With Auckland under big high pressure for the weekend beautiful blue skies but a distinct lack of breeze were the feature of both days for the 2024 NS ILCA Freshwater Champs at Pupuke.

A decent fleet of 30, pretty evenly split between ILCA 7 and 6, turned up on Saturday morning, but others who were expected were clearly put off by the very light, and unfortunately accurate, forecast for the weekend.

On Saturday race officer Garth Briden managed to get a couple of short races for both fleets completed in a very light SE breeze, what we could generously call gusting 5 knots, before the breeze collapsed almost completely just after the start of the third race for the ILCA 7. They struggled around to complete a shortened third race but that was the end of the breeze and the racing on Saturday.

Sunday was if anything even tougher, with little puffs of an E'ish whisper that never got to much more that 3 knots. Everyone was keen to give it a try and 2 drifters were completed for both fleets to give a series result.

In the ILCA 7 rising U21 star George Pilkington ended up dominating the weekend with 4 wins, assisted by his expertise with roll tacking and gybing. He was followed by open sailors Max Faulkner from Tauranga, who cleaned up the first race on Saturday and a consistent Eroni Leilua, who will be representing Samoa in this years Olympics. Leading Master in 4th overall was Kris Decke from Whangarei while Mike Keeton took out the GGM's in spite of all his GGM ailments.

The ILCA 6 fleet was certainly one of high calibre, with numerous national champions and representatives competing as well as the next batch of up and coming talent. The racing was fierce and there were four different race winners for the four races completed. Conditions required a combination of patience, resilience and good eye-sight to spot the puffs on the glassy lake…which clearly Greta Pilkington displayed an abundance of.

Race one saw Beau Utting from RAYC recover from a difficult start to hook into a wonderful left hander and take the lead through the finish with Greta Pilkington, fresh off the plane from Europe, coming in hot in second place with NZ Youth Rep Zach Stibbe in third. In race two Fiji Olympian Sofia Morgan bolted out of the gate, leading through to a third of the way up the last beat when a left hand shift was picked up by Greta who won the race with aging battler Phil Wild in second and up and coming youth Sam Clarke sneaking in to round out the top 3.

The first race on Sunday was started in negligible, gusting not much more and provided a great demonstration on how to roll tack…at which this years youth rep Zach Stibbe proved to be best in the ILCA 6's and took out the race with ever consistent Greta in second and Sofia in for a well-deserved third. Race four got away in a blustery maybe 4 knots in which Sofia got away to a lead however a combination of lulls and puffs saw the fleet congeal at the bottom mark after which Phil Wild tacked out into a new "breeze" (read more than 1 knot), that came down the left of the course and lead through to the finish holding off the highly determined Greta with Sam Clark stealing his way into third.

So overall Greta Pilkington made it a quinella for the Pilkington family for the weekend. Phil Wild was 2nd overall and dominated the masters, with youth Sam Clarke an excellent 3rd overall. Leading youth girl was Kate Rasmussen by just a single point from Chloe Turner.

Plenty of sausages and prizes kept everyone happy after racing thanks to principal sponsors Burnsco and NZ Sailing.

ILCA 6 Results
 

ILCA 7 Results

2024 Auckland ILCA Champs - Open, Youth and Masters at Tamaki YC.

• 2-day Open & Youth regatta Saturday 23rd & Sunday 24th March 2024
• 1-day Masters regatta Saturday 23rd March

Overall results

• ILCA 7 Results
• ILCA 6 Results
• Photos on Facebook - thanks Phillip

On Saturday we had the scheduled 4 races in N to NE conditions. It was a good test. Moderate breeze most of the time, but up in the later teens at moments. There were some decent shifts that mixed up the places on occasion. And some waves to work on the run into Mission Bay. Funnily enough the best of the sailors seemed to do well in most races.

Sunday morning started with a light but steady easterly that encourgaed us out onto the course. But it started to fade to less than 5 knots after the first ILCA7 race started. They did get one 1-lap race in. But the ILCA 6s were not so lucky, and after a couple of goes trying to get them away we paused for an hour, before giving it away in favour of watching the Black Foils win the dolphin-free day of the Christchurch SailGP.

ILCA 7 2-day leaders Open & Youth

• 1st Eroni Leilua
• 2nd George Pilkington (1st Youth)
• 3rd Kris Decke

ILCA 6 2-day Open & Youth leaders

• 1st Phil Wild
• 2nd Zach Stibbe (1st Youth)
• 3rd George Lane
• 4th Winton Liesebach (2nd Youth)
• 5th Sophia Morgan (1st Female)
• 6th Jack Hollands (3rd Youth)
• 11th Vaimo'oi'a Ripley (2nd Female)
• 15th Chloe Turner (1st Youth Female)
• 19th Rose Dickey (2nd Youth Female)
• 20th Kate Rasmussen (3rd Youth Female)

ILCA 7 1-day Masters leaders 

• 1st Kris Decke
• 2nd Ken Atchison
• 3rd Nick Page

ILCA 7 1-day Masters leaders 

• 1st Phil Wild
• 2nd Dave Johnson
• 3rd Roger Winton 

The weekend, 9th – 10th March 24, Lake Taupo Yacht Club (LTYC) again hosted the ILCA North Island Freshwater Champs integrated into their annual centreboard regatta. It was a timely opportunity for ILCA sailors to gather from around the North Island to catch up, share some sunshine and great vibes. The wind might not have been as generous in making its appearance, but the race organisers managed to pull off 6 races over the two days. There were 29 ILCA6s and 16 ILCA 7s from as far as Wellington, Gisborne, Ohope, Raglan, North Shore.

Day 1
The wind tempted enough to launch on time and head out towards Two Mile Bay. A light south breeze provided enough for the RO to get racing underway with a T2 (Triangle, W-L, then beat back to finish line just beyond top mark). There was enough local lake knowledge shift to favour those that went left. As the 7s got round their T2 and were beating up to finish the wind was dropping out. The 6s limped up their second beat, and struggled to keep their sails filled drifting down to bottom mark. To the relief of the front pack, the race was shortened to finish at bottom. A long wait occurred while the wind swung round more easterly, and the course was reset. With risk of the new wind possibly dropping out again, the RO settled for swift T1s, which included a second beat back to top mark and finish line. The favoured left was now replaced for those that could chose the puffs and get clear air. Four races were completed.

In the ILCA 7s young Max Falkner (Tauranga) dominated with three bullets and a second. He has been training at times with Nic Burfoot, and it’s showing. Chris Raynes (Cambridge) hunted down two seconds, and the familiar masters of Mike Knowsley, Andrew Dellabarca, and Simon Beck closely vying for those spots. Mike’s Tamaki chop experience wasn’t needed, but looking for Tamaki wind bouncing around was useful. Andrew and Simon proved they are able to adapt from Worser Bay winds to light shifty lake stuff. The Ohope pair of Mark Macintosh and Barry Cutfield were also in there hunting. Barry claiming a 2nd in race 3.

In the ILCA 6s Winston Liesebach (Napier) showed his dominance with three bullets; and a relaxed 3rd in final race. A close pack of young and masters were hot on his tail. Josh Edmonds (Tamaki) claimed the final bullet of the day. Fijian Olypian Sophia Morgan provided a strong female presence in the front pack claiming one of the 2nds. The pack included familiar faces in Zach Zibbe (Otago, now residing in Auckland), Dave Johnson (Raglan) and Werner Hennig (Hamilton). But it wasn’t that clear cut. Exchanging places occurred each upwind as wind puffs arrives and dropped out all over the course. Second female Rose Dickey (Napier) hunted a 3rd in one race.

By end of Saturday sailors were ready to be towed in, or drift back tired. The highlight of a Lake Taupo regatta has to be their spot prizes evening. Master of ceremonies Phil Clark knows how to pull out prizes and let random names be pulled out. Masters with boom boxes, youth longing for skateboards, plenty of chocolate to win.

Day 2
The gusty night blew out any wind we might have dreamed of; and Sunday arrived with a beautiful calm lake ready for water skiing, wakeboarding or fishing; but not sailing. Folks remained on shore enjoying banter, breakfast, coffee, and spending money with Mike Pasco. Women and girls of all ages shared a Red Diamond Celebration upstairs, in lieu of International Women’s Day on Friday, and as a networking strategy. Young opti and starling girls were privileged to hear from ILCA females that were pursuing various pathways … an Olympian, a national teams racing judge, an international exchange coach, and lots of stories of women teaching women how to back trailers, run girls events, and navigate club politics.

After an hour delay the light wind tempted us back out to a fickle sou-easterly again. Two drift races were painstakingly achieved as T1s. It was a matter of who could sniff out a whiff of wind, pull off effective roll tacks, and sit patiently in their boats daring not to lose the precious little wind out of their sails. Again the same names came to the top.

In the ILCA 7s, Max again nailed a bullet, but decided to give away the next by over roll tacking for a swim. Chris hung onto second, claiming that bullet. And so the familiar names held onto their positions. In the ILCA6s Sophia, inspired by red diamonds cheering for her, claimed the first bullet, with Winston having to work to claim the last of the day. Sunday finished with prize giving, and excitedly hoping for the ILCA.nz sail spot prize, won by Taupo local Rob Kent.

Helen Spencer
 

ILCA 6 Results

ILCA 7 Results

• Results thanks to Napier Sailing Club
• Photo's - thanks to Suellen and livesaildie.com

• Results

Auckland delivered what seemed like the 100th cyclone affected weather pattern for the season for the 2023 North Shore Freshwater Champs at Lake Pupuke on 20th and 21st May. The result was two days of fresh to strong W to SW winds, with Saturdays racing curtailed after 2 races when the gusts got to around 30 knots, and while Sunday was a bit more manageable, with the gusts probably never getting much over 20 knots, there were plenty of the usual lake shifts and holes to negotiate and the odd torrential rain squall just for good measure!

2023 Auckland ILCA Champs, 1st & 2nd April at Tamaki YC.

• Standard ILCA Results
• Radial ICLA Results
• Photos

The Open and Youth raced both Saturday and Sunday. The Masters regatta was just the Saturday.

Conditions on Saturday kept everyone honest with a 12-14 knot northerly coupled with an incoming tide flowing across the course and a typical tricky chop that made the venturi pretty important upwind and wave catching technically difficult on the runs.

The strongest breeze was experienced by the RAYC team which launched out of Okahu Bay, unaware of the calamity of bad luck that the race committee were working hard to address and ended up milling about for an extra hour while the rest of the fleet chilled out on the TYC ramp.

In the 28 strong radial fleet, Greta Pilkington unleashed her devastatingly quick downwind speed to end the day with a commanding lead including three bullets and a second from four races – the only waves she missed were the few that washed by while she righted her boat after death rolling on the last race of the day.

Top Youth Louie Poletti, now based in Auckland, bounced back to from a slow start to be second at the end of the day.

In the masters event, Phil Wild (M) made some good recoveries to defend the masters title and finish the day 3rd overall while local favourite Phil Bennett (AM) strung some impressive results together to be 2nd master, 6th overall and Raglan sailor Dave Johnson (M) just behind to be 3rd master, 7th overall. Pt Chev battler Kirsty MacDonald (GM) defended her women’s masters tile ahead of Georgina Wooldridge (GM) and Marie France (AM) respectively. It was also great to see participation in this category increasing.

The top of the full rig fleet saw a tight battle between Samoan Olympic representative (and proud dad) Eroni Leilua and previous Radial Auckland Champ champ, Matthew Rist, locked in a dead heat after day one.

In the masters event, big Tony Nicholson (GM) claimed the title with a consistent performance to sit 3rd overall ahead of Doug Anderson (GM) in 2nd ( 4th overall) and Karl Nicholson (M) in 3rd (5th overall).

Sunday was very different with a light to variable breeze wafting down the harbour with tide continuing to run in over the course of the day.

With flat water, brutally patchy and shifty conditions, the race committee (Garth, Sandy Grigg & Bob Blakely) called upon its combined 230+ years of experience to run three short sprint races and successfully complete the race schedule.

The conditions certainly levelled the playing field with fleets congealing on the runs giving everyone a chance of slipping through.

In the radial fleet, Greta did more than enough to take out the event, no doubt employing some of her European experience of sailing in tight fleets in light conditions.

A consistent performance saw Phil Wild sneak into 2nd overall with Louie Poletti finishing 3rd overall.

Daniella Wooldridge claimed first female youth ahead of Naiomi Ferrissey and Chloe Turner respectively.

Special mentions have to be made to Josh Edmonds (AM) who surged up the leader board to 4th overall with the best performance of the day (2, 3, 1) and to Stefano Santella who took out race six.

In the full rig, the close battle resumed between the two highly ranked sailors with Eroni Leilua eventually winning the championship by one point over Matthew Rist.

Cook Island representative Villi Ratalulu (Y) completed the regatta to finish 3rd overall.
 

• Part of the Bayleys Taupo LTYC Centreboard Regatta
• 11th & 12th March 2023
• Results
• Photos on Facebook

The New Zealand Masters Games were held in Whanganui in early February where circa 5000 aging weekend warriors descended on the otherwise out of the way city in the Manawatu. The event location alternates each year between Dunedin and Whanganui. The sailing discipline was a nine-race series over three days held downstream in the river out of the well-resourced Whanganui Sailing Club. Long time organiser, Lindsay Stevenson, along with his team, did a fantastic job in making the most of what they had to work with as the river was in flood with all sorts of things careering down the heavily silt laden water way. The Race committee also had the added constraint of having to get races away within a tight window before they ran out of water.

While numbers were significantly down on previous years, the small “laser” fleet punched above its weight with multiple class national champion, David Feek, former YNZ supremo and youth world silver medallist, Craig Gilbert, respected Javelin sailor David Brown and radial sailor Phil Wild, all in the mix. Day One was light air – to the point where out of towners are still trying to figure how the fleet made it around the highly tide affected course. However, the RO and team showed the fleet who’s boss and got in three solid races. The second day was light to moderate with the fleet zipping around the track quick enough to be back on shore in time to go check out some of the other sports going on. The third day was forecast to get hectic with gusts up above 25-30Knots….which did happen over the last few legs of race nine: while the laser fleet got around relatively unscathed, there was carnage at the last turning mark in the paper Tiger Fleet where one boat got stuck upside down and the skipper of another was cleaned out by the boom, requiring medical assistance (thankfully he was fine the following day).

The event will be held in Dunedin next year which is likely to boast a very strong fleet. However, in a couple of years time, if you’re up for something different and would like to check out a classic Kiwi town with good entertainment put on in the evenings, maybe give this a go.

Phil Wild