Consistency pays off for skiff sailor Lucy Millar

At home on the water: Lucy Millar in action during the Wellington O’pen Cup skiff regatta. Pictures supplied

Gisborne sailor Lucy Millar dominated the female division and gave the males a run for their money in the Wellington O’pen Cup skiff regatta sailed off Evans Bay over the weekend.

She finished top female and fourth overall in the gold fleet in challenging but typical Wellington winds.

The contest was held over three days that included a coaching session on Friday afternoon.

On the last day, 20-knot winds with gusts close to 30 knots resulted in many nosedives and cartwheels in the short chop.

In the 10-race schedule her consistency of three third placings and five fourths in the mixed open fleet after discarding her two worst races meant she finished just four points behind third-placed Carl Marshall, of Napier, and 19 points clear of the second-placed female, Evans Bay sailor Lola Redshaw-Nalder, who was seventh in the open fleet.

Plimmerton sailors Jack Olson and Caelan Davidson were first and second in the open fleet.

Gisborne sailing twins Jake and Lucy Millar have dominated this event as they progressed through the fleets.

Lucy won the silver fleet in 2019 and Jake won in 2020. Lucy has been top female in the past three years — twice in the silver fleet and now in the gold.

Both contested the Starling class nationals in Napier over Easter, sailing in a 100-strong fleet of New Zealand’s top youth sailors. This was daunting as they have only themselves to race and train against in Gisborne.

Jake has outgrown the open skiff and now appears “heir apparent” to his father Peter as a Laser yacht sailor, having finished second to him in the recent Poverty Bay championships held the previous weekend. Two more senior Laser sailors had to settle for third and fourth placings.

Results from Poverty Bay championships —

Cats: Roger Newport 1, Jamie Durwood 2.

Open skiff: Keily Thompson 1, Lucy Millar 2. (Keily is the current North Island and South Island champion).

Laser: Peter Millar 1, Jake Millar 2, Richard Stannard 3, Colin Shanks 4.