Classic Yacht Association Journal

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SUPPORTERS

Performance Programme team in training for Youth Foiling World Cup

As part of their preparations for the 2nd edition of the Youth Foiling Gold Cup, Niall Malone and his Performance Programme crew have been tapping into top-level foiling expertise including Phil Robertson, an RNZYS Youth Programme graduate, three-times world match race champion and current SailGP skipper with the Spanish crew.

The crew of Malone, Serena Woodall, Ollie Gilmour, Oliver Lloyd and manager Sam Hume were looking forward to their first hands-on experience of the Persico 69F foiling monohulls when they arrive for training days and practice racing in Miami.

“We see the 69F and the YFGC as the first step in a totally new kind of sailing, and any access will give massive opportunities in the future – there’s more owner-driven monohull foiling circuits upcoming and we’re getting on the ground level,” said Niall.

“Because of the size of these boats, they combine keelboat sailing without foiling in lower conditions” says Niall.

“If it’s too light, we have been given a few tips that we need to be able sailing the Persico 69F like a normal boat instead of foiling.”

Having a crew of four means the team can play with combinations onboard depending on the conditions, but Niall admits that without having sailed the class “there are still a lot of unknowns.

“Understanding the moding challenges and the setups for the 69F will be the biggest learning curve,” says Niall. “The Moth class is the closest foiling monohull experience I’ve had, and that is foils only, so we will need to learn the transitions between foiling and not. We’ll also need to learn the 69F’s VMG angles, decide between using gennakers or twosailing, and adapt to the YFGC’s unconventional racecourse layouts.”

Prior to their late January departure, the team had a busy summer of training and preparation in Auckland. “Our training on water this summer has been all about adaptation and using the resources we have – the RNZYS foiling catamarans are much different to the Persico 69F monohulls we will be sailing,”, says Niall.

“We’ve also been targeting specific workons for our crew. For example, Serena Woodall has been learning trimming the main on a foiling boat, but our team has been gelling really well – we’re stoked with the progression we’ve made and confidence is high”.

Niall, Serena, Ollie and Oliver have also been training off-water together and going to the gym as a team. Getting the team dynamic right early has been key for Niall, “as we hope to be spending 24 hours a day for the next year together” with qualification for the finals series in December being the goal for the team.

Serena has already shown great form this summer, as part of the 2021 New Zealand Women’s Match Racing Championship winning 2.0 Racing crew.

However, Malone understands they will be coming in as the fresh crew into a series where many of the teams have already had experience with the Youth Foiling Gold Cup and the Persico 69F class.

“The first few regattas will be based on learning the boats and not compromising too much in taking risks. Our goal early on is to sail well without much risk taking.”The aim of this expedition into the YFGC is to create pathways for the crew to get seats in the 37th America’s Cup Regatta, with Serena aiming for the Women’s America’s Cup and Niall, Oliver, and Ollie after seats in the Youth America’s Cup. However, the team isn’t piling the pressure on themselves and are “focusing on sailing, not results – hopefully focusing on the sailing will bring results”.

MASTERCARD YOUTH TRAINING PROGRAMME

The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron Mastercard Youth Training Programme has extended the training schedule to run through into early 2022 in order to make up for the missed sessions due to the lockdowns last year.

Primarily, we are building towards the NZ Youth Match Race Nationals being held in Wellington over Easter.

With a five-team RNZYS contingent going, we will have a strong presence. Four Mastercard Youth Training Programme teams, helmed by Maeve White, Josh Hyde, Braedyn Denny and Brad Salthouse, will make the trip down. Robbie McCutcheon will also be taking his Performance Programme team with the expectation of dominating the event.

This event will be sailed in Elliott 6 sports boats.

Ollie Gilmour and Oliver Lloyd have taken off to Miami to race in the 69F Series with Performance Programme sailors Niall Malone, Serena Woodall and coach Sam Hume. They are in the middle of their first event at the time of writing.

What an amazing experience this trip will be for them. They have spent considerable time in the gym and sailing on the club’s foiling Phantoms in order to prepare. Right now, they are in the hunt for a final spot in act one.

Thanks to our Fleet Manager, Geoff Dawson, all the Elliott 7s have now been given a fresh coat of antifoul. While all the rigs were down, they were also given a full service. Thanks to Geoff the fleet is looking really good.

Maeve White and Josh Hyde entered teams into the NZ Match Race Nationals to race against our top Performance Programme Teams of Megan Thomson, Robbie McCutcheon and Nick Egnot Johnson. Although both missed out on the semi-finals, they will have learned a lot from this experience.

Just around the corner, we have the first lot of International Youth Match Racing events in two years looking as if they will go ahead: Noumea, Australia and our home event the Harken Youth International Match Racing Championship.

It has certainly been a challenging time for all of our youth teams as the incentive of competing internationally has been severely blunted.

This year is shaping up to be very different. For our ladies, we have a big goal of competing in the Women’s Match Racing World Championships, which are being run right here on our home waters later this year.

We have just opened up our applications for the 2022 Mastercard Youth Training Programme, so please, if you know of anyone who might be keen to join, get them to fill in the application form on our club website under “Training”. Applications close at the end of March. It should be a great year for it!

Reuben Corbett Training Manager