Plenty of breeze & a huge turnout of some very talented sailors, meant the 2012 Starling Nationals was going to be a tough + very competitive event. Sailors from around the country that had moved into other classes of yachts, borrowed or found a Starling to give the Nationals another crack. Once again, hard work, commitment & consistent good results was going to be the key. Apart from Jack Simpson + Ellie Copeland, this would be the first Starling Nationals our other sailors had attended. For Levi DeLisle, this was also his very first race in a starling anywhere, talk about throwing yourself in the deep end. Congratulations Levi for finishing every race in conditions, that had even the more experienced sailors struggling at times.

In the Gold Fleet, Jack Simpson sailed well ( nursing a bandaged up broken toe ), sitting well up the leader board early on, then dropping back a few spots in the last couple of days. Jack finished as Wakatere's top finisher in 11th place. Sam Wallis had a great regatta with a couple of top ten finishes + in one race, led the fleet around the top mark & down through the gates on the first run, finishing the race in 5th spot. Rory McCutcheon also had a solid regatta including a 7th place in race 8. Rory & Sam are great to watch when the wind comes up, really getting into their work to get the most out of their boats.

In the Silver Fleet, Chris Coleman, Tom Milne, Louis Mayo & Levi DeLisle, battled it out, each sailor having some good results in varios races. Chris led the fleet down through the gates in the tenth race & headed up the right side of the course, only minutes later, a squall came through shifting the wind way around to the left, just long enough for the guys that went left, to catch up. Chirs sailed really well to finish 6th in that race. Tom Milne sailed a consistent regatta finishing most of his races in the 20's + 30's, but saved his best result for the last race finishing 15th. "Left Hand Louis" had some great Starts ( up the left hand side of course ) + was sailing well, just needs to be less polite to the opposition + dig deep to release a little bit of that mungrel to get him up the leader board. Louis also broken his mast in race 6, so was lucky it was the last race of the day + not the first.

Sarah Fox sailed in the development fleet, finishing 13th out of 20. so well done Sarah + we hope to see you joining us in the coming season.

Overall, this was a great regatta to watch, in that the Gold and Silver fleets were not spread out all around the entire course. It was very close racing in both fleets, with very little distance between the first + last boats in many races. This gave all sailors the opportunity to work hard to move up through the fleet.

Lastly, I'd like to thank Peter Mayo for all his hard work this year, keeping us up to date with everything that was going on, coming up + sorting out our fantastic coaching programme. Rob has done a sterling job with the training sessions, which has resulted in our guys getting some great results through the year. I'd also like to thank Finn Drumond for stepping in to coach the guys in the Nationals, as Rob unfortunately could not attend. Great job Finn + thankyou Rob.

Final Results with 62 sailors on each fleet.

Gold Fleet : Jack Simpson 11th  /  Sam Wallis 18th  /  Rory McCutcheon 34th.

Silver Fleet : Chris Coleman 14th  /  Tom Milne 27th / Louis Mayo 38th  /  Levi DeLisle 57th