Napier Skiff Open Ruled by Manly Clubmates
The sailing fans from New Zealand have written down the names of Finn Pye and Ben Tapper and they are confident that they are going to hear a lot about them in the future. It was simply unimaginable to see how the clubmates from the Manly Sailing Club hailing from Auckland’s Whangaparaoa have performed both on and off the water in the last three days at the skiff nationals of the Property Brokers Open taking place at Napier. Nobody could be better at winning the title than them.
Ben Tapper who is just fourteen years old has been competing for only two years now in the class. He has won the title for Under 17 regatta among 61 participants. He managed to beat Jack White who is from the South Island’s Marakura Yacht Club by four points for winning the title. He secured two firsts, one-sixth, one second, one fourth and a fifth to triumph over Jack. All of these positions are for his very first nationals at the Open Skiff competition. Tapper even competed in the European Championships that took place in Germany in 2019 where he secured the third position. In the month of July 2020, he will be traveling to Italy’s Sardinia for participating in the World Championship.
On the other hand, Finn Pye won the title for Under 13 by only a point from his clubmate Kosta Gladiadis at the same competition. He started sailing at the age of four and will start his studies for Year 8 at Whangaparaoa High School this year. He attended the Kerikeri high school in 2019. He thinks this move will give him more opportunities in sailing. He finished 16th at the World Championship that was held in Auckland last year and is currently focusing on winning the title in Italy.