Down to the wire

Nick Egnot-Johnson has narrowly won the 2021 Harken Youth International Match Racing Cup.

15 March 2021

Nick Egnot-Johnson and KNOTS Racing have emerged victorious in the 2021 Harken Youth International Match Racing Cup.

Egnot-Johnson and his crew, which consisted of Niall Malone, Alastair Gifford and Ollie Gilmour, survived a sudden death final against Jordan Stevenson and his Vento Racing team to win the competition.

The win marks Egnot-Johnson’s second Harken Youth International Match Racing Cup title as well as his last, the skipper now ageing out of eligibility for the youth scene.

The competition between Egnot-Johnson and Stevenson first began at this year’s cup during the Round Robin stage, the top seeding coming down to a battle between the two eventual finalists. As is always the case with these two, this race was tight with Egnot-Johnson who claimed a narrow victory. Both finished with an eight-one record, but Egnot-Johnson snatched the top spot on count-back with that vital final race win.

Albert Stanley | Harken Youth International 2021. Credit: Andrew Delves, RNZYS.

Harken 2021 On Water Winners Shot – Harken Youth International 2021. Credit: Andrew Delves, RNZYS.

Jordan Stevenson – Harken Youth International 2021. Credit: Andrew Delves, RNZYS

Jordan Stevenson – Harken Youth International 2021. Credit: Andrew Delves, RNZYS.

Nick Egnot-Johnson – Harken Youth International 2021. Credit: Andrew Delves, RNZYS

Prize giving Winner's Shot – Harken Youth International 2021. Credit: Andrew Delves, RNZYS

Robbie McCutcheon – Harken Youth International 2021. Andrew Delves RNZYS

Moving into the quarterfinals, Mastercard Youth Training Programme skipper, Robbie McCutcheon beat Wellingtonian Will Wright three–nil. A result that Egnot-Johnson mirrored against Mastercard YTP skipper, Max McLachlan.

For the rest of this finals stage, Jordan Stevenson faced Celia Willison while Albert Stanley squared off to Megan Thomson. Both Stevenson and Stanley leaded 2–1 following the third race before a lack of enough wind resulted in the decision to leave the quarter finals to a best-of-three result.

Egnot-Johnson chose to race against Stanley in the semi-finals and by 2:20pm, a light breeze finally arrived on the race course. But with time running out, a decision was made to make both the semi-finals and finals sudden death matches.

McCutcheon had a good first few legs against Stevenson, holding onto a lead into the final stages of the downwind leg but the experienced skipper pulled off a great gybe to round McCutcheon and sail past him and across the line. The other semi-final saw Egnot-Johnson find the tiny amount of wind fluttering through the course, claiming a large win.

With final now set for the two rival RNZYS Performance Programme teams, Stevenson got away to a brilliant start in the race, leading for the first two legs in what looked to be unassailable. On the second upwind leg, disaster struck and he sailed into a slight a hole, giving Egnot-Johnson the opportunity find some decent puff on the right-hand side, sailing back into the race.

It was all Egnot-Johnson and his crew needed, carrying them forward in front to lead at the top mark and down the final leg to finish by two boat lengths.

“Coming up against Jordan Stevenson and his Vento Racing team in the final, we’re always up against them in the finals and it’s a pretty big rivalry,” said Ergot-Johnson.

“It came down to sudden death and it was a really close race at the very end. We were looking a bit on the rocks at the start to be honest, they had about a half a leg lead on us but the wind really shut down and we were able to sail around the outside which we were pretty relieved about.”

“It’s an awesome feeling to win my last ever youth regatta, it’s really cool to go out with a bang.”

Final Standings:

1^st – Nick Egnot-Johsnon

2^nd – Jordan Stevenson

3^rd – Robbie McCutcheon

4^th – Albert Stanley

5^th – Will Wright

6^th – Megan Thomson

7^th – Celia Willison

8^th – Max McLachlan

9^th – Josh Hyde

10^th – Ella Wilcox