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Four young Kiwi 420 crews are set to race in Europe this season – with one of the teams hoping to replicate their recent dominance on the domestic scene when the start gun fires in July.
Joe Leith and Josh Ferrissey, who achieved a runaway victory at this year’s 420 national championships at the Evans Bay Yacht and Motor Boat Club in Wellington, will lead the Kiwi contingent at the 420 Junior European Championships in Gdynia, Poland between 3 and 10 July.
The duo from Murrays Bay Sailing Club won all 12 races at the class nationals in March – a first at the event in the double-handed dinghy they only started sailing a year ago.
Also competing in Poland will be runners-up at the nationals, Cameron Brown and Alex Norman (Wakatere Boating Club), who beat Leith and Ferrissey at the Oceanbridge NZL Sailing Regatta in February.
Joining the two crews in Alicante in Spain for the 420 World Championships a few weeks later 21-29 July) are Napier Sailing Club crews Jed Potbury and Finn Balchin; and Tara Labat and Rose Dickey.
New Zealand has a proud tradition in the 420, with the likes Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie, Carl Evans and Peter Burling, Alex Maloney and Bianca Barbarich-Bacher and Seb Menzies and Blake McGlashan all winning world titles.
Meanwhile, the travelling teams for the 2023 Optimist World Championships have also been announced.
Charlie Bridger (Charteris Bay Yacht Club), Nathan Soper (Murrays Bay Sailing Club), Ekhi de Jager (Napier Sailing Club), Matteo Barker (Murrays Bay Sailing Club), and Isaac Gaites (Murrays Bay Sailing Club) will represent New Zealand in Costa Brava, Spain from June 15.
They will be accompanied by coach Orestes Reyes, team manager Juliet Bridger and country manager Dean Barker.
