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James Bichener took out Sunday night's Zhik New Zealand eSailing Challenge, narrowly fending off a quality lineup of eSailors from throughout the country.
Bichener won the final race to squeeze past Chris Salmon and take the title by one point, with 11-year-old Tom Pilkington third. Bichener takes home a $500 Zhik voucher for himself and another $500 Zhik voucher for his club, the Plimmerton Boating Club.
Sunday's final rounded off a month-long competition to find New Zealand's best eSailor and the top six will now represent a New Zealand team taking on their Australian counterparts in this Sunday's Zhik Trans-Tasman eSailing Championships (8pm). You can catch all the action live on the Yachting New Zealand Facebook page.
Zhik have once again come to the party and have offered a $500 voucher to the trans-Tasman winner and $300 for second and $200 for third.
Here is your New Zealand team to take on the Aussies.
James Bichener
Age: 18
Club: Plimmerton Boating Club. I'm also a member at the Worser Bay Boating Club
eSailing boat name: James B
Finishing position in Zhik New Zealand eSailing Challenge: 1
eSailing experience: Roughly three months
Regular sailing experience: I sail predominantly a Laser Radial and have been doing that for roughly six months.
Best result: I haven't done any notable regattas in it yet
Sailing ambition: I would love to travel around the world sailing and competing in different locations and boats, but most of all I just want to get faster sending it
Chris Salmon
Age: 51
Club: Pupuke Boating Club
eSailing boat name: CoolRunning - the reason I chose this name is that, just like the Jamaican bobsled team, I had no idea about sailing when I started eSailing so the name seemed appropriate
Finishing position in Zhik New Zealand eSailing Challenge: 2
eSailing experience: two years
Regular sailing experience: I am a non-sailor in the real world but I'd like to buy my own boat or crew on a keelboat
Best result: N/A
Sailing ambition: To sail on a real boat under race conditions
Tom Pilkington
Age: 11
Club: Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron
eSailing boat name: Comanche4583
Finishing position in Zhik New Zealand eSailing Challenge: 3
eSailing experience: 1 year
Regular sailing experience: I've been sailing an Optimist since I was 5 and I now sail in all the regional and national events in New Zealand. I've also sail a P Class (Blurred Image) for the last couple of years and I’m a regular crew on our Stewart 34 Playbuoy in RNZYS Saturday series.
Best result: I'm currently ranked 12th in New Zealand in the Optimist
Sailing ambition: I want to make the New Zealand team to compete at next year's Optimist world championships and would also love to compete in the Sail GP and America’s Cup
Emil Rooseboom
Age: 13
Club: Tauranga Yacht & Power Boat Club
eSailing boat name: BigYeet
Finishing position in Zhik New Zealand eSailing Challenge: 4
eSailing experience: I really only started during lockdown but I created an account a year or two before
Regular sailing experience: I've sailed a lot of different classes, including Starling, keelboat and 420. I sail every weekend during winter and four times a week during the summer
Best result: Starling North Island championships development fleet 1st
Sailing ambition: I really like sailing
Seb Menzies
Age: 15
Club: Murrays Bay Sailing Club
eSailing boat name: Seb Menzies
Finishing position in Zhik New Zealand eSailing Challenge: 5
eSailing experience: 1 year
Regular sailing experience: I now sail a 29er and Waszp but started sailing when I was 8
Best result: My best result was winning the 2018 420 world championships with Blake McGlashan. We also won the boy’s 420 at the 2019 youth sailing world championships
Sailing ambition: To go to the Olympics
Ryan Tait
Age: 18
Yacht club: Paremata Boating Club
eSailing boat name: rynosailor
Finishing position in Zhik New Zealand eSailing Challenge: 6
eSailing experience: On and off for a few years. I played Sailx when it was around and joined Virtual Regatta a couple of years ago but have only really played it regularly in the last couple of months
Regular sailing experience: I started sailing an Optimist when I was 11 and have since sailed a Starling, 420 and E6 match racing and have since dabbled in Lasers and other boats.
Best result: Competing in the 2017 420 open world championships in Fremantle, when we came 39th overall. The experience of representing New Zealand after years of learning and improvement makes it my highlight.
Sailing ambition: My current focus is multisport (primarily training for the Coast to Coast) but I hope to get back to competitive sailing one day. For now I am coaching sailing instead and my sailing ambition at the moment is to provide young people in my area with the opportunities and experiences that I have been lucky enough to receive in my sailing life, by coaching and mentoring them.
Results and standings from the Zhik New Zealand eSailing Challenge:
1st: James Bichener (Plimmerton) 2 (9) 4 3 1 - 10 pts
2nd: Chris Salmon (Pupuke) (8) 1 2 5 3 - 11 pts
3rd: Tom Pilkington (RNZYS) (7) 6 3 2 7 - 18 pts
4th: Emil Rooseboom (Tauranga) 3 4 1 (12) 11 - 19 pts
5th: Seb Menzies (Murrays Bay) (9) 3 8 6 2 - 19 pts
6th: Ryan Tait (Paremata) 4 5 (9) 7 4 - 20 pts
7th: Andrew Colfelt (Lake Mahinapua) 5 (10) 7 4 5 - 21 pts
8th: Jack Frewin (Howick) 1 8 5 (11) 9 - 23 pts
9th: Andre Van Dam (Evans Bay) (13) 7 11 1 8 - 27 pts
10th: Aidan Gordon (Wakatipu) 6 (11) 6 8 10 - 30 pts
11th: Brayden Hamilton (Wakatere) 11 2 (12) 9 12 - 34 pts
12th: Martin Langelaan (Tasman Bay) 10 12 10 10 6 - 36 pts
