Wild win

Finishing up in second place for the fourth year in a row was Melinda Henshaw. She and her team sailed brilliantly this weekend but just weren’t quite as good as the champion team. Henshaw has finished inside the top two at this regatta for the previous five editions of the event, a fantastic feat that shows she is a very accomplished keelboat sailor.

Defending champion Sally Garrett was our third-place getter, finishing five races inside the top three and only finishing two points back overall from Henshaw.

Fourth place went to Megan Thomson and her RNZYS Performance Program 2.0 Racing Team. Thomson and her young team had a superb regatta, notching up one race win and a couple of seconds and thirds, finishing painfully close to the podium with just one point separating her from Garrett in third place.

However, there was only one stand out team for the entirety of the weekend, and that was Karleen Dixon and her experienced crew. Dixon won the first race of the regatta and never looked back, going on to clinch six out of the ten races sailed and win the regatta by a massive 11-point margin. This is Dixon’s sixth Barfoot and Thompson NZ Women’s National Keelboat Championship title, a fantastic run that dates back to the early 2000s.

Speaking on Sunday evening at the RNZYS, Dixon was proud of all the teams involved this weekend and how they handled the conditions.

Dixon said, “The conditions were really hard. I was really impressed that everyone handled them so well –even the teams that were struggling still got around without too many dramas. It was tough out there.”

“I would really like to thank the race committee for doing an amazing job this weekend. I’ve done a few of these and those were the hardest conditions I’ve experienced.”

“We’re not exactly young anymore, so we were certainly pushed to our limits, and a bit of experience certainly helps. Most of us have been sailing together for a long time and we are all really good friends, so we spend the whole time laughing and having a good time.”

When reminded of the fact this was her sixth title, Dixon was somewhat surprised and also wanted to encourage some younger teams to get out there and give it a go.

“I didn’t realise it was that many! I think it’s a bit sad that there aren’t many younger girls coming out and giving us a good run for our money. The MRX’s are such cool boats to sail and they’re easy to learn to sail so anyone can be competitive in them. Megan Thomson sailed really well and I would love to see more of the younger teams out there.”

The next edition of the Barfoot and Thompson NZ Women’s National Keelboat Championship will take place in less than six months’ time at the beginning of May 2021.

rnzys.org.nz