Three of New Zealand's brightest young sailing talents were honoured with the PredictWind Emerging Talent Award at the 2025 Barfoot and Thompson Yachting Excellence Awards. Blake Batten, along with RS Feva pair Zofia Wells and Charlotte Handley, received the recognition in an award backed by PredictWind that shines a light on youth sailors displaying exceptional potential, rapid development, and results that stand up on the world stage.
Batten, who sails out of Murrays Bay Sailing Club, put together a strong season across two very different fleets. In the P Class, he was dominant at the 2025 Tauranga Cup, New Zealand's prestigious P Class National Championship, taking four race wins from nine starts to claim the title. He then switched focus to the 29er, joining forces with Merrick Sanderson to finish second at the PredictWind New Zealand Youth Championships in the two-handed class. Off the water, his performances were acknowledged further when he took out the Under 16 Sportsman of the Year at the Counties Manukau Sporting Excellence Awards. His results across both fleets mark him as one of the country's most compelling emerging talents, with a clear pathway toward international competition.
Wells and Handley produced one of the standout performances by any New Zealand youth sailors in recent memory when they competed at the 2025 RS Feva World Championships in Aix les Bains, France. Racing in a fleet of 168 boats, the pair claimed the Female World Championship title and finished second overall in the mixed fleet. The overall title came down to a margin of just two points, with the final day's racing cancelled before they had a chance to close the gap. At their peak during the regatta, the duo strung together four consecutive wins to move to the top of the entire fleet. What made their achievement all the more striking was how recently they had joined forces, having sailed the RS Feva together for less than a year before their world championship campaign. Both brought strong Optimist backgrounds to the partnership, and their rapid progression reflected exactly that foundation. Their performance at the worlds also earned them an Appliances Online Youth Performance Award.
The achievements of Batten, Wells, and Handley capture precisely what the PredictWind Emerging Talent Award is designed to celebrate. Each has demonstrated the skill, competitive instinct, and upward trajectory that points to a future at the highest levels of the sport. Their results, at both national and world championship level, speak to the strength of New Zealand's youth sailing development pathways and to a rising generation poised to follow in the footsteps of the country's top Olympic and professional sailors.
