Wakatere sailor Paul Snow-Hansen won the national P-class sailing title after the tightest of finishes on Tauranga Harbour yesterday.
Snow-Hansen finished third and first in the final two races in the nine-race event, while defending champion Daniel Willcox (Murrays Bay) finished first and second.
Willcox's last-day charge thwarted the challenge
of Kohimarama's Carl Evans, who finished on 13 points overall, equal with Snow-Hansen but trailing his young Auckland rival on countback.
Snow-Hansen, courtesy of his four wins to Evans' two, added the national title to the North Island championship he won at the same venue in October when he beat Willcox by a single point.
It caps a tremendous 12 months for Snow-Hansen, who last week took out the Tanner Cup inter-provincial title, after finishing second at the world Optimist championships in Ecuador in July, the highest-ever placing by a New Zealander.
His Wakatere clubmate Kate Ellingham won the women's division, with Susannah Pyatt (Murrays Bay) second and Dunedin's Chelsea Whitburn third.
The final day of the P-class titles overlapped the start of the Starling Match Racing, where Tauranga's Peter Burling won the final event 3-1 from Scott Morrison (Auckland).
Results
Nuplex P-class Nationals, final results after the final day of racing yesterday: 1 Paul Snow-Hansen (Wakatere) 13pts (won on countback), 2 Carl Evans (Kohimarama) 13, 3 Daniel Willcox (Murrays Bay) 14, 4 Kate Ellingham (Wakatere) 30, 5 Rowan Swanson (Horowhenua) 33, 6 Susannah Pyatt (Murrays Bay) 45, 7 Luke Deegan (Howick) 57, 8 Travis Dow (Tutakaka) 61, 9 William Tiller (Kohimarama) 78, 10 Sam Meech (Hamilton) 81, 11 Jason Saunders (Tauranga) 84, 12 Josh Junior (Worser Bay) 85, 13 Francisco Lardies (Glendowie) 86, 14 Mike Adams (Kohimarama) 98, 15 Sam Marshall (Howick) 107, 16 Chelsea Whitburn (Macandrew Bay) 121, 17 Ryan Donaldson (Naval Point) 124, 18 Darren Kennedy (Tauranga) 126, 19 Gabrielle Cross (Naval Point) 131, 20 Sean Thompson (Torbay) 134.
