Open Team Racing Nationals 2019
Last weekend was the second annual Open Team Racing Nationals being held up in Kerikeri a competition for some of the most tactical & intense racing to put sailors of a wide age range in teams and see those teams faceoff. 11 teams entered and the Herberts are in 3 different teams this time around.
Sean is racing in the Kiwi Team Racing much the same team as he was with for the Wilson Trophy; Imogen is in a team helmed by members of the RNZYS Youth Training Programme and the youngest sailor in the regatta; and I have got together a team with members from our Interdomion Wentworth team and sailors Sean and I have been coaching for the last little while.
The weekend saw a variety of conditions with a strong breeze in rain squalls on Saturday and a shifty Sunday making it difficult for the race committee to roll out races one after another having to reset the course regularly slowing the flow of the regatta. On Monday we headed out onto the water with millpond conditions which only presented two opportunities to run races.
The regatta is a significant step up in skills and experience for everyone involved and our teams have picked up a lot of great knowledge to go forward and improve the level of our team racing. The goal of this event is to bring New Zealand team racing up to a level that allows us to have competitive representation at major team racing events around the world at regattas such as The Wilson Trophy, The Heineman Cup, and the World Team Sailing Championships.
Kiwi Team Racing (Sean’s team) took the win defending their title and RNZYS (Imogen’s team) followed up in second place.
A big thanks go to the organisers and supporters of the event, the racing is a lot of fun and having the best teams in the country gives us pressure inducing situations where we have learned heaps.
