RYA team GBR Mistrals on form down under at Sail Auckland

by Royal Yachting Association 11 Feb 2002 18:23 GMT

Sail Auckland, New Zealand’s most prestigious regatta for International and Olympic Classes, finished today after twelve races were completed. Sailing took place from Friday 8 February through to Monday 11 February and was hosted by the Kohimarama Yacht Club, Auckland.

The men’s and women’s Mistral fleet raced together on a number of courses on Auckland Harbour between Orakei Wharf (Kelly Tarlton’s) and Brown’s Island. After twelve races it was Great Britain’s Nick Dempsey who came out on top in the seventeen-boat fleet. Scoring an impressive string of results with nothing outside a fifth place, and winning three of the races, to finally win the regatta by twelve points from his nearest rival, New Zealand’s Jon-Paul Tobin. RYA team GBR team-mate Dominic Tidey finished in third place, just one point behind Tobin.

In the Women’s fleet, team GBR sailor Natasha Sturges led the fleet from the start of the regatta to the finish in front of Alison Shreeve of Australia, Sturges' former training partner Julie Worth from New Zealand finished in third place. Sturges and Worth were training partners for four years in the lead up to the Sydney Games 2000, and trained with each other prior to the Sail Auckland Regatta. Sturges finished the regatta eighteen points in front of Shreeve and tenth in the overall positioning.

RYA team GBR team-mate Bryony Shaw, put in an impressive string of results to finish fourth overall in the women’s fleet, twenty points behind Worth.

The Men’s British Mistral team will now move on to Palma where they will take part in an RYA Olympic Classes training camp before competing at the Princess Sofia Regatta in March. Sturges will continue training 'down under' and return to Europe for the SPA regatta in Medemblick in May.

"The feedback I have been getting suggests that the ‘down under’ training period has been really constructive and you can see this in the improved results between the Sail Melbourne Regatta and this one. This trip should see the team better prepared for the European circuit than ever before." Commented RYA Competition Coach Barry Edgington.

Overall Results:

Pos	Competitor	Nat	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	R11	R12	Pts
Mistral Board Class-Men
1	Nick Dempsey	GBR	5	1	1	2	2	2	2	3	3	2	2	1	18
2	Jon-Paul Tobin	NZL	4	8	11	3	1	1	1	1	1	4	8	6	30
3	Dominic Tidey	GBR	8	2	4	1	3	5	3	2	2	1	9	OCS	31
Other British Results
7	Leo McCallin	GBR	2	7	5	6	6	OCS	6	6	4	7	10	OCS	59
10	Hugh Sims Williams	GBR	13	11	13	5	11	10	12	10	11	11	OCS	OCS	107
Mistral Board Class-Women
1	Natasha Sturges	GBR	6	10	10	13	DNF	DNF	9	11	14	12	6	5	96
2	Alison Shreeve	AUS	15	13	9	9	12	13	15	13	10	13	13	9	114
3	Julie Worth	NZL	12	12	14	10	14	14	11	12	12	9	14	11	117
Other British Results
4	Bryony Shaw	GBR	14	15	15	15	16	11	13	15	15	14	16	10	137