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23/8/2018 Boating glory for Blake McGlashan Blake McGlashan - back at school this week and a world champion. “We didn’t know how we’d go. We thought if conditions were perfect, we might get a medal, but to win was a pleasant surprise,” Blake McGlashan admits when reflecting on his victory alongside Seb Menzies at the 420 Sailing World Championships in Newport, USA. Sailing against 73 crews, many of whom were adults, Menzies (13) and McGlashan (15) cleaned up the open division beating Spanish pair Elias Leonard Aretz Queck and Pablo Garcia Cranfield by 48 points. The Kiwis sailed consistently all week, winning five of their 12 races, including two in gold fleet, and only once finished outside the top six. Just how old and tough were the competitors? “We met the Spanish pair and they were really friendly, but they would have a smoke after the race,” McGlashan innocently laughs. The build up to the World Championships in the USA wasn’t easy for McGlashan and Menzies. Practice in the winter was largely restricted to weekend sessions at Murrays Bay. “Winter in Auckland isn’t ideal for sailing so it was tough to get regular practice. We were lucky we left Auckland on July 31 and the regatta started on August 10 so we got a few extra days practice in Newport,” McGlashan reveals. Menzies and McGlashan have made rapid progress. They were 41st - and fifth of the New Zealand teams - at the 2017 420 world championships in Perth over the New Year. They then won selection as New Zealand's entry at last month's youth sailing world championships in Corpus Christi, finishing a very credible fifth.  Seb Menzies and Blake McGlashan on their way to their world title. PHOTO: www.yachtingnz.org.nz Conditions in Newport were mostly sunny with gusts of less than ten knots. The first race of the regatta set the tone. “We did well in the first race. When we knew we could get off the start line well and had good speed, it was a great confidence booster.” McGlashan said. The pair decided to ignore the standings for the remainder of the regatta, but was forced to take notice when a stranger burst their bubble. “Some random guy came up to us and told us we had a decent gap over the rest of the field. When we found that out, we just wanted to be calm and get a good start and finish the last race.” McGlashan explained. McGlashan was previously a solo sailor, but teamed up with Menzies because of a preference for double handed sailing. Olympic champion Peter Burling is a past 420 world championship in 2006 and 2007. His partner in those campaigns was Carl Evans. Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie (2007) and Alex Maloney and Bianca Babrich-Bacher (2009) were female world champions. Blake is part of the Westlake Boys’ High School Premier Sailing Team who are competing in the Inter Dominion Championships against Australia in early October. Note: Points are awarded after each race with a low score the best result - 1 point is awarded for a win. Races typically last between 40 minutes and an hour.   This past week Kerikeri High School’s sailors have been celebrating winning the Open Team title for sixth time in the past seven years at the recent New Zealand Secondary School Team Sailing Nationals at Algies Bay, north of Auckland.
Kerikeri High School produced a series of consistent performances in both light and heavy conditions throughout the week-long round-robin regatta, to win the Open Team event, the Maersk Sealand Trophy. In a field of 31 teams entered, Kerikeri finished second in all their round-robin races and won gold, ahead of Kristin School in silver and Wentworth College with the bronze. The top girls’ team was again Napier Girls High School, followed by Diocesan School for Girls and New Plymouth Girl’s High School third. The top three open and girls’ teams respectively are invited to race against the top three counterparts from the Australian Nationals. This year’s event is being held in New Zealand in late September – and Kerikeri High School will be defending their Open Team inter-dominion title. Kerikeri High School’s manager Ian Harris explained the key race of the regatta: “It came down to our third from last race on the last day against Kristen and either team could have taken out the regatta on the result of this one race,” he said. “We had a bad start but came back to take a narrow win, so the race was agonising to watch and the culmination of increasing tension during the week as it was the closest nationals for a long time. Any one of four or five teams could have been where we ended up and there was no such thing as an easy race across the whole of the gold fleet this year.” Ian praised Kerikeri’s team members for their performance on the water and their commitment off it in reaching this goal. “The sailors, starting with the skippers, were Frankie Dair (Captain), Jack Bunce, Lewis Kidmanm, and crew, Francis Cassells, Emilie Jones, Amber Hookway, Maeve White and Chris Geerkins. Frankie Dair showed good leadership and is being actively chased by the RNZYS youth training programme but has agreed to stay with our squad for another year.” Competition within the squad is also key to their success. “We are the only school in the country that can field two teams at nationals and it is this depth that has meant we have coped with the challenge of half the open team leaving for each of the last two years. “Also we are incredibly lucky to have Reuben Corbett as our coach. Reuben is a past Kerikeri High School student and is ranked in the top 10 match racers worldwide and is a big part of our success.” Over the winter Kerikeri’s sailors will be racing at Kerikeri Cruising Club centreboard regattas before training starts again in the lead up to the series against Australia in September and also crewing on the keelboats that race that race locally. Kerikeri High School has forged a strong tradition – winning more nationals more than any other school in the country in the 31 years that team sailing has been in New Zealand. The event was introduced to New Zealand by Derry Godbert who is now in his 80’s and still actively coaching the Kerikeri High School’s Girls’ team. “Over the last seven years Kerikeri only missed first place last year when we came second. It is an indication of the legacy that our team last year was disappointed to miss out on first but this was eased by going on to win in Australia against the top three Aussie teams and the other top New Zealand teams. “I believe that part of our ongoing success is due to the culture of past sailors coming back to race against the team in their final training sessions, this gives the team competition at a very high level that not many other schools can provide their teams. “Part of our history is having Olympic sailors such as Alex Maloney, Sharon Ferris and of course Blair Tuke who comes back to help when he can find the time. Other sailors have gone on to make careers in, for example, cruise ships so the current sailors are aware that there is a career path that can be found after the start that team sailing can provide.” 2016 New Zealand Secondary School Team Sailing Nationals (24-29 April) Top three Open Team finishers: 1st: Kerikeri High School 2nd: Kristin School 3rd: Wentworth College Top three Girls’ Team finishers: 1st: Napier Girls’ High School 2nd: Diocesan School for Girls 3rd: New Plymouth Girls’ High School  Nick Egnot-Johnson (Photo Supplied) Seventeen year old Rangitoto College student Nick Egnot-Johnson and his sailing partner Jackson Keon have recently returned from the waters of Pwllheli, Wales having taken on the best in Britain and then the world in successive regattas.
The pair won the UK 29er class Nationals, beating 126 boats from 19 countries. They then finished seventh at the 29er Word Championships held at the same venue, behind the leading trio of crews from Australia, Argentina and the USA, and this time against a field of 193 boats from 25 countries. Rangitoto College year 12 Media Studies student Sinead Murphy caught up with Nick on dry land and asked him some questions about their trip, and has shared their chat with College Sport Media. Where has your sport taken you overseas in recent months? At the end of last year my sailing partner Jackson Keon and I travelled to Perth for the Australian Youth Nationals and we finished seventh. Recently, sailing has taken us to Pwllheli, Wales. We sailed for three weeks in two events – the United Kingdom Nationals and the World Championships. Please tell us about these two regattas in Wales, did you exceed your expectations? We went there to sail in both the United Kingdom Nationals and the Worlds 29er Open World Championships, both of which were held at the same place, in Pwllheli, Wales. We finished first in the United Kingdom Nationals and seventh at the Worlds. We were initially aiming for top 20 at both regattas so we were stoked with our performance at both events. What are your goals for the future, what’s coming up for you and Jackson? Our short-term goal is to qualify (October 2015 trials) to go to the Youth Worlds, which will be held in Malaysia over New Year’s 2015. A long-term goal for me is to go to the Olympics in eight or twelve years’ time and to sail for New Zealand. To represent New Zealand in the 49er class, which is the bigger version of the 29er class (the one I sail at the moment). Who are the elite sailors you look up to and follow? I follow the New Zealand Olympic 49er sailors Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, who won silver at the 2012 London Olympics. Who are the people who have helped you out and supported you to the level you’re at today? My mum and dad have been a massive influence towards my sailing. They have given me so much support. They have helped by funding, supporting and giving me their time for my sport. The New Zealand 29er coach, Ian Neely, has also been great support for the New Zealand sailors. *Photo supplied |
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