New Zealand has taken trifecta at the Splash world sailing championships which finished off Takapuna in Auckland today.
Chris Steele took the title ahead of compatriots Declan Burn and Ben Lutze. It was the sixth time in 10 years that New Zealanders have won the world championship.
It was thesecond world championship for 17-year-old Steele - he also won the Optimist world championships in 2007.
``It's a great feeling, every bit as good as the first one,' he said.
Beating 73 sailors from 12 countries was the result of strategic, consistent sailing: Steele stayed as close as possible to the top sailors on days when the conditions were heavy and didn't suit him, and notched up mostly first and second places on the lighter days when they did.
New Zealander Laura Hemingway, 18, secured the women's title, finishing 20th overall in the fleet, on 144 points. Norway's Ina Berensten Kullmann, on an exchange programme in Auckland, was second on 175 points, and reigning champion Nienke Reina Jorna (Netherlands) third.
New Zealand won the Nations Trophy for the second year in a row.
