ILCA NZ Nationals - Day 2: Saunders and Armit dominate at Picton

Queen Charlotte Yacht Club, venue for the NZ ILCA National Championships - Day 1, Queen Charlotte Yacht Club, Picton © Christel Hopkins

Three races were sailed on Day 2 of the ILCA 6 and 7 NZ Championships from the Queen Charlotte Yacht Club, Picton.

There was no change to the ILCA7 overnight leaderboard, with current World Champion Tom Saunders, posting two wins and a second to retain a three point lead over George Gautrey, who won Race 4, and placed second in the other two races. Three points separate the top two, with Luke Cashmore third overall on 15pts, with just a single point back to Luke Deegan on 16pts.

In the ILCA6 Caleb Armit continued to dominate, and scoring two wins from the three races, but notched up his discard in the final race of the day, placing 5th. George Lane is in second overall, 4pts behind Armit, with his points score receiving a handy boost from a Race 5 win.

Four female sailors lie in the top seven overall of the ILCA6 fleet, with just two years left before selection for Paris 2024, in an event at which New Zealand has been unrepresented for the last two Olympiads, despite reaching the Qualifying Standard. Olivia Christie, lies in 4th place overall on 17pts, she is tied on points with third overall, Dylan Forsyth in the Open ILCA6 fleet, but drops to fourth when the tiebreaker is applied. Three sailors are behind Christie - Greta Pilkington on 18pts; Emily Overend on 20pts and Annabelle Rennie-Younger in 7th overall on 23pts. There are 30 sailors in the ILCA6 fleet, with the class being used for both the Youth Worlds and Womens One-Person Dinghy event at the Olympics.

In the Masters, also sailed in the ILCA6, Phil Wild is the overall leader on 5pts, from a scorecard of three wins and two 2nd places. Edmund Tam is second overall on 8pts, with Werner Hennig and Roger Winton, 3rd and 4th respectively tied on 14pts.

Racing continues Saturday and Sunday.

For full results click here