Kiwis impress on first day of youth worlds

The New Zealand sailors made a strong start to the youth sailing world championships in Corpus Christi today with six inside the top 10, including Veerle ten Have who leads the girl's RS:X.

Seb Lardies and Scott McKenzie are second in the boy's 29er, Josh Armit fourth in the boy's Laser Radial, Greta Stewart and Tom Fyfe ninth in the Nacra 15, Max van der Zalm ninth in the boy's RS:X and Seb Menzies and Blake McGlashan 10th in the boy's 420.

It represented a good start to the pinnacle event for youth sailors and most of the New Zealanders revelled in the perfect 12-14 knots conditions at Corpus Christi.

"It was a really good, solid start to the regatta," Yachting New Zealand head youth coach Matt Thomas said. "It was good to see all the main contenders in solid positions to go forward."

Ten Have has set herself up well in the girl's boardsailing, posting two race wins and a second to establish a one-point lead over Great Britain's Islay Watson. She dominated the pin end off the start line and was consistently quick around the race course.

"I did really well today with two bullets and a second so I'm really happy," said ten Have, who was recently selected to compete at October's Youth Olympics in Argentina. "I had good speed and I won every single start.

"The plan is to go out and do what I did today as it was a pretty good day; but not fall in as I dropped my rig on a gybe in the last race."

Lardies and McKenzie banked three good scores, with a third, first and a fifth, and are one point behind leaders Henry Larkings and Miles Davey of Australia. The pair are expected to be among the contenders in the boy's 29er after showing some good lead-in form in regattas in Germany and Poland and know what to expect at such an important regatta after finishing eighth at last year's youth worlds in China.

"They sailed really solidly from start to finish in each race," Thomas said. "They took a really good, methodical approach to the start of the regatta which puts them in a great position. They were tidy and had good speed and, crucially, didn't make any silly errors."

It was a similar story for Armit, who is among the favourites in the boy's Laser Radial. The under-17 Laser Radial world champion started his regatta with a sixth and a third in today's two races to leave him only one point off the lead held by Argentina's Juan Cardozo. The boy's Laser Radial is the biggest fleet at the youth worlds, with 58 competitors.

As many as 382 sailors from 66 countries are competing at Corpus Christi this week. Some of New Zealands top sailors have won titles at this level, including Chris Dickson (1978-80), Russell Coutts (1981), Dean Barker (1990), Tom Ashley (2002) and Sam Meech (2009).

Results from the first day of the youth sailing world championships at Corpus Christi today:

Boy's 420 (23 boats)

1st: Joseph Hermus / Walter Henry (USA) 3 2 - 5 points

2nd: Matthias Menis / Nicolas Starc (ITA) 9 1 - 10 pts

3rd: Kacper Paszek / Bartek Reiter (POL) 5 5 - 10 pts

10th: Seb Menzies / Blake McGlashan (NZL) 4 13 (17) - 17 pts

Girl's 420 (22 boats)

1st: Carmen Cowles / Emma Cowles (USA) 1 1 - 2 pts

2nd: Vita Heathcote / Emilia Boyle (GBR) 4 2 - 6 pts

3rd: Julia Minana Delhom / Silvia Sebastia Borso di Carminati (ESP) 2 4 - 6 pts

12th: Cara Higinbottom / Alice Floyd (NZL) 11 12 - 23 pts

Boy's 29er (25 boats)

1st: Henry Larkings / Miles Davey (AUS) 1 (2) 2 - 3 pts

2nd: Seb Lardies / Scott McKenzie (NZL) 3 1 (5) - 4 pts

3rd: Federico Zampiccoli / Luca Fracassi (ITA) 2 4 (6) - 6 pts

Girl's 29er (23 boats)

1st: Pia Andersen / Nora Edland (NOR) 2 1 (3) - 3 pts

2nd: Zoya Novikova / Diana Sabirova (RUS) (4) 3 1 - 4 pts

3rd: Maru Scheel / Freya Feilcke (GER) 1 5 (9) - 6 pts

17th: Sophia Fyfe / Alice Haslett (NZL) 17 (24 UFD) 12 - 29 pts

Nacra 15 (24 boats)

1st: Silas Muhle / Romy Mackenbrock (GER) 1 (6) 1 - 2 pts

2nd: Henri Demesmaeker / Frederique van Eupen (BEL) 2 1 (25 DNF) - 3 pts

3rd: Teresa Romairone / Dante Cittadini (ARG) (3) 2 3 - 5 pts

9th: Greta Stewart / Tom Fyfe (NZL) 10 (12) 4 - 14 pts

Boy's Laser Radial (58 boats)

1st: Juan Cardozo (ARG) 7 1 - 8 pts

2nd: Uffe Tomasgaard (NOR) 4 4 - 8 pts

3rd: Zac Littlewood (AUS) 1 8 - 9 pts

4th: Josh Armit (NZL) 6 3 - 9 pts

Girl's Laser Radial (46 boats)

1st: Emma Savelon (NED) 1 2 - 3 pts

2nd: Charlotte Rose (USA) 4 1 - 5 pts

3rd: Wiktoria Golebiowska (POL) 2 3 - 5 pts

23rd: Samantha Stock (NZL) 25 23 - 48 pts

Boy's RS:X (27 boards)

1st: Geronimo Nores (USA) (1) 1 1 - 2 pts

2nd: Nicolo Renna (ITA) (2) 2 2 - 4 pts

3rd: Aleksander Przychodzen (POL) 3 (4) 4 - 7 pts

9th: Max van der Zalm (NZL) 7 (16) 9 - 16 pts

Girl's RS:X (17 boards)

1st: Veerle ten Have (NZL) 1 1 (2) - 2 pts

2nd: Islay Watson (GBR) (3) 2 1 - 3 pts

3rd: Giorgia Speciale (ITA) 2 (3) 3 - 5 pts

Full results here

- This story has been automatically published using a media release from Yachting New Zealand