Three NZ crews in the top two at youth worlds

If yesterday was a good start to the youth sailing world championships in Corpus Christi for the New Zealand sailors then today was even better as Josh Armit jumped to the top of the Laser Radial fleet and two other crews settled into second.

Seb Lardies and Scott McKenzie are second in the boy's 29er and Veerle ten Have is second in the girl's RS:X. On top of that, Greta Stewart and Tom Fyfe had a much better day in the Nacra 15 and climbed five places to fourth, Seb Menzies and Blake McGlashan are sixth in the boy's 420 and Max van der Zalm is ninth in the boy's RS:X.

Armit rounded off what was a good day for most of the NZL Sailing Foundation Youth Team with two bullets in the Laser Radial to establish a two-point lead over Australia's Zac Littlewood. He clearly enjoyed the moderate and sometimes gusty winds at Corpus Christie and his position was helped when the discard for his worst score to date came into play, allowing him to drop his sixth from the first race of the regatta.

"I had a better day today," said Armit, who won last year's Laser Radial under-17 world title. "I enjoyed the conditions out there and got a better feel for the boat. I also made some good decisions which led to some good races.

"It was a good confidence booster to go out there and get some good results. I need to keep doing what I'm doing because it worked today."

It also worked for ten Have, who went into the day leading the girl's RS:X. She backed it up with two thirds and a second to be one point behind Italy's Giorgia Speciale.

Crucially, the top three have established a handy break over the rest of the fleet, with Poland's Weronika Marciniak 15 points behind Great Britain's Islay Watson in third.

The boy's 29er fleet is also starting to take shape with Lardies and McKenzie holding onto second place, five points behind leaders Mathias Berthet and Alexander Franks-Penty of Norway who won two of today's three races. The Kiwi pair were ninth (their drop), third and fourth today, but had to fight hard at times to keep in touch with the leaders.

"We got out of some sticky situations on the start line," Lardies said. "We had to bail early to try to get a clear lane. Tomorrow we need to send it hard off the line so we don't get pinched and can get a clear lane straight away."

McKenzie added: "We hope the rest of the week goes as well as it has been going. Just no silly mistakes."

Stewart and Fyfe fought their way back into contention in the Nacra 15 off the back of two seconds and a ninth in their three races today, which leaves them six points off the crews in second and third. The Argentine pair of Teresa Romairone and Dante Cittadini showed their class, winning all three races, and now have a 13-point lead with three days remaining.

Stewart and Fyfe had a straightforward plan: "Keep it simple, get good starts and go fast in the right direction."

Menzies and McGlashan are right in the mix in the boy's 420, which is proving to be one of the most competitive fleets at the youth worlds, after a 10th and third today. The American pair of Joseph Hermus and Walter Henry dominated today's two races to open a handy seven-point lead over second but only 10 points separate second and 11th.

The promising Menzies (13) and McGlashan (15) are the youngest members of the New Zealand team in Corpus Christie and have shown in the first two days they are more than competitive against rivals who are sometimes five years older than them.

As many as 382 sailors from 66 countries are competing at the youth sailing world championships, which is the pinnacle event for youth sailors. 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 and standings after the second day of the youth sailing world championships at Corpus Christi today:

Boy's 420 (23 boats)

1st: Joseph Hermus / Walter Henry (USA) (3) 2 1 1 - 4 points

2nd: Otto Henry / Roma Featherstone (AUS) (8) 7 2 2 - 11 pts

3rd: Kacper Paszek / Bartek Reiter (POL) 5 5 (19) 5 - 15 pts

6th: Seb Menzies / Blake McGlashan (NZL) 4 (13) 10 3 - 17 pts

Girl's 420 (22 boats)

1st: Carmen Cowles / Emma Cowles (USA) 1 1 (23 UFD) 1 - 3 pts

2nd: Vita Heathcote / Emilia Boyle (GBR) 4 2 1 (6) - 7 pts

3rd: Julia Minana Delhom / Silvia Sebastia Borso di Carminati (ESP) 2 (4) 2 4 - 8 pts

14th: Cara Higinbottom / Alice Floyd (NZL) 11 12 (15) 11 - 34 pts

Boy's 29er (25 boats)

1st: Mathias Berthet / Alexander Franks-Penty (NOR) 6 (8) 1 2 1 1 - 11 pts

2nd: Seb Lardies / Scott McKenzie (NZL) 3 1 5 (9) 3 4 - 16 pts

3rd: Henry Larkings / Miles Davey (AUS) 1 2 2 6 (10) 7 - 18 pts

Girl's 29er (23 boats)

1st: Pia Andersen / Nora Edland (NOR) 2 1 3 (17) 1 1 - 8 pts

2nd: Zoya Novikova / Diana Sabirova (RUS) (4) 3 1 3 2 2 - 11 pts

3rd: Berta Puig / Isabella Casaretto (USA) 5 6 2 1 (7) 5 - 19 pts

15th: Sophia Fyfe / Alice Haslett (NZL) 17 (24 UFD) 12 13 10 12 - 64 pts

Nacra 15 (24 boats)

1st: Teresa Romairone / Dante Cittadini (ARG) (3) 2 3 1 1 1 - 8 pts

2nd: Silas Muhle / Romy Mackenbrock (GER) 1 6 1 (10) 6 7 - 21 pts

3rd: Henri Demesmaeker / Frederique van Eupen (BEL) 2 1 (25 DNF) 3 9 6 - 21 pts

4th: Greta Stewart / Tom Fyfe (NZL) 10 (12) 4 9 2 2 - 27 pts

Boy's Laser Radial (58 boats)

1st: Josh Armit (NZL) (6) 3 1 1 - 5 pts

2nd: Zac Littlewood (AUS) 1 (8) 4 2 - 7 pts

3rd: Juan Cardozo (ARG) (7) 1 6 3 - 10 pts

Girl's Laser Radial (46 boats)

1st: Charlotte Rose (USA) (4) 1 1 1 - 3 pts

2nd: Emma Savelon (NED) 1 2 (6) 2 - 5 pts

3rd: Valeriya Lomatchenko (RUS) (6) 4 2 3 - 9 pts

22nd: Samantha Stock (NZL) (25) 23 18 24 - 65 pts

Boy's RS:X (27 boards)

1st: Geronimo Nores (USA) 1 1 1 (4) 1 2 - 6 pts

2nd: Nicolo Renna (ITA) 2 2 2 2 2 (3) - 10 pts

3rd: Fabien Pianazza (FRA) (6) 5 3 1 3 1 - 13 pts

9th: Max van der Zalm (NZL) 7 16 9 6 9 (19) - 47 pts

Girl's RS:X (17 boards)

1st: Giorgia Speciale (ITA) 2 (3) 3 1 1 1 - 8 pts

2nd: Veerle ten Have (NZL) 1 1 2 (3) 2 3 - 9 pts

3rd: Islay Watson (GBR) 3 2 1 2 (4) 2 - 10 pts

Full results here

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