay) 31 27 (57 DNC) 20 23 20 2 2 - 125 pts
3rd: Logan Rodgers (Napier Sailing Club) 30 (36) 35 20 18 8 DPI 6 18 - 135 pts
Green fleet (24 boats)
1st: William Mason (Wakatere) 1 6 1 (8) 1 1 - 10 pts
2nd: Max Henshaw (Torbay Sailing Club) 2 9 5 1 (13) 3 - 20 pts
3rd: Hannah Williamson (Wakatere) 3 3 (15) 4 2 13 - 25 pts
Starling (28 boats)
1st: Quinn Kusanic (Bay of Islands Sailing Club) (10) 4 3 7 2 1 1 2 - 20 pts
2nd: Kaan Yazici (Wakatere) 11 1 (29 OCS) 1 1 5 3 1 - 23 pts
3rd: Luc Gladwell (Wakatere) 4 6 8 2 5 2 6 (9) - 33 pts
