2:59 AM Fri 19 Mar 2010 GMT
World champion Wellington sailors Matthew Seven and Josh Junior have been selected by the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club to lead the Wellington Spirit Yacht Racing Team's campaign to win the World Match Racing Championship.
Steven recently won the Under 21 OK Dinghy World Champion crown at the World Championships in Wellington in February while Junior won Under 21 Olympic Laser Class crown at the World Championships in Canada in September making them ideal candidates to take the Wellington Spirit to the world yachting stage.
'We believe anything can be achieved from Wellington,' explained Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club CEO Dean Stanley 'and this is the Wellington Spirit that both these sailors fully embrace'.
'We have set the team a target of winning the World Match Racing Championship before 2015 and will be committing the necessary resource to make sure this is achieved' said Stanley
The Wellington Spirit is off to a great start with the team already ranked 44th in the world after winning three of this summer's six Trans Tasman match racing circuit events and finishing second and third in two others.
'Our first task is to break into the World Match Racing Tour', said Spirit skipper and back up helmsman Steven.
'We will spend the next twelve months focusing on tour qualifier events around the world with the aim of gaining as many entries as possible to the Tour itself.'
'From there the next step will be to gain a World Tour card', explained Steven.
Junior has been selected to the team as the designated helmsman for the Wellington Spirit. In the short term he will focus on a campaign for selection in the Laser Class for the 2012 London Olympics and will join the match racing team for key regattas.
Currently ranked 15th in the world in the ultra competitive Laser class, Junior leaves for two World Sailing Cup events in Europe in April.
'I am treating the regattas in Spain and France as an opportunity to check in with the opposition and to work on some of my boat handling and race strategy skills,' explained Junior. 'My peak event in the laser class this year is the World Championships in England in August which I am really looking forward to'
Both sailors are products of the Wellington City Council's Yachting Talent Development Programme and the Port Nicholson Yachting Trust's Youth Scheme which have been quietly achieving some great results over the last few years. Further sailors in the Wellington Spirit yacht racing team, along with the itinerary of events, will be announced next month.
by RPNYC Media
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