Over 80 young competitors across skiff, dinghy, and foiling classes converged on Manly for the PredictWind NZ Youth Championships, racing not only for national honours but for selection to represent New Zealand at the Youth Sailing World Championships in Portugal later this year. Four days of relentless heavy breeze tested every sailor, and the results showed who thrives when conditions bite.
Youth programme manager Sam Mackay had plenty of praise for the fleet. "The sailors showed incredible determination, skill, and composure, with hardly a race sailed in less than 15 knots." The sustained conditions, he believed, would serve the group well going forward: "Four days of heavy breeze will stand this group in good stead. Many of these sailors have shown they know how to win races. The challenge now is putting together a consistent regatta against the world's best."
Charteris Bay's Will Leech and Worser Bay's Will Mason arrived in the 29er fleet with purpose and left with the title well in hand. Three consecutive victories on day one announced their intentions plainly, and even a mid-series collision did little to derail them. Rather than losing ground, the pair responded by winning the very next race, their seventh bullet from nine starts. They ultimately claimed eight wins from 12 races and finished the regatta almost 25 points clear of the field, a margin that reflects how complete their sailing was across the series.
Murrays Bay's Blake Batten and Merrick Sanderson held firm for second overall, while Wakatere's Hugo Smith and Louis Quere produced their strongest sailing late in the series, stringing together three wins in the closing races to climb onto the third step of the podium. Among the women's pairings, Wakatere's Bella Jenkins and Jess Handley combined trust and tenacity to finish eighth overall, placing them 40 points clear of the next female team and securing the girls' 29er title.
The 420 fleet produced a similarly one-sided story at the top. Wakatere's Cam Brown and Kohimarama's Oli Stone were relentless, collecting seven bullets from nine races and conceding just one to their closest challengers, Murrays Bay's Tessa Clinton and Amelia Higson. Clinton and Higson pushed hard throughout and earned a deserved second overall. Their club-mates Hamish Brown and Nathan Soper rounded out the podium in third with a composed and steady series.
The ILCA 6 singlehander class offered some of the closest competition of the regatta. Tom Pilkington, sailing under Murrays Bay and the RNZYS, opened with three wins in his first six races and never relinquished control, finishing with four victories and a string of top-three results. That record left him 10 points clear of Wakatere's Toby Dunn, with fellow Murrays Bay sailor Sam Clarke securing third. In the girls' division, Chloe Turner of Murrays Bay added another strong result to her growing international record, placing sixth overall with four top-five finishes and cementing her reputation as a heavy-air specialist.
The foiling classes produced some of the most striking scorelines of the event. In the iQFOiL 8m boys, Manly's Ben Rist was in a class of his own, winning 13 of 17 races. Wakatere's Vlad Misescu and Josh Tuck were among the few to break his run. Wakatere's Daniella Wooldridge was equally dominant in the iQFOiL 7.3m girls fleet, taking 16 wins from 18 races, a performance that produced a perfect nett score after two discards. Club-mate Elbe White claimed one victory to place second, while Gabrielle Dalton-Wilson of Maraetai also took one win on her way to third.
The wingfoil division delivered the championships' most complete individual performance. Manly's Kosta Gladiadis swept all 17 races without concession, a perfect scorecard across the entire series. In the women's wingfoil competition, his club-mate Zoe Wilson was consistently inside the top three to take the title, while Riley Peet of Bay of Islands and New Caledonia's Martin Bouchet filled the minor placings in the open division.
Beneath the results, the regatta carried stories worth telling. Leech and Mason turned a collision into a catalyst. Jenkins and Handley showed what a well-matched partnership can produce under pressure. For Rist, Wooldridge, and Turner, these championships reinforced that they are already equipped to compete at the highest levels internationally. The days on the water at Manly brought capsizes, collisions, and grinding upwind work, and every sailor will carry lessons from those moments into whatever comes next.
*Final results at a glance*
29er
- Boys: Will Leech (Charteris Bay) & Will Mason (Worser Bay) – 8 wins - Girls: Bella Jenkins & Jess Handley (Wakatere) – 8th overall, top female team
420
- Boys: Cam Brown (Wakatere) & Oli Stone (Kohimarama) – 7 wins - Girls: Tessa Clinton & Amelia Higson (Murrays Bay) – 2nd overall
ILCA 6
- Boys: Tom Pilkington (Murrays Bay / RNZYS) – 4 wins - Girls: Chloe Turner (Murrays Bay) – 6th overall, top female
iQFOiL 8m
- Boys: Ben Rist (Manly) – 13 wins
iQFOiL 7.3m
- Girls: Daniella Wooldridge (Wakatere) – 16 wins
Wingfoil
- Boys: Kosta Gladiadis (Manly) – 17 wins - Girls: Zoe Wilson (Manly) – top female
From Charteris Bay and Worser Bay to Wakatere, Murrays Bay, Kohimarama, Manly, and beyond, clubs across the country are producing sailors who can not only win at home but carry New Zealand's colours onto the world stage. The PredictWind NZ Youth Championships at Manly were a reminder that the depth of talent coming through the youth pathways is considerable, and that Portugal will have no shortage of capable New Zealanders ready to compete.
