A third Harken National Secondary Schools Keelboat Championship in four years is heading to Westlake Boys High School – however a new skipper’s name will be on the title with Lucas Day and his Westlake Red crew of Robbie Woolridge, Levi Jenkins, Josh Hilder and Sam Clarke taking out the weekend over 19 other teams, including last year’s champions in the Westlake Green team. The Red crew is made up of younger students, so beating out their older counterparts was just that much sweeter for the crew thrown together a week before the event.

“We had some challenging conditions all weekend, so we just kept things simple and consistent for Finals and performed when it counted” said a stoked Lucas.

The Gold Fleet racing was almost wrapped up after 2 races, with the Nelson College Combined team taking out two victories in the first two races to put them in prime position. However, a mid-fleet finish in Race 3 and a disqualification for crossing the start line too early opened the gap that Day and his Westlake Red crew were more than happy to jump into to take this year’s title back to its familiar home on the North Shore.

With 200 high school sailors taking to the water over the weekend, there was plenty of exciting racing and many close finishes, especially in the final races of both fleets with many of the final placings being decided by mere centimeters.

Westlake Red and the runners up Saint Kentigern College team stayed within touching distance going into the final race, with both teams tied on 10 points while the Nelson Combined team sat with a 2 point lead. However, with their disqualification from the final race alongside the Kerikeri Blue ream, both boats were put into a one race sprint that decided the champion. Day and his crew were able to manage the nerves and the light winds to claim only their 2nd win of the weekend, but the one that mattered the most in the end.

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Article added: Tuesday 12 April 2022