The AIMS games can be thought of as the NZ Olympics for intermediate school students year 7 and 8’s with over 14,000 competitors from all over NZ arriving in Tauranga to compete.
Sailing was held at Tauranga Yacht Club across 3 days of racing. Sailing conditions for the regatta varied and were at times challenging for the Optimist fleets. Day 1 of racing fresh winds grew to extremely fresh winds with complimentary horizontal rain. Safety and support boats were kept extremely busy at this point and for some of the sailors the aim of the game was to finish the race. The sun came out and the wind eased for the 3rd day of racing – champagne conditions !
KYC had 9 sailors representing their respective schools. Of note Jeffrey Du (ACG College Parnell) strung together 3 race wins and was on the medal table scoring a Silver. Hudson Halla (Sacred Heart College) scored a 4th place in race 5 and a respectable 13th overall. Jasmine Fry (Balmoral Intermediate) scored an 8th in race 2. Tyson Orr (Wesley Intermediate) Silver fleet came 5th overall and scored a 2nd place in day 3 of racing. Will Noyer (Bucklands Beach Intermediate) 8th overall with a 2nd race 4 and 2x 3rds. Gabriel Purisima (Liston College) had some great starts and pace. Forest Avery and Phoebe Cunningham (Glendowie School) completed their first big regatta. Isaac Wilson unfortunately had to retire after day one due to family bereavement.
Sailors have now been well seasoned for heavy weather sailing and had a great time and the regatta finished with smiles all round. KYC wish to thank Tauranga yacht club who put on a fantastic volunteer run event in a great facility.
