NZL Sailing Foundation Youth Team: Long delays, abandoned races and even a harbour shutdown - Day 3

Hugo Wigglesworth (NZL) (Boys Kitefoiling) - Allianz Youth World Sailing Championships - Day 4 - The Hague - July 2022 © Sailing Energy / World Sailing

Long delays, abandoned races and even a harbour shutdown was the order of the day as the Youth Sailing World Championships passed the midway point in The Hague on Day 3.

The Boy's and Girl's 420 and boy's 29er each managed to get in two races and the Nacra 15 and Boy's Kitefoiling managed one. But the rest of the Youth Worlds fleet spent long hours waiting for non-existent racing, as light winds and strong tides played havoc with the efforts of race management to get racing completed. The ILCA 6s nearly completed two entire races but timed out in the dying breeze and strong tides.

The good news is as much as 15 knots is expected on Day 4, which would allow the New Zealand sailors to finally stretch their legs after three uncharacteristically light-wind days.

Seb Menzies, who stands well over six feet tall, has pretty long legs these days and will go into the fourth day of racing in a strong position in the boy's 29er alongside George Lee Rush. The pair banked impressive scores of second and first in their two races overnight to jump into second overall and close the gap to eight points on the leaders.

George Lee Rush / Seb Menzies (NZL) (Boys 29er) - Allianz Youth World Sailing Championships - Day 4 - The Hague - July 2022 - photo © Sailing Energy / World Sailing

"We are very stoked with today," said Menzies, who is competing at his third youth worlds. "A lot of boats had bad races, including the Argentine guys who had been very consistent, so it was definitely a good day to be up there.

"It’s exciting. We are fizzing to get out there hopefully in some breeze tomorrow for four races. It will be pretty nice. The Hague definitely hasn’t delivered what we expected, so hopefully it redeems itself a little bit."

What has been particularly satisfying for Lee Rush and Menzies, who went into these youth worlds on the back of wins at both Kiel Week and the 29er European championships, has been their ability to deliver top results in marginal sailing conditions.

George Lee Rush / Seb Menzies (NZL) (Boys 29er) - Allianz Youth World Sailing Championships - Day 4 - The Hague - July 2022 - photo © Sailing Energy / World Sailing

Three other New Zealand boats remain in the top 10, with Helena Sanderson and Cam McGlashan sixth in the Nacra 15, Hugo Wigglesworth seventh in the boy's kitefoiling and Lucas Day and Sam Scott 10th in the boy's 420.

Wigglesworth, who is the youngest member of the NZL Sailing Foundation Youth Team, was sixth in his only race of the day and satisfied to finish ahead of Singapore's Maximilian Maeder who is not only a two-time youth worlds winner but also European champion at Olympic classes level.

Racing will get under way at 10am local time on the fourth day as race management look to catch up on the schedule. As many as eight races could be possible for the windfoilers, who haven't raced since the opening day.

"It's going to be a big day tomorrow but, with the forecast we have for the next couple of days, everyone is pretty excited to finish the regatta strongly," said New Zealand coach Sam Mackay as the team were undertaking a beach cleanup in front of their accommodation.

29er - Allianz Youth World Sailing Championships - Day 4 - The Hague - July 2022 - photo © Sailing Energy / World Sailing

Results and standings after Day 3 of the Youth Sailing World Championships in The Hague:

Boy's Kitefoiling (19 boards)

1st: Riccardo Pianosi (ITA) 1 (2) 1 (2) 2 1 1 1 - 7 points 2nd: Maximilian Maeder (SGP) (3) 1 2 1 1 2 2 (7) - 9 pts 3rd: Jakub Jurowski (POL) 2 3 3 (11) 6 5 (7) 2 - 21 pts

7th: Hugo Wigglesworth (NZL) 9 (DNC) 7 7 (11) 7 5 6 - 41 pts

Nacra 15 (14 boats)

1st: Garcia de la Casa / Garcia de la Casa (ESP) 2 (4) 1 1 1 3 - 8 pts 2nd: Grandjean / Fehlmann (SUI) 1 2 2 2 (4) 1 - 8 pts 3rd: Rideau / Moreau (FRA) (4) 1 3 4 3 2 - 13 pts

6th: Helena Sanderson / Cam McGlashan (NZL) 5 6 4 (9) 6 5 - 26 pts

Girl's ILCA 6 (56 boats)

1st: Eve McMahon (IRL) (2) 1 1 - 2 pts 2nd: Evie Saunders (AUS) 1 (7) 2 - 3 pts 3rd: Claudia Lledo (ESP) (7) 2 6 - 8 pts

34th: Teaghan Denney (NZL) 33 (41) 19 - 52 pts

Boy's ILCA 6 (61 boats)

1st: Sebastian Kempe (BER) 1 1 (11) - 2 pts 2nd: Rocco Wright (IRL) 2 (17) 4 - 6 pts 3rd: Yogev Alcalay (ISR) 5 3 (26) - 8 pts

16th: Caleb Armit (NZL) 4 24 (39) - 28 pts

Girl's 29er (23 boats)

1st: Gout / Babin (FRA) 1 1 5 (7) 3 1 - 11 pts 2nd: Pefaur / Pantin (ARG) (3) 2 3 3 1 3 - 12 pts 3rd: Ernst / Schmidt (GER) 7 7 (9) 1 6 4 - 25 pts

20th: Lucy Leith / Lizzie Shapland (NZL) 20 18 16 (DNF) 15 17 - 86 pts

Boy's 29er (24 boats)

1st: Videla / Funes de Rioja (ARG) 1 1 1 2 8 2 1 (9) - 16 pts 2nd: George Lee Rush / Seb Menzies (NZL) (7) 4 7 3 2 5 2 1 - 24 pts 3rd: Sesto Cosby / Wilkinson (GBR) (17) 2 3 4 3 7 4 10 - 33 pts

Girl's 420 (21 boats)

1st: Wehrie / Rinn (GER) (5) 1 2 3 1 5 - 12 pts 2nd: Michelini / Bonifaccio (ITA) 2 7 (8) 4 3 4 - 20 pts 3rd: Hurwitz / Young (ISV) 6 (8) 4 2 8 1 - 21 pts

15th: Nicola Hume / Daniella Wooldridge (NZL) (21) 17 10 12 13 16 - 68 pts

Boy's 420 (23 boats)

1st: Barcelo / Villamueva (ESP) 2 (10) 1 5 1 8 - 17 pts 2nd: Levy / Gal (ISR) 1 1 10 4 (13) 6 - 22 pts 3rd: Sancho / Vozone (POR) 7 9 3 (17) 2 3 - 24 pts

10th: Lucas Day / Sam Scott (NZL) 11 7 11 3 9 (19) - 41 pts

Girl's Windfoiling (29 boards)

1st: Merve Vatah (TUR) (1) 1 1 1 - 3 pts 2nd: Tamar Steinberg (ISR) (1) 1 1 1 - 3 pts 3rd: Lina Erzen (SLO) (DNF) 3 5 3 - 11 pts

15th: Aimee Bright (NZL) (DNF) 13 17 11 - 41 pts

Boy's Windfoiling (31 boards)

1st: Hidde van der Meer (NED) 1 (3) 1 1 - 3 pts 2nd: Charlie Dixon (GBR) 1 1 (3) 1 - 3 pts 3rd: Davis Mazais (LAT) 3 5 3 (7) 11 pts

30th: Jack Parr (NZL) (DNS) 25 27 27 - 79 pts

Full results youthworlds2022.sapsailing.com