VICTORY AT THE 2020 NEW ZEALAND MOTH NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
VICTORY AT THE 2020 NEW ZEALAND MOTH NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
A Look Into The Winning Combination
North Sails Photo: James Tomlinson
“After the worlds we went back into the loft and made a couple more minor tweaks, so coming into the nationals we were all on the same page and up with the latest developments.”
Sutherland says the sail he is currently using has increased depth in the luff curve, which allows him to power up a lot more, especially in light conditions and downwind.
The big question now is whether the next worlds, scheduled for Weymouth, England, in September 2020 will go ahead. The New Zealand nationals were held under the increasing threat of Covid-19, which saw the country move to alert level 2 on the Saturday of the regatta.
“It was good that we got the regatta done in time, but it was a pretty close thing,” Sutherland says.
Also managing to complete its nationals series before Covid lockdown was the Flying 15 class, hosted by the Onerahi and Marsden yacht clubs in Northland. Finishing third overall, and securing a spot at the next Flying 15 world championships, scheduled to be held in Fremantle in February 2021, was the new pairing of Napier sailors Nathan Percy and Scott Pedersen.
Both are also keen Paper Tiger sailors, with Pedersen normally sailing with Nathan’s brother Hayden, a former Paper Tiger national champion. However, after Hayden was injured, Nathan stepped into the helmsman’s role in the Flying 15. Despite their lack of experience together, they won one race and chalked up four second placings in the nine-race series.
Derek Scott of North Sails One Design says using a new set of North Sails, including a radial-cut mainsail developed by North Sails UK, was key to Percy and Pedersen’s success.
“Having not really sailed the boat together before, they still managed to be absolutely on the pace and also pick up some top placings,” he says.
