Macleans College sailors finish third at New Zealand Secondary Schools Keelboat Nationals
Posted on March 21, 2023
The New Zealand Secondary Schools Keelboat Nationals were held at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron over the weekend.
Eighteen boats competed over two qualifying days and one finals series on Sunday. The Macleans College team of four - Helm: Tim McCulloch (Rutherford House), Main: Oliver Baverstock (Kupe), Trim: Ben McKeen (Hillary) and Bow: Pedro Miranda Coret-Real Vantacich (Batten) finished third place overall.
Both days had light to moderate southerly breezes, making for tricky and inconsistent conditions. Day one qualifying in pool B saw a mixed bag of results and some ups and downs for the team. Finishing fourth on Saturday meant a secured spot in the gold fleet for finals.
Now with reset points the top teams battled it out in more tricky conditions under the City of Sails. The day started with a disappointing race, one to forget. The team now knowing they needed to have some better races managed to grab two fourths bringing them up to the middle of the fleet going into the last race. The breeze increased for the last race and after a good start, and leading around the first mark, the Macleans College team managed to secure a win after a tight battle with Auckland Grammar School and Westlake Boys’ High School.
The team are ecstatic to have taken out third overall in the hot competition of New Zealand's best schools.
