NZL Yachting Trust Youth Team – Light winds on day one in Croatia

Racing kicked off overnight in Zadar, Croatia on day one of the 41st Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship 2011 where the twelve kiwi sailors of the 2011 NZL Yachting Trust Youth Team are up against their counterparts from around the world.

“The wind was very light,” reports Team Manager, Ian Neely. “Many races were raced in one to five knots of breeze which made it tough going for everyone – consistency in today’s conditions was pretty elusive.”

It was New Zealand’s multihull representatives, Tomer Simhony and Ellie Copeland, who managed two good results on the opening day of the week long regatta claiming the winner’s gun in the very first race in the SL16 event. This is an open class, entries featuring either two boys or a mixed gender crew on the boat.

Simhony and Copeland finished 3rd in the second race of the day and hold 2nd place overall on the leader-board with a point-score of four. Brazil’s Martin Lowy and Kim Andrade were 2nd and then 1st in last night’s two races and lead the fleet by just one point from the kiwis at the end of the first day.

Two more among the NZL Yachting Trust Youth Team are within the top eight in their event at this early stage in the series – they are girl’s RS:X sailor Georgia Schofield and girl’s 420 pair Verity Judge and Gemma Jones. In both of these classes (as well as the girl’s Radial and boy’s RS:X) just one race was possible in the light breeze the day produced, which faded as time passed.

Windsurfer, Schofield placed 5th in her race to lie 5th overall, while double-handers Jones and Judge were 8th which also reflects directly on their leader-board.

Jack Simpson and Logan Dunning-Beck sailing in the 29er skiff, started with a strong opening race placing 2nd, but couldn’t repeat this in race two where they finished 22nd. The pair is in 11th place overall going into day two.

Standings for all the NZL Sailing Team after day one are listed below. Neely says that similar conditions are forecast for day two of the regatta, although more wind may appear following that.

This prestigious youth regatta has attracted a total of 349 sailors from 52 countries to the city of Zadar, in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. The regatta schedule includes six race days and one reserve day (Tuesday 12th July) with a total of twelve races possible in each of the ten classes if conditions are favourable. Medals will be decided on the final day of competition, Friday 15th July, in Zadar.

Yachting New Zealand will issue daily reports focussing on the NZL Yachting Trust Youth Team during the regatta, and you can follow the NZL Yachting Trust Youth Team via their Facebook page.

2011 Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships, Zadar, Croatia
NZL Yachting Trust Youth Team standings after day one

2nd Tomer Simhony and Ellie Copeland (Open Multihull – 14 entries)
5th Georgia Schofield (Female RS:X Wind surfing – 20 entries)
25th Sven Pedersen (Male RS:X Wind surfing – 34 entries)
8th Verity Judge and Gemma Jones (Female 420 – 31 entries)
13th Alexander Munro and Brad Moss (Male 420 – 34 entries)
11th Jack Simpson and Logan Dunning-Beck (29er – 23 entries)
16th Michael Cate (Male Laser Radial – 50 entries)
23rd Molly Meech (Female Laser Radial – 41 entries)

Team Manager: Ian Neely
Coaches: Shelley Hesson and Jim Maloney