Vento Racing win Musto International

RNZYS Performance Programme Vento Racing team – Jordan Stevenson, Mitch Jackson, George Angus, Jake Erson, Jeb Lardies have won the Musto Youth International Match Racing Regatta in Sydney.

Stevenson and his team sailed well all week, and had a tough run to make the final. Firstly he was up against the talented Australian Finn Tapper in the quarterfinal, which he impressively won 3-0. Next up was Tom Grimes in the Semi-final which proved slightly more difficult, however he came out on top with a 3-1 victory.

It was then onto the final against Welshman Matt Whitfield who had just defeated RNZYS PP Knots Racing’s Nick Egnot-Johnson 3-2 in an epic semi-final encounter. However – Stevenson wasn’t going to let up, and went on to win a shortened final 2-1 and take home the overall regatta victory.

Stevenson now joins the ranks of six other RNZYS skippers to have won the trophy, leaving the RNZYS only one win behind equalling the host Club’s record of eight ‘Joy Ride’ trophy victories. This was also the third year in a row that an RNZYS Team has won this event, after Leonard Takahashi in 2017 and Frankie Dair in 2018.

Stevenson was pretty thrilled to come away with the win, and now has both of the major Australian youth match racing titles to his name after winning the HARKEN in 2018.

“It was a really tough regatta this week, the weather was all over the place and the racing was incredibly tight. The skill level of the teams here this week was intense. I’m proud of the team, we just stuck to our processes and sailed incredibly well throughout the whole four days. To win this event for the third time in a row for the RNZYS is amazing and shows that we must be doing something right back home.”

Not only did Stevenson win his first ever grade one event, he also did it on his birthday – not a bad present!