New Zealand Takes The Spoils

Simon DICKEY (NZL) upset the odds in Auckland, New Zealand today, defeating Seve JARVIN (AUS) in the ISAF Grade 2 Regional Final for Oceania to take his berth in the Grand Final of the ISAF Nations Cup. Meanwhile Jess SMYTH (NZL) completed a home clean sweep in the women’s competition.

Despite being almost 150 places below JARVIN in the ISAF World Match Race Rankings, DICKEY won through 3-0 in the final, winning the opening two flights by 26 and 14 seconds, before taking the decisive victory in the third match, sailing around JARVIN to win by a single second.

DICKEY reflected, ‘We went into today and the plan was to keep the pressure on and keep the racing close. We knew if we kept it close we would have a chance. The last two days we won all the starts so today I softened up a little bit – which wasn’t so good. But we always kept clear air and took advantage of any opportunity we got.

He continued, ‘Overall it was a tough regatta, we had a lot to learn as it is our first time in these boats together – and we had a lot to learn to make these boats go. After each race we kept analysing, each start, each downwind, each race and working on our mistakes.

Jess SMYTH made it two wins out of two for the New Zealanders © Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron

The lesson I learned was never give anything away!’

SMYTH Clear Women’s Winner

In the women’s final, World number 28 SMYTH was a class apart from Japan’s Ikuko SAKUDO, winning five straight matches to qualify for the ISAF Grade 1 Grand Final in Ireland this September.

A delighted SMYTH said, ‘It was definitely a good thing sailing against the guys, especially on the first two days in the light airs – that helped. To somehow get our team up to their weight and sail against them would be awesome!’

Saturday’s Action

Yesterday DICKEY and JARVIN had both swept through their semi finals 3-0, against Japan’s Takumi NAKAMURA and New Caledonia’s Phillipe MAZARD respectively. In the battle for fifth place meanwhile Tahiti’s Teva PILCHART got the better of Jan SIJP from the Cook Islands. The petit final today saw MAZARD defeat NAKAMURA 2-0 and take third place.

DICKEY and SMYTH are the second group of qualifiers for the Grand Final, and will join Mahesh RAMCHANDRAN (IND) and Bekky BRITTON (UAE), who won through the Regional Final for Asia.

The focus of the ISAF Nations Cup now switches to Europe and the Regional Final for Europe 3 in London, Great Britain, from 25-29 April.

Reflecting on the event in Auckland, Shane BORRELL (NZL), member of the ISAF Match Racing Committee said, ‘The idea of the Nations Cup is to get non traditional match racing countries involved in match racing. To hear that New Caledonia and Japan are going to run match racing clinics and to get the Cook Islands and New Caledonia all fired up about match racing is great.

ISAF Nations Cup Regional Final – Oceania Results

Open Final

Simon DICKEY (NZL) d. Seve JARVIN (AUS), 3-0

Seve JARVIN (AUS) d. Phillipe MAZARD (FRA), 3-0
Simon DICKEY (NZL) d. Takumi NAKAMURA (JPN), 3-0

Jess SMYTH (NZL) d. Ikuko SAKUDO (JPN), 0-14

Round Robin Standings

1. Seve JARVIN (AUS), 12-2
2. Simon DICKEY (NZL), 11-3
3. Jess SMYTH (NZL), 10-4
4. Takumi NAKAMURA (JPN), 8-6
5. Phillipe MAZARD (FRA), 7-7
6. Jan SIJP (COK), 4-10
7. Teva PILCHART (TAH), 4-10
8. Ikuko SAKUDO (JPN), 0-14

ISAF Nations Cup Regional Final – Oceania Final Standings

1. Simon DICKEY (NZL)
2. Seve JARVIN (AUS)
3. Phillipe MAZARD (FRA)
4. Takumi NAKAMURA (JPN)
5. Teva PILCHART (TAH)
6. Jan SIJP (COK)

1. Jess SMYTH (NZL)
2. Ikuko SAKUDO (JPN)

ISAF Nations Cup Regional Finals And Grand Final Qualifying Crews

For a complete list of all the news from the ISAF Nations Cup 2006 CLICK HERE.