Kiwis win world foiling title
Young New Zealand sailors Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie have proven they are the future of foiling.
The pair became the second Kiwi crew to win the Red Bull Foiling Generation World Finals with victory in Miami, Florida.
Their success capped a yearlong search for the most talented young sailors as they beat 15 other international teams, with Belgium and Sweden taking second and third.
New Zealanders Olivia Mackay and Micah Wilkinson won the 2016 event and went on to win the Flying Phantom Series of the Extreme Sailing Series in 2017. Since then they have both raced in the Extreme Sailing Series while pursuing an Olympics campaign for Tokyo 2020 in the Nacra17s.
This year’s final delivered perhaps the closest start in Red Bull Foiling Generation history with all four boats within centimetres of each other to the first mark. McHardie and McKenzie took control from there to cross the finish line fist before capsizing in celebration.
‘‘The breeze picked up a bit, more than we’ve had in the past few days, and the boats were a lot faster, more out of control, but I think everyone here had a lot of skill,’’ McKenzie said.
‘‘Every race was very competitive and you could never rule out any sailor because everyone was the best in their country, so it was hard racing.
‘‘Sailing a foiling boat is a completely new concept to me, and to have great coaches like Roman and Hans Peter [double Olympic champions Roman Hagara and Hans Peter Steinacher, of Austria] to assist the learning is amazing.’’
McHardie, who sails with McKenzie in the Olympic 49er class, added: ‘‘The 49er isn’t a foiling boat, so sailing the Phantoms taught us skills in foiling and speed.
‘‘I’m really happy and looking forward to following in Micah’s footsteps and hopefully in the future having some awesome opportunities.’’