Glorious sunny Auckland delivers on Day 1 ILCA (Laser) Nationals at Murrays Bay

Luke Cashmore (NZL) - ILCA 7 - NZL Sailing Team - Semaine Olympique Française de Hyères - April 2022 © Sailing Energy/FFVOILE

After a bit of a wait the forecast westerly managed to push the light easterly breeze out and we enjoyed the scheduled two races in a typically challenging 10 knot off shore breeze under sunny skies and with lovely warm temperatures.

Race officer Dave West set great courses for the fleet of 124 for todays 2 races. The ILCA 7's raced as a single fleet of 40 while the ILCA 6 were split with the ILCA 6 Masters starting separately from the large Youth, Women and Open fleet.

The ILCA 7 combined Open and Masters fleet led off. A light patch on the starting gun caught out many of the favourites at the boat end of the line, allowing Bluff Yacht Club's Darryl Park to lead at the first mark.

The cream however soon rose to the top on the downwind legs and it was U21 sailor Dylan Forsyth who eventually claimed the race ahead of Luke Cashmore and Luke Deegan, both of whom had fairly miraculous recoveries after getting caught out on the first beat. In the second race Master Scott Leith flew the flag for the host club, taking the race ahead of Luke Cashmore and Christchurch sailor Charles Corston.

Two seconds has given Luke Cashmore a tidy overall lead after Day 1, 5 points clear of a close bunch of three; Luke Deegan, Caleb Armit and Dylan Forsyth. Scott Leith is the Leading Master. Defending Masters champion Andrew Dellabarca is second master overall and is the leading GM, Tim Pitcaithly the leading AM while Barry Cutfield from Ohope leads the GGM.

In the ILCA 6 Masters Phil Wild (M) from Manly took out both races but it was close racing with Josh Edmonds (AM), Ed Tam (GM) from Worser Bay and Tauranga's David Johnson (M) all getting top three places. Leading the Masters women is Georgina Wooldridge, just a few points clear of Helen Spencer and Bridget Gordon, both from Tauranga.

In the 60 boat ILCA 6 fleet it was a great battle between the leading Youths, Women and Open sailors. Many sailors found the size of the fleet and the conditions challenging and consistency hard to find.

The first race was won by Akarana's Stefano Santella (Y) from Annabelle Rennie-Younger, recently returned to the ILCA after stint in the 470, with youth George Pilkington third. Both Stefano and Annabelle had problems in the second race however, while George took it out to lead overall.

Second in the second race was George Lane from Hamilton, who also sits second overall, one point clear of a consistent Zach Stibbe from Dunedin. Greta Pilkington leads the Women and is fourth overall, with Naiomi Ferrissey from host club Murrays Bay the leading female Youth.

Tomorrows forecast is for pretty much more of the same, with a fresher offshore breeze, so we can can hopefully look forward to getting tomorrows three scheduled races completed and to plenty of opportunities for everyone in what is again likely to be a shifty and challenging day.

For full Results murraysbay.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/2023-NZ-ILCA-7-6-4-National-Championships.pdf