OKI 24 Hour Race, Lake Pupuke

Thomas Saunders wins overall; Molly Meech and Miranda Powrie win the Women's section; ETNZ win ahead of ORACLE Racing in the "Legends" category

by Jodie Bakewell-White

The North Shore’s beloved OKI 24-Hour Race was raced on Lake Pupuke over the weekend.

In the ‘Legends of Sailing’ race first place went to Emirates Team New Zealand (Ray Davies and Stu Bannatyne), with ORACLE Racing One (James Spithill and Dirk De Ridder) in second place.

The Open OKI was won by NSA Tax sailed by Thomas Saunders, who won the youth division last year and won gold for New Zealand at last year’s ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships, and George Lane.

The Youth category was won by FYRAM, sailed by Michael Cate, who will represent New Zealand at the ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships, and Dylan Wichman.

The Women’s category went to Musto, sailed by Molly Meech and Miranda Powrie in 44 laps of Lake Pupuke. Meech is the New Zealand Youth Female Champion in the Laser Radial and is also going to compete in the ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships later in the year.

The Masters was won by Burton & Co, sailed by Tony Nicholson, Mike Knowsley and Scott Lieth (who won last year and has had hip surgery since then).

Geoff Smales, patron of Murrays Bay Sailing Club, and Comworth Enterprise founder David Charlesworth and son Mark, who are the distributors for OKI in New Zealand, presented the awards.

The OKI 24-Hour Race is a competition for Laser sailors held on Lake Pupuke and run by Murrays Bay Sailing Club, a club with a rich history of sailors recognised through national championships, America’s Cup regattas and the Olympics.

See the Murrays Bay Sailing Club website for full results: www.murraysbay.org / www.comworth.co.nz

Yachting New Zealand