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Tessa Clinton and Nicola Hume achieved a rare sailing double when they won the women’s title at the 29er national championship at Kohimarama Yacht Club last week.
The pair, who sail out of Wakatere Boating Club, finished seventh overall at the event, winning one of the 12 races. They also won the women’s title at the 420 nationals in Wellington in March – making them the first female combination in at least a decade to hold national titles in two double-handed youth classes at the same time.
What makes their success at the 29er nationals even more impressive is that Clinton and Hume only started sailing in the skiff class eight weeks prior to the regatta – swapping their 420 for a 29er with the aim of practising fleet sailing.
According to Hume, it didn’t take long to sort out the balance, teamwork and tuning as the 420 sailing has taught much of that already.
“We just had to learn the skills of apparent wind sailing,” she said.
“The 29er isn’t as technical as the 420, so it allowed us time to work on race tactics and fleet management while sailing.”
Tessa Clinton and Nicola Hume won the women's title at the 29er national championship in Auckland last week. Photos / Adam Mustill Photography
The duo started the regatta well but had a tough second day in big breeze.
“Day one went okay, while day two with high winds was outside our weight limit and along with a gear failure made it one to forget,” Clinton said.
“Getting a first and second later in the regatta was certainly a highlight for us.”
Clinton and Hume also won the 420 North Island champs in November and finished third overall at the 420 nationals at Evans Bay Yacht and Motorboat Club.
“We have been training hard and we are stoked to add the 29er women’s title to our summer season of sailing,” Clinton said.
They have since swapped back into the 420 to further their development in the class with the immediate target of the New Zealand youth championship at the end of September.
They are also training with the national 420 squad who are about to head overseas for the 420 junior European championship in Poland and the Open 420 world championship in Spain.
Final results and standings from the NZ 29er national championships, hosted by Kohimarama Yacht Club:
29er fleet (29 boats)
1st: Sean Kensington/Rowan Kensington (Kohimarama Yacht Club) 1.0 1.0 6.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 (8.0) 2.0 1.0 (12.0) 1.0 - 17 pts
2nd: Will Leech/Tim Howse (Kohimarama Yacht Club) 4.0 3.0 4.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 (5.0) 2.0 2.0 (8.0) - 28 pts
3rd: Nelsen Meacham/Josh Schon (Wakatere Boating Club) (9.0) 2.0 1.0 (12.0) 4.0 3.0 1.0 9.0 4.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 - 33 pts
Full results here.
