Eight young sailors from Wānaka are challenging the best in New Zealand following an impressive seventh place finish last week at the NZ Secondary Schools Teams Sailing Nationals in New Plymouth.   

The event, which wrapped up on Friday (April 26), brought together approximately 300 sailors from 30 New Zealand school teams which competed in four fleets over four rounds. 

The local sailors (Thomas Jurczyluk, Oli Wyeth, Erica Hudson, Mabel North, Madison Smith, Otis Murphy, Imogen Nesbit and Matthew Jurczyluk) dominated the Silver Fleet in the seeding rounds, leading to a promotion into the Gold Fleet where they stayed for the rest of the week, competing with the best crews in the country.

Teams sailing or teams racing is a unique style of racing which has been compared to ‘tactical chess on water’; in it, two teams of three boats each take part in very fast, action-packed and strategic combat.

The sailors (Thomas Jurczyluk, Oli Wyeth, Erica Hudson, Mabel North, Madison Smith, Otis Murphy, Imogen Nesbit and Matthew Jurczyluk) improved on previous years by finishing inside the Gold Fleet and they were also the number one team from outside Auckland.

Auckland Grammar School ended up in the top spot this year but the Wānaka sailors’ finish inside the Gold Fleet (top eight teams) was a first and they were also the number one team from outside Auckland.

Wānaka’s improvements caught the eye of Yachting New Zealand representative Jenny Armstrong.

“I am already looking forward to seeing what this talented group get up to next season….” she said.

Jenny highlighted the hard work of the Wānaka Yacht Club (WYC) sailing programme and some of the standout achievements of this season.

“This year alone [WYC] has seen sailors compete at national championships, compete in the Sail GP programme, join the National AON Youth Sailing Squad and compete at NZ Youth Champs.”

“But the biggest achievement is the MAC team racing with a group of eight finishing seventh at nationals.”

WYC youth sailing coordinator Roger North said the club is really pleased with the culture that has evolved, which is “one that focuses on fun, inclusiveness, support, personal development and kicking a little butt along the way”.  

PHOTOS: Supplied