Tom Ashley wins Olympic Gold on the waters off Qingdao. Image copyright Juerg Kaufmann/Go4Image. All Rights Reserved.
by SailRaceWin
Olympic Gold
The highlight of 2008 for Kiwi sailors was, without doubt, Tom Ashley's Gold medal in the Men's RS:X windsurfer at the Olympics.
The 'wise head on young shoulders', as Ashley, still only in his early twenties, has been called, worked out that an average placing of fifth would get him what he wanted - and so it was. Roll on a repeat performance in Weymouth in 2012!
Ashley's achievement was backed up by solid performances by other sailors, such as Andrew Murdoch (Laser, 5th), Barbara Kendall (RS:X Women, 6th), Jo Aleh (Laser Radial, 7th) and Hamish Pepper/Carl Williams (Star, 9th) in both getting into the medal races and coming close to the gongs. New Zealand finished equal sixth in the overall Olympic sailing rankings. This promises that Ashley's medal can lead to a resurgence in New Zealand Olympic sailing achievement in years to come.
Pepper and Williams upwind in the Star at Qingdao. Image copyright Juerg Kaufmann/Go4Image. All Rights Reserved.
Special mention also goes to 'honorary Kiwi' Ben Ainslie CBE, former member of Team New Zealand, for his achievement in Olympic sailing in making his tally now three Golds and a Silver in single-handed classes.
International Match Racing
The up-coming team of the year was the BlackMatch Racing boys. Their achievements of a win in the Toyota Sopot Grade One Match Race in Poland and no less than four semi-final placings on the World Match Racing Tour, including two runner-up finishes, show that Kiwi match racing is as alive and well as ever.
BlackMatch Racing win the Toyota Sopot Grade One Match Race in Poland. Image copyright Juerg Kaufmann/Go4Image. All Rights Reserved.
The overall position of Adam Minoprio and the BlackMatch crew in fourth position, but level on points with ISAF #1 Mathieu Richard, at the end of the World Match Racing Tour 2008 at the Monsoon Cup in December, was a big pay-back for the sponsors, FedEx and Line 7, and supporters, Emirates Team New Zealand. This has gained them entry to all events on the World Match Racing Tour for 2009, enabling New Zealand to retain its involvement at the highest level of international match racing.
New Zealand achievement: Emirates Team New Zealand
Within New Zealand, Dean Barker and the Team New Zealand crew again proved that they are the ones to beat, taking out both the National Keelboat Championships and the National Match Racing Championships.
It was very pleasing to see the likes of Peter Burling from Takapuna (470 Olympic rep. 2008) and Josh Junior (World Universities Match Racing Champion 2008), from the Harbour City, up-and-coming youngsters, take the second and third places on the National Keelboat Championships podium, especially as the competition included old-hand international sailors in addition to Barker and co.
Dean Barker (right) with Ben Ainslie on Ainslie's recruitment to Emirates Team New Zealand in 2004. Image copyright Anne Hinton/www.annehinton.com. All Rights Reserved.
In the match racing, competition was international, with Ben Ainslie, this time representing Team Origin, once more finishing as runner-up to Dean Barker and his Emirates Team New Zealand crew. As new boy to Team NZ in 2004, Ainslie was also runner-up at the event, with a 2-3 scoreline against Barker in the finals. This time Barker asserted his dominance and, despite Ainslie's efforts, the winning scoreline was 3-0 to Barker.
Ben Ainslie and Team Origin congratulate Adam Minoprio and the BlackMatch Racing boys who defeated them in the semi-finals of the 2008 Bermuda Gold Cup. Image copyright Charles Anderson. All Rights Reserved.
Ainslie was previously beaten in the semi-finals to the Bermuda Gold Cup by Adam Minoprio and the BlackMatch boys, who finished as runners-up at that event.
A Very Special Thanks to Emirates Team New Zealand
Having won the Louis Vuitton Cup to a nil scoreline in 2007, it is appropriate that Emirates Team New Zealand and Louis Vuitton have combined to bring the America's Cup teams back not only to the race track but to compete out of the City of Sails at the beginning of 2009.
Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL 82) ahead of Alinghi (SUI 64) at Louis Vuitton Act One in Marseille. Image copyright Anne Hinton/www.annehinton.com. All Rights Reserved.
Further significance for the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series is that, within financial constraints, all the strongest teams will be competing. These include many top Kiwis who have not been seen on home waters in a while, bringing a reminder of the well-known song New Zealand - Kainga Tuturu.
This promises to be a fabulous event, not only for New Zealand sailing, but for the whole country. Bring it on!
Looking to the Future
Yachting New Zealand has put out a call for women interested in the Olympic match racing event to contact them. A programme will be developed for this new Olympic event to fast-track interested crews into high-level competition.
Kylie Jameson (2004 Yngling Olympian) sails an Elliott 6m, with Sara Roberts and Gretchen White, in the finals of the New Zealand Womens National Match Racing championships 2003, against Katie Spithill. Image copyright Anne Hinton/www.annehinton.com. All Rights Reserved.
Jessica Smyth has already given notice of her interest in Olympic match racing and has been building her skills against the men. The Elliott 6 metre, a New Zealand design and familiar to women match racers in Auckland, is the boat that has been chosen for this new Olympic competition.
SailRaceWin is sure that if Sir Peter Blake could look down on us he would be delighted with the vibrancy of the sailboat scene in little ol' New Zealand.
Thanks to all concerned - from the mums, dads and clubs, to the boat-builders, riggers and sailmakers.
New Zealand is the place to be for sailing in 2009!
SailRaceWin is grateful to Juerg Kaufmann and Go4Image for exclusive provision of images of the 2008 Olympic Sailing Regatta.
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