Monday 16 November 2009

Laurie Jury Wins the Telecom New Zealand National Match Racing Championships

Jury wins, Corbett 2nd, Dickson 3rd & Sutherland 4th


Winners (left to right): Laurie Jury, Logan Fraser, Matty Stuart, Rhys O'Cain & Mike Edmonds. Image copyright RNZYS.

by Barry Davies

Laurie Jury has won the 2009 Telecom New Zealand Match Racing Championships, beating Reuben Corbett 3 – 1 in the first to win three races finals.

Jury won the first race convincingly by 36s but Corbett bounced back in Race Two to gain a penalty on Jury. Jury was in front of Corbett coming into the finish but had to try and slow his boat down and get overlapped with Corbett to have any chance of clearing his penalty and crossing the finish line ahead.

In a fantastic display of boat handling, Corbett and crew slowed their boat down and managed to stay far enough away from Jury so Jury could not attack them. Jury simply ran out of runway and the boats crossed the finish line with Jury still having to complete his turn giving Corbett the win and Jury a DNF (Did not finish).


Laurie Jury and crew during the 2009 Telecom New Zealand Match Racing Championships. Image copyright RNZYS.

The next two races were won by Jury and awarded them the 2009 Telecom National Championships.

Jury and his crew have sailed consistently well through the entire series, qualifying for the semi finals in second position and having to face a daunting competitor in Chris Dickson, whom he beat 3 – 0.


Reuben Corbett's team (left to right): Miles Addy, Adrian Short, Reuben Corbett, Matt Randall, Aaron Reynolds. Image copyright RNZYS.

Jury’s crew is Mike Edmonds (main), Logan Fraser (trim), Matt Stuart (pit) & Rhys O’Cain (bow). Jury, Edmonds, Fraser & Stuart are all graduates of the RNZYS Lion Foundation Youth Training Programme.

In the petit finals Chris Dickson and his crew continued on their winning streak taking the first race by 18s seconds after Graeme Sutherland received a Red Flag Penalty just after the start for being over the start line and the windward boat trying to ‘come down’ on top of Dickson. In the second race Dickson won by 29s giving himself and his young Lion Foundation Youth Training Programme crew third overall for the series.


Tiller leads Corbett over the finishing line during the round robin. Image copyright RNZYS.

Sunday's Results
Petit Final
Dickson beat Sutherland by 18s
Dickson beat Sutherland by 29s

Final
Jury beat Corbett by 36s
Corbett beat Jury DNF
Jury beat Corbett by 32s
Jury beat Corbett by 28s


Youth squad entry. Left to right: Jimmy Maloney, Jono Spurdle, Harry Thurston, Will Tiller & Shaun Mason. Image copyright RNZYS.

2009 Final Placings
1st Laurie Jury Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron
2nd Rebuen Corbett Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron
3rd Chris Dickson Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron
4th Graeme Sutherland Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron
5th Josh Junior Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club
6th William Tiller Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron Lion Foundation Youth Training Programme
7th Mark Kroening Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron
8th Wataru Sakamoto Wakayama Sailing Club, Japan
9th Stephanie Hazard Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron
10th Samantha Osborne Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron
11th Jessica Smyth Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron


Telecom GM Business Victoria Crone receives a Squadron burgee from Commodore Scott Colebrook. Image copyright RNZYS.

Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron

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