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His success on the water over the last year has exceeded William Mason's wildest expectations but the Auckland teenager is determined to aim even higher in 2024.
Mason last weekend added to his impressive list of sailing accolades in 2023 when he received the Sir Peter Blake Memorial trophy at the annual regatta with the same name.
The event was again sailed off Waiake Beach and saw over 360 young sailors from across the country slugging it out in 10 different classes.
Mason finished fourth overall in the 43-boat Starling open fleet - only four points behind the winner - but bagged the coveted award in honour of the late Kiwi yachting icon and environmental champion.
The Sir Peter Blake Regatta is one of the biggest small-boat regattas in the Southern Hemisphere, and the memorial trophy is awarded each year at the end of the competition to the sailor who has displayed not only racing success but leadership and competitive spirit across the season.
Mason admits he was as surprised as anyone to win the top gong.
"I wasn't expecting it at all because initially I thought the award was just for outstanding achievement at the specific regatta but I won it for my performances across the season," he said.
Those performances included a historic double triumph in April - winning both the Optimist and Starling national championships within five days of each other.
He also had success in several other classes this season - securing podium results at the Auckland championships and the Oceanbridge NZL Sailing Regatta in the 29er; finishing in the top three at the Tanner and Tauranga Cups and the North Island championships in the P Class; and winning the SailGP Inspire event in the RS Feva at Naval Point Club Lyttelton in March.
William Mason receives the Sir Peter Blake Memorial Trophy from renowned broadcaster Peter Montgomery (left) and last year's recipient Sean Kensington. Photos: Live Sail Die
He decided on sailing the Starling at last weekend's regatta as part of a special project with dad Matt, a former America's Cup sailor.
"Dad and I started building the boat from scratch about two weeks before the start of the Sir Peter Blake," Mason said.
"We spent up to 10 hours every single day working on it down at Bayswater. We were flat-out just trying to finish it in time for the race. Even the Friday night before the regatta, we were still clear coating the bow.
"It was really cool being able to build your own boat, to see what's behind it and how it's done and learning about how the slightly different shapes can affect performance."
Young Arran Begic took out the overall honours in the Starling open fleet, with Brooke Cooper winning the development fleet with two race wins across the six races.
More than 360 sailors battled it out in 10 different fleets at the 2023 Sir Peter Blake Regatta. Photos: Live Sail Die
Charlie Bridger claimed the Optimist open title by four points from Matteo Barker, with Charlotte Handley (fourth overall) the first girl. Sam Kandziora and Elsi Carryer took out the 76-boat Optimist green fleet crown.
P Class honours went to Hamish Brown and Lauren Arnold; while the Kensington brothers Rowan and Sean continued their dominance in the 29er class by seeing off the challenges of Oli Stone and Marcel van der Vort, and Lucy Leith and Chloe Turner.
Other winners include Joe Leith and Josh Ferrissey, and Tessa Clinton and Nicola Hume (420); George Pilkington and Naiomi Ferrissey (ILCA 6); and Sebastian Corso-Fenelon and Hermione Aris (ILCA 4).
Ewan Brazle and Valentina Gladiadis claimed the O'pen Skiff gold fleet titles, with Patrick Kell and Jessica Lee winning the O'pen Skiff silver fleet.
Tom Peters and Josh Dixon, and Gemma Hebberd and Gretel Satterthwaite were the top RS Feva teams, while Stella Bilger beat five other competitors in the iQFOIL class.
Renowned race officials John and Linda Parrish were also honoured for their contribution to sailing with the Peter Montgomery Trophy while the big award of the weekend went to Mason.
The 14-year-old last month won a youth performance award and one of two emerging talent awards at Yachting New Zealand's Aon Excellence Awards after also recently being named Takapuna Grammar's Junior Sportsman of the Year.
"These awards are all very cool but winning the Emerging Talent Award was just that little bit more special," Mason said.
"It has so much history behind it with many previous winners going on to achieve big things."
He's hoping to achieve some of those big things in 2024 - starting with the defence of his national Starling title in early February.
Mason will also test the waters in another new class.
"I've just started sailing the Waszp and I hope to be competitive at the national champs in March," he said.
"I also still enjoy the 29er. There's a highly-ranked Italian sailor who's coming to my school for two terms, and I'm going to be sailing with him in the 29er.
"Hopefully, I can have even more success next year - that's always the goal."
Final results and standings from the 2023 Sir Peter Blake Regatta hosted by Torbay Sailing Club:
O'pen Skiff gold fleet (11 boats)
1st: Ewan Brazle (Manly Sailing Club) (1) 1 1 1 1 1 1 - 6 pts
2nd: Harry Jameson (Napier Sailing Club) (9) 6 2 2 2 2 2 - 16 pts
3rd: Valentina Gladiadis (Manly Sailing Club) 4 4 (5) 4 4 3 4 - 23 pts
O'pen Skiff silver fleet (11 boats)
1st: Patrick Kell (Bay of Islands Yacht Club) 1 1 2 (3) 3 1 2 - 10 pts
2nd: Jessica Lee (Royal Akarana Yacht Club) 2 2 1 (7) 6 3 1 - 15 pts
3rd: Finn Manson (Bay of Islands Yacht Club) 3 3 3 (8) 4 2 4 - 19 pts
Optimist open fleet (51 boats)
1st: Charlie Bridger (Charteris Bay Yacht Club) 1 1 1 1 5 (11) - 9 points
2nd: Matteo Barker (Murrays Bay Sailing Club) 5 (52 UFD) 2 3 1 2 - 13 pts
3rd: Ekhi De Jager (Napier Sailing Club) (7) 6 4 2 4 1 - 17 pts
Optimist green fleet (76 boats)
1st: Sam Kandziora (Wakatere Boating Club) 1 1 1 (2) 1 - 4 pts
2nd: Sean Poon (Royal Akarana Yacht Club) 2 2 (3) 1 2 - 7 pts
3rd: Alexander Mackay (Wakatere Boating Club) 10 3 (22) 7 4 - 24 pts
Starling fleet (43 boats)
1st: Arran Begic (Murrays Bay Sailing Club) 3 1 4 1 4 (5) - 13 pts
2nd: Flinn Olson (Murrays Bay Sailing Club) 1 3 2 2 7 (12) - 15 pts
3rd: Jack Hollands (Manly Sailing Club) 2 4 1 (11) 6 3 - 16 pts
Starling development fleet (22 boats)
1st: Brooke Cooper (Glendowie Boating Club) 1 2 (4) 2 2 1 - 8 pts
2nd: Sebastian Segers (Royal Akarana Yacht Club) 3 1 2 4 3 (23 OCS) - 13 pts
3rd: Emma Carran (Glendowie Boating Club) 5 (12 SRS) 3 3 4 4 - 19 pts
P Class fleet (24 boats)
1st: Hamish Brown (Wakatere Boating Club) 1 1 1 1 2 (4) - 6 pts
2nd: Nathan Soper (Murrays Bay Sailing Club) 2 2 3 4 (5) 2 - 13 pts
3rd: Arthur Rebbeck (Wakatere Boating Club) 3 (6) 4 2 4 1 - 14 pts
ILCA 4 fleet (5 boats)
1st: Sebastian Corso-Fenelon (Royal Akarana Yacht Club) 3 1 1 1 (4) 4 - 10 pts
2nd: Joel Heslop (Royal Akarana Yacht Club) (2) 2 2 2 2 2 - 10 pts
3rd: Hermione Aris (Murrays Bay Sailing Club) 4 (6 DNC) 6 DNC 6 DNC 1 1 - 18 pts
ILCA 6 fleet (30 boats)
1st: George Pilkington (RNZYS) 2 1 1 2 (5) 2 - 8 PTS
2nd: Louie Poletti (Murrays Bay Sailing Club) 1 (3) 3 3 1 1 - 9 pts
3rd: Zach Stibbe (Otago Yacht Club) 4 2 2 1 4 (7) - 13 pts
29er fleet (13 boats)
1st: Sean Kensington/Rowan Kensington (Kohimarama Yacht Club) 1 1 1 1 (14 DNC) 4 4 1 - 13 pts
2nd: Oli Stone/Marcel Van Der Vort (Kohimarama Yacht Club) 3 3 3 3 1 3 3 (4) - 19 pts
3rd: Lucy Leith/Chloe Turner (Murrays Bay Sailing Club) 2 2 2 8 (14 DNC) 1 1 5 - 21 pts
420 fleet (7 boats)
1st: Joe Leith/Josh Ferrissey (Murrays Bay Sailing Club) 3 1 1 2 1 (8 DNC) - 8 pts
2nd: Cam Brown/Alex Norman (Wakatere Boating Club) 2 (3) 2 1 2 1 - 8 pts
3rd: Tessa Clinton/Nicola Hume (Wakatere Boating Club) 1 2 3 3 (8 DNC) 8 DNC - 17 pts
RS Feva fleet (15 boats)
1st: Tom Peters/Josh Dixon (Royal Akarana Yacht Club) 1 (2) 2 2 2 2 - 9 pts
2nd: Riley Hunter/Rori English (Northcote Birkenhead Yacht Club) 3 1 1 1 6 (8) - 12 pts
3rd: Gemma Hebberd/Gretel Satterthwaite (Murrays Bay Sailing Club) 7 3 3 3 8 (10) - 24 pts
iQFOIL fleet (6 boards)
1st: Stella Bilger (Wakatere Boating Club) (1) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 - 7 pts
2nd: Vlad Misescu (Bay of Islands Yacht Club) 2 2 (3) 2 2 2 2 2 - 14 pts
3rd: Kosta Gladiadis (Manly Sailing Club) (3) 3 2 3 3 3 3 3 - 20 pts
Full results here.
