Local Wins At Aon Youth Event

The Aon Youth Sailing World championships have been in the news recently as it was concluded this week in Auckland in New Zealand.


RS:X category was one of the races in this tournament. Patrick Haybittle was able to make the most of his experience and being part of a fleet of world class standards. He was sailing in home waters and having made the top ten in three races was definitely a crowning achievement for him, on the final day of the races. Patrick is a teenager who participated in the sailing events and represented Murrays Bay Sailing Club. The second race was a brilliant one that he ran in the afternoon when he sailed off the waters in Torbay. The scores ran at 8, 3, 8 and he was in seventh position before the final day. The wind went flat the next days, but Patrick states that this suited him better. He feels that the races went his way after that. (more…)

Clipper Race: Britain stacks at Scoring Gate

The fleet of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race is flying along to Whitsundays with the top runners just more than a thousand nautical miles from the end line near the Airlie Beach with Da Nang – Viet Nam keeping a short lead with just thirty nautical miles separating the top 8 squads.
Great Britain was the very first through Scoring Gate at 18:16 UTC (January 3, 2016) followed only twenty-six minutes later by LMAX Exchange, taking 3 and 2 points respectively. The final point was snatched by Derry Londonderry Doire.
Peter Thornton, the Great Britain skipper, talked about the tense fight. He told that that little race for the gate previous night was a bit acute. He thanked LMAX Exchange for his increased number of white hairs, heightened blood pressure as well as general lack of sleep. He added that the forecast wind shift in the final stages did in fact come through in the nick of time and enabled them to stay ahead which ge was delighted with, as the people were working pretty hard in some challenging helming and trimming conditions – especially at night. (more…)