Three-peat Champ
Nick Egnot-Johnson has won the Lighthouse New Zealand Match Racing Championships 2023.
31 October 2023
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The 2023 title makes Egnot-Johnson a three-time event winner adding to his 2019 and 2021 victories.
World #7 Nick Egnot-Johnson (NZL) and his Knots Racing crew of Chris Main, Zak Merton and Peter Soosalu emerged victorious to secure the National Match Racing Champion’s title after a thrilling final against Cole Tapper (AUS) and his CYCA Youth Sailing Academy team.
Egnot-Johnson won the best-of-five series final 3-2, with Tapper showing a strong dominance, winning the first race and not conceding defeat until the fifth and final race where he came off second best in a tacking battle on the start line.
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The Lighthouse 2023 New Zealand Match Racing Championships from 26 to 28 October was hosted by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron (RNZYS) and saw six teams sail three round robins in stage one over Thursday and Friday before progressing into the final stages on Saturday.
The event was raced in the Squadron’s fleet of Elliott 7m sports boats and attracted strong competition from across the pacific including Australia and New Caledonia.
Jack Frewin and his RNZYS Performance Programme team finished in third place taking out the petit final early with two back-to-back wins against New Caledonian team skippered by Tom Picot.
The competitive experience gained this past weekend for Frewin and his crew including Sofia Higgott, Ollie Gilmour and Oliver Lloyd was an integral part of their build up at the 2023 Youth World Match Racing World Championship in Sydney this December.
Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron wishes to thank Bucklands Beach Yacht Club for their support in providing berthing and a club room to house the event as continued contamination in the Waitemata Harbour caused by a wastewater overflow and rendered racing on the waters outside RNZYS unfeasible.
Full results and standing can be viewed online.
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