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New Zealand's 29er representatives at next month's youth sailing world championships warmed up nicely for the event by taking out the 29er national championships at the Bay of Islands recently.
Lucy Leith and Lizzie Shapland took out the girl's title and finished third overall in the 21-boat fleet, while George Lee Rush and Seb Menzies won the boy's title.
Both crews will go to the youth worlds at The Hague with high hopes and will round out preparations by competing at the upcoming 29er European championships in Denmark.
Menzies is a former youth sailing world championships gold medallist in the boy's 420 but has spent the past couple of years in the 29er and 49erFX.
He and Lee Rush won seven of the 10 races sailed over the four-day regatta, but were pushed by Finn and Jake Pye who finished in the top three in every race. Sean Sun and Nick Shi were the third all-boys crew.
Thirteen-year-old Will Mason, who teamed up with Luc Gladwell, impressed in his first regatta in a 29er, with the pair finishing sixth overall against some much more experienced combinations.
Leith and Shapland have dominated girl's 29er sailing for some time and sailed consistently well at the 29er nationals to finish well ahead of the second all-female crew of Jessica Redpath and Kayla Abbott.
A notable feature of the regatta was the number of mixed crews competing, including Helena Sanderson and Cam McGlashan who will compete in the Nacra 15 at the youth worlds and were using the nationals for some valuable race practice.
Next year's national championships will be held at the Kohimarama Yacht Club in the usual slot of Queens Birthday weekend.
- Justin Hamilton has stepped down at president of the 29er Class Association of NZ and has been replaced by Andy Kensington.
