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Lukas Walton-Keim secured a third-straight kitefoiling national title over the weekend but wasn't entirely happy with his performance as he looks to climb the international rankings over the next couple of years.
Walton-Keim won 17 of the 18 races hosted by the Takapuna Boating Club, with the only blemish a start line disqualification.
"I was pretty happy to stay dominant," Walton-Keim said. "That was my goal coming into it, to make sure I won every race by a good margin and prove I can do it 18 times in a row.
"Although the racing was really good between the others, I found it quite hard and it just reinforced I need to be overseas with the top guys or people better than me if I am going to improve. The racing between second, third and fourth looked like heaps of fun and they all pushed each other really hard."
Promising teenager Hugo Wigglesworth, who last month was named in the NZL Sailing Foundation Youth Team to compete at July's youth sailing world championships, was second and Andy Robertson third. Justina Kitchen easily took out the women's title, and was fourth overall, while Hugo's younger brother Toby took out the first division.
Walton-Keim and Kitchen are both targeting the 2024 Paris Olympics and are in the throes of finalising their plans for the year - Walton-Keim hopes to be in Europe from June to October to train and race.
In the meantime, the pair will continue to train together with the likes of Wigglesworth and Lochy Naismith, who was missing from the nationals because of injury, and find ways to be creative to ensure they push each other.
"I need to be aware of things I think I can do better, like in this regatta I thought my manoeuvres were very slow and safe rather than pushing them," Walton-Keim said. "In trainings I will be starting behind Justina and putting myself in tricky positions on purpose and that way we will both push each other really well. I think we're pretty efficient in training but nothing beats being overseas with the good guys."
Results and standings from the New Zealand Kitefoil National Championships at the Takapuna Boating Club:
Gold fleet (9 boards)
1st: Lukas Walton-Keim (Takapuna Boating Club) (1) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 (10 BFD) 1 1 1 1 1 1 - 16 points
2nd: Hugo Wigglesworth (Manly Sailing Club) (2) (2) 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 - 31 pts
3rd: Andy Robertson 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 (8) (10 DNF) 4 4 4 3 3 3 - 52 pts
Justina Kitchen (TBC) (4) (4) 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 - 57 pts
First division (10 boards)
1st: Toby Wigglesworth (MSC) 1 1 1 1 (2) 1 (2) 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 2 - 17 pts
2nd: Tom Allen (NZMHYC) 2 (11 UFD) 2 3 1 2 1 2 2 3 (6) 4 2 2 4 1 - 31 pts
3rd: Robbie Naismith (WSC) 3 2 (11 UFD) 4 4 4 3 3 3 (5) 4 5 3 4 5 4 - 51 pts
- Pic: Lukas Walton-Keim won 17 of the 18 races to win the title. Photo: Josh McCormack.
