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Kiwi Campaigns Following Kiwi's on the international circuit |
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Home America's Cup Olympics 2008 Grand Prix Kiwi Campaigns NZ Racing Junior Sailing Coaching Offshore Classics Environment Links Photo Gallery 2005 OK Worlds + Danish Nationals Kiwi Match
Following Kiwis' Overseas Campaigns RNZYS makes the cut in Oz Match Racing Nationals.
The RNZYS crew of Adam Minoprio, Josh Puckey, Nick Blackman and Dave Swete have made the first cut in the Australian Match Racing Championships, being sailed in Sydney. They have finished fifth after the first round and will now compete in the Repechage section of the regatta. RNZYS vs Torvar Mirsky fo r 5th place
"First up we had Jan Scholten. We lost the start and trailed the whole race. Second, we had Torvar Mirsky and won the start to lead the whole way to win. Next up we had Murray Gordon, and again once in the lead there are very few passing lanes. "Then we raced Katie Spithall and after getting a penalty on the start for a dial up we gained control and won the start. We extended our lead but had a bad drop and also dropped a spinnaker sheet over the bow. We did our penalty on the up wind and the girls passed us, and led for the rest of the race. "Our next two races were against Evan Walker then Patrick Langley. We won both starts to win both races. At the end of the first stage of the regatta we had seven wins and four losses which placed us fifth and we made the cut for the top six to enter the repechage round. "In the first of the repechages we raced Patrick Langley and copped two penalties on the first beat to fall behind and lose the race. "Tomorrow we are up against the girls, again, with sudden death for sixth place."
KS110805
Following Kiwis' Overseas Campaigns First day of Australian Match Racing
Absolutely perfect match racing conditions saw 13 Flights (39 matches) of the 2005 Rutgerson Deck Hardware Australian Match Racing Championships completed on Friday leaving nine more flights remaining to complete the Round Robin stage. The RNZYS crew head out on the second day of racing (Photo: Blackman Media)
The RNZYS crew of Dave Swete, Josh Puckey, Nick Blackman and skippered by Adam Minoprio finished the day with three wins and two losses from the five races they were scheduled to sail. Minoprio explains how their day went:
‘Racing today was really good, started off with about five knots of wind and built to round 10 knots by lunch time. We raced Matthew Chew first up and came from behind to pass him on first downwind leg and extended for a comfortable win.
‘Next up was defending champion Michael Dunstan, we lost the start but with good roll tacking up wind we came back to being lee bowed by him on port. With a tricky top mark manoeuvre and a bit of luck we sent him the wrong side of the top mark and us the right side, plus he hit the mark. This gave us a comfortable lead and a win.
‘Next we had Keith Swinton from Perth. We beat him on the start, and led the whole first beat to be passed by his superior boatspeed just before the top mark. Keith went on to win.
‘We then raced Mark Dorling and came from behind for another close win. Our last match for the day had us race Seve Jarvin. We won the start, but we got too greedy and he passed us on first beat to take the race.
‘Today we feel we had the harder half of the fleet and tomorrow we are on for the final six races of the flight and have to do well to make top six overall.
‘For us, we had the rest of the day off as we are not scheduled to sail again until Flight 17. Today the organisers reached Flight 13 today.’
For full report and results see: www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=19039
KS100905
Following Kiwis' Overseas Campaigns Third RNZYS Youth crew starts on international Match racing circuit
A team from the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron will compete in the Australian Match Racing Championships hosted by the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club. Nick Blackman and Adam Minoprio compete in the Centreport International in Wellington
Their main competition is expected to come from Seve Jarvin and defending champion, Michael Dunstan who are both ranked in the 20s in the world rankings. Jarvin is a twice Australian Youth Match Racing Champion and Governor’s Cup winner and current Governor’s Cup champion Murray Gordon from RPAYC.
Adam Minoprio and Nick Blackman crewed for Simon Minoprio when they raced Michael Dunstan in the Warren Jones Memorial Regatta in Perth. That series went down to a very close fought final series with the RNZYS crew scoring a narrow win over Dunstan. Since the Warren Jones event, Dunstan and Jarvin have both been sharpening their talents on the European circuits.
The RNZYS team have just won the RNZYS owners match racing series giving them automatic entry in to the NZ match racing nationals.
Another to watch will be the recently crowned ISAF World Youth Champion in the Hobie 16, Evan Walker, who is also the NSW Youth Match Racing Champion An all women’s team will be led by Katie Spithill, NSW Women’s Match Racing Champion, with Australian Women’s Match Racing Champion Nicky Souter as tactician. Souter is ranked 10th in the world and Spithill 15th.
Adam Minipro reports after the crew's arrival in Australia "We arrived in Australia yesterday and after an interesting drive north we finally made in to Pittwater. We went straight out for a sail on Wild Oats a 66foot Riechel Pugh machine which was great fun and a good experience. We are staying with Trevor and Annie Taylor who usually host all the Kiwi teams, they are looking after us well. "Today was the training day and we were in the morning session. We had our first sail of the Force 24s which was very interesting and looks like they will be great fun to race. "Tomorrow we will race in the morning against Mathew Chew, Mike Dunstan, Keith Swinton, Mark Dorling, and Seve Jarvin. We then have 12 races off. "
The event begins on Friday, 9th September and will be sailed in a fleet of new Force 24’s. KS080905
A-Cat - Worlds a win for usa
New Zealand's Murray Philpott has finished in 11th place in the 2005 A-Class Catamaran World Championships in Sanguinet Lake, France. After a slow start in the regatta Philpott made amends with five placings in the top twelve, but finished on a low note with a 35th placing. Winner of the regatta was noted multihull designer, Pete Melvin of USA who followed a similar pattern to Philpott, except Melvin was the most consistent sailor in the eight race series, placing in the top ten in every race - even thought he did not have a single "numero uno" alongside his name.
Second overall was defending champion, Australian Glenn Ashby who stumbled in the early days of the regatta but came back strongly in the finals days with a hat-trick of wins - however it was not enough to unseat Melvin who responded with a similar feat but with second places Third placegetter in the 2004 Worlds in New Plymouth, Steve Brewin repeated the feat at Sanguinet Lake, again putting in a set of three wins in the middle of the regatta however it was not enough to unseat Ashby and Brewin was two points adrift of his countryman. Third Australian was Scott Andersson, who finished a very safe 5th overall - a performance that would have disappointed him in comparison to the 2004 Worlds where he was runner up, only once finishing out of the top four in any race.
Of the other Kiwis, Pter Waldron finished 63rd in the 100 strong fleet, With Graham Davey and Ken Urquart taking out 85th and 86th place respectively.
KS270605
Kiel Week 2005:
Coutts going well in first Star regatta
Swissiwi Russell Coutts is
lying seventh overall after five races in the Star class event at Kiel Week.
Sailing in a fleet of 44 boats, with Swiss crew Bart Stegmeier, Coutts has
come back well from a DSQ in Race 2.
He finished 2nd behind fellow Finn sailor Mateusz Kuszniereswicz (POL) in the third race., with 2004 Olympian in the class, Hans Spritzauer (AUT) in third place. Coutts DSQ is reported to have resulted from his failure to complete a 720 penalty after an on the water judge's call for rocking under RRS42. The breeze died for two days in Kiel and then came back afresh with Coutts and Stegmeier finishing in 11th and 7th places. At this stage Coutts is reported to be non-committal about a Star campaign for 2008.
In the Yngling class, the New Zealand crew of Sharon Ferris, raynor Smeal and Ashley Holtum are lying in 13th place after nine races, with a best placing of 4th in race four.
KS270605
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A-Cat - Worlds
Four Kiwi sailors are competing in the World Championships for the International A-class catamaran in Sanguinet Lake, France. The fleet is 100 strong, and the best performed New Zealander is Murray Philpott in 30th overall, with Peter Waldron in 64th, Ken Urquart 85th and Graham Davy 88th. Five races have been sailed so far. Philpott has a DNF included in his score, so should improve when discards kick in. the regatta site is: http://www.mondial-voile-2005.org/Version%20anglaise/cadre2.htm The regatta is led by long time cat designer (Playstation) and competitor, Pete Melvin (USA). Australiand are in second and third with former world champion Glenn Ashby in 16th overall. Melvin should be eclipsed by second placed competitor Steven Brewin who has won three races but is dragging a 17th place in his score. While the Kiwi results might not be that great, it looks like a helluva a venue, and we all wish we were there rather than here - being the shortest day, another cold front promised and all that .......
KS230605
Kiel Week 2005: Day 1
Coutts stumbles, Kiwi Girls do OK, Oz in good shape
Russell Coutts (NZL), sailing with Swiss crewman Beat Stegmeier and sailing under Swiss registration has got off to an indifferent start in the Star class at the prestigious Kiel Week regatta. Sailing in a 45 boat fleet, Coutts finished a creditable 13th in the first race and was DSQ'd in the second, to finish he day in 28th position overall. The regatta is Coutts' first foray into the highly competitive Star class.
In the Yngling class the Kiwi crew of Sharon Ferris, Raynor Smeal and Ashley Holtum all from Bay of Islands are lying in 12th place overall having completed three races. Their best placing was a 8th in the second race, with results of 13th and 14th in the other two.
Meanwhile Australia have had a very good first day as reported in www.sail-world.com :
Enjoying near perfect sailing conditions
for the first day of racing, the sun was shining and through a fluctuating
north-west breeze of around 10 knots, all courses got in the required number
of races.
As the final members of the Australian
team, Robbie Lovig/Glen Douglas in the Tornado class, are finding that its
hard work against the gathered fleet of 20 experienced Tornados from 10
different countries gathered in Kiel. Local German sailors, Roland Gäebler/Gunnar
Struckmann lead the fleet with a second place in all three races whilst
Lovig/Douglas sit in tenth place with a 15-10-9 scorecard. Full report can be found on www.sail-world.com
KS230605
Kiwi Etchell Sailors take some top scalps in Mooloolaba Winter Championships
Two New Zealand crews have performed creditably in the just concluded 2005 Etchells Winter Championships sailed in Mooloolaba.
The New Zealand crews made the trip across the Tasman to compete in the 44 boat fleet that included many of the hot names of Australian sailing.
For Lindsay Kennedy and his crew of James Arnold and Trevor Swinbourne it was their third trip to the regatta, which is always held in Mooloolaba, 90 kms north of Brisbane on the Coral Sea. This year they were joined by a second New Zealand crew, Barry Thom, Grant Lynch and Richard Wells.
Both crews picked up new boats from the Australian builder, Phil Smidmore, and sailed them for the first time in the regatta.
“We’re right up there in terms of speed, now” said Kennedy after the regatta. “We’re still a bit rough around the edges and need to get good starts. We also got on the wrong side of a couple of situations. One race we finished just behind a big heap of boats and were in the 20’s – when a few lengths better we would have had a much better place.”
Thom and his crew were the best placed of the New Zealanders finishing 11th overall, with three places in the top ten - their best being a pair of 7th places in races four and five. Kennedy’s crew were three places astern but finished 2nd in the fifth race with two other top ten places – a 5th and 7th to their credit.
As would be expected when sailing new boats, both crews suffered from a lack of pre-race preparation – and each started the series with their eventual discard score – a 29th for Thom and a 24th for Kennedy. Conditions were generally light to moderate for the regatta, and with big swells- by Kiwi standards.
Although they finished out of the top ten overall, Kennedy and Thom took some good scalps in the regatta finishing ahead of America’s Cup and top Etchells skipper John Bertrand, who was 19th overall, and current world champion, Peter McNeill who was one place in arrears of Kennedy in 15th place overall.
For the Kiwi’s the Winter Championships are part of a build-up to the 2006 World Championships in Perth.
“We’re shipping the boats home now,” Kennedy told KiwiSpy.com. “We’ll be back for the Australian Nationals in Melbourne in mid-January, and then there’s the Victorian State titles over a couple of weekends in December. So we’ll ship the boats back for that series. There’s a very good circuit developing in Australia which combines well with the New Zealand Nationals in March”
The regatta went right down to the wire with former 18ft skiff world champion, Rob Brown with crew of Bruce Cooksley and Garry Gudmunson taking the title on the seventh race with a second placing, to finish two points ahead of another top 18ft skipper Iain Murray – who suffered an OCS in the fifth race. Third overall was Julian Plante, who was 4th overall in the 2004 World Championships also held at Mooloolaba.
KS100605
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Adam Minoprio reports:
Early series leader Seve Jarvin is on
seven wins with just one loss to Katie Spithill's all female team (Nicky
Souter, Kylie McKillop, Sarah Roberts-Thompson and Angela Farrell). 
The
team consists of Adam Minoprio on Helm, Dave Swete on main, Josh Puckey
trimming, and Nick Blackman on bow. They will compete against 11 other
Australian teams in this ISAF Grade 3 event. Their principal support is the
Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and all the team are graduates from the
RNZYS Youth programme, having been involved in the program for two to four
years.
