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“It’s very tactical, like match racing in the America’s Cup.”
NPGHS Student Achievements - Past & Present
National win for students
A successful game of "chess on water" has earnt a New Plymouth girls sailing team yet another title.
The team won the girls section of the 2011 Secondary Schools Team Sailing Nationals, held in April in Algies Bay, Warkworth.
Representing New Plymouth Girls’ High, they successfully outwitted their opponents in the open event. The team were the only girls in the top section of the annual event – all the other groups were made up of boys.
Niall Simkin, who co-coaches with Tim Slatter, says a preliminary event in Wellington earlier in the year earned them the right to race in the open class, also called the gold fleet.
Nonetheless, they faced tough competition from Napier Girls’ High School.
"They are our big contenders who have great depth in their school and sailors who have been to the worlds." he says, noting how pleased the local girls were with their win.
The teams event sees crews of two taking part in short races, about 10 to 15 minutes long.
"It’s all about rules and it’s like chess on the water."
"Sometimes you are sailing the boat backwards to track your opponent. It’s very tactical, like match racing in the America’s Cup."
The New Plymouth team is a fairly experienced one. Two have skippered crews for five years, and a third student has been taking the helm for three years.
Their secondary schools title follows another prestigious win. Last October the team won an Australian-New Zealand school team regatta called the Interdominion championships. Raced at Algies Bay, the top three school teams from both countries completed five round robins in three days of racing.
New Zealand dominated throughout the event, with NPGHS taking out the top girls’ title, effectively meaning they are the best in Australasia.
Mr Simkin says the sailing season is winding down, so the girls will break from competition before gearing up later in the year to defend their trans-Tasman title.
This year’s interdominion event is in South Australia in October. While Napier and New Plymouth are rivals, they plan to train with each other in Taupo in the hope that Kiwis can shut out their Aussie cousins on the water.
The team is co-captained by Jordelle Simkin and Courtney Eaton. Its other members are Ruby Fraser, Emma Hatch, Lyneche Simkin, Georgia Taylor and Lucy Brankin.
