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Seb Menzies and Blake McGlashan might be one of the youngest combinations at the Hempel youth sailing world championships but the only numbers they care about are results and they've made a good start in Gdynia.
Menzies, 14, and McGlashan, 16, enjoyed the more stable conditions on day two of the youth worlds to climb to the top of the boy's 420 standings. They were second and fourth in today's two races and hold a two-point advantage over Spain's Martin Wizner and Pedro Ameneiro.
Helena Sanderson and Jack Honey are the next best of the New Zealanders in sixth in the Nacra 15 and Luke Cashmore is 13th in the boy's Laser Radial and Samantha Stock 15th in the girl's Laser Radial.
Menzies and McGlashan came into the youth worlds fresh from a silver medal at last week's 420 world championships in Portugal. They were disappointed not to claim gold for the second year running in the open class but that experience has proved invaluable so far this week.
"Competing in the 420 worlds was the perfect preparation for us for the youth worlds," Menzies said. "Today was generally good and we are happy with our start. There are still areas we need to improve on which is the plan for tomorrow."
McGlashan added: "It has been challenging so far but the key will be to maintain our composure for the rest of the regatta, keeping consistently low scores and not getting caught up in duels with other boats."
One of those in the 30-boat fleet will be the Spanish pair of Wizner and Ameneiro, who pipped them for gold at last week's 420 worlds. Both have similar scorecards and it will be a case of minimising mistakes over the next three days of racing.
The Nacra 15 is emerging as an intriguing class, with only four points separating the top four boats and New Zealand's Sanderson and Honey are not far behind in sixth. The Bay of Islands pair were sixth, 11th and eighth in today's three races.
The girl's 420 and girl's 29er, along with both RS:X fleets, had their opening races today after they failed to get a race in on day one due to a dying breeze. The New Zealand combinations struggled and will be looking for improved results on day three.
The youth worlds is the pinnacle event for youngsters under the age of 19 and New Zealand has a proud history of success, having won a total of 55 medals including 17 gold, 20 silver and 18 bronze dating back to the first regatta in Sweden 1971. The 2018 team won a record-equalling four medals in the United States.
Results and standings after day 2 of the youth sailing world championships in Gdynia, Poland, overnight (NZ time):
Boy's 420 (30 boats)
1st: Seb Menzies / Blake McGlashan (NZL) 1 (9) 2 4 - 7 points
2nd: Martin Wizner / Pedro Ameneiro (ESP) 3 (8) 1 5 - 9 pts
3rd: Achille Casco / Elliot Schick (SUI) 5 4 3 (6) - 12 pts
Girl's 420 (24 boats)
1st: Madeline Hawkins / Yumi Yoshiyasu (USA) 1 (7) 1 - 2 pts
2nd: Kana Kobayashi / Natsumi Shirasu (JPN) (9) 5 2 - 7 pts
3rd: Theresa Steinlein / Lina Plettner (GER) 4 (10) 3 - 7 pts
22nd: Sydney Cunliffe / Rebecca Hume (NZL) 19 20 (21) - 39 pts
Boy's 29er (28 boats)
1st: Ville Korhonen / Edvard Bremer (FIN) 1 (3) 3 - 4 pts
2nd: Mathias Berthel / Alexander Franks-Penty (NOR) (4) 4 2 - 6 pts
3rd: Marius Westerlind / Olle Aronsson (SWE) 2 7 (24) 9 pts
17th: Eli Liefting / Jack Frewin (NZL) (16) 15 10 - 25 pts
Girl's 29er (25 boats)
1st: Antonia Schultheis / Victoria Schultheis (MLT) (5) 2 3 3 - 8 pts
2nd: Berta Puig / Isabella Casaretto (USA) 3 5 1 (7) - 9 pts
3rd: Freya Black / Millie Aldridge (GBR) 6 (10) 5 2 - 13 pts
25th: Sophia Fyfe / Holly Liefting (NZL) 21 (26 UFD) 25 20 - 68 pts
Nacra 15 (21 boats)
1st: Will Cooley / Rebecca Hancock (AUS) 2 3 2 (5) 5 4 - 16 pts
2nd: Titouan Petard / Marion Declef (FRA) 6 (9) 1 4 1 5 - 17 pts
3rd: Iset Sequra / Max Rondeau (ESP) 3 (18) 4 3 6 3 - 19 pts
6th: Helena Sanderson / Jack Honey (NZL) 4 6 10 6 (11) 8 - 34 pts
Boy's Laser Radial (57 boats)
1st: Tytus Butowski (POL) 3 5 7 (10) - 15 pts
2nd: Wonn Kye Lee (SGP) 4 8 4 (12) - 16 pts
3rd: Juan Cardozo (ARG) 14 (15) 2 2 - 18 pts
13th: Luke Cashmore (NZL) 11 (25) 9 17 - 37 pts
Girl's Laser Radial (47 boats)
1st: Chiara Benini Floriani (ITA) 1 3 7 (22) - 11 pts
2nd: Ana Moncada (ESP) (17) 4 4 5 - 13 pts
3rd: Shai Kakon (ISR) 4 6 (9) 6 - 16 pts
15th: Samantha Stock (NZL) 13 25 3 (29) - 41 pts
- Pic: Seb Menzies and Blake McGlashan hold a slim lead in the boy's 420 at the youth worlds. Photo: Sailing Energy / World Sailing.
- The team are proudly supported by the NZL Sailing Foundation, Oceanbridge, Zhik and HPSNZ
