By Suzanne McFadden
Not even 19, and New Zealander Matt Davies is a double world yachting champion.
Davies yesterday paired up with his old schoolmate Kevin Borrows to win the 420-class title at the world youth sailing championships in Simons Town, South Africa.
Davies, who turns 19 when he arrives back home in
Auckland tomorrow, is already the world Laser II champion - a title he won in 1997 with Nathan Handley.
His new crewman, 18-year-old Borrows, has also come through the right channels.
Like many of New Zealand's world sailing champions, Borrows is a former national P-class winner.
It is the first time New Zealand has won the double-handed class at the world youth championships since America's Cup skipper Chris Dickson's hat-trick between 1978 and 1980.
Davies and Borrows, former students at Westlake Boys' High School, were tied for first with an Israeli crew going into the final day of sailing yesterday. But blustery winds gusting to 28 knots meant the last race was abandoned, and the title was decided by countback.
The New Zealanders got the nod - they had three first places in the 10-race regatta, to Israel's two.
World Laser Radial youth champion Alastair Gair was the next-best Kiwi in South Africa, finishing fourth in the single-handed Laser class.
The strong winds did not come soon enough for the Wellington boardsailers, Stacy Cree and Karl Mygind. Cree had a third in the final race to finish eighth, while Mygind a fourth and a fifth to end his regatta in 11th place.
Aucklander Michelle Vinsen was eighth overall in the Laser Radial girls.
Yachting New Zealand high performance manager Peter Lester said he was pleased with New Zealand's fifth place in the Nautica Cup teams event considering the Kiwis were not represented in two classes.
