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Three young sailors from Manly Sailing Club shone at major moth class events in England last month, with 17-year-old Jake Pye winning the British open championship before topping the rankings in the subsequent International Moth World Championship event.
Although poor wind conditions meant the international competition in Weymouth failed to run enough races to count as a valid world championship, when racing was abandoned on June 18, Jake topped the leaderboard, ahead of sailors from France, Britain and Italy. Fellow Manly sailor Mattias Coutts was in seventh place, with a third young member of the club, Jack Bennett, placed further down the board.
At the UK Open champs days earlier, Jake had taken top honours, while Mathias and Jack consistently scored in the top three places.
Back on the Coast after their four-week adventure, Jake said it had been a great experience despite the disappointment of the world champs not being declared ‘official’.
Ahead of the two regattas, the Manly sailors had had the opportunity to meet and train with professionals, he said, and the UK Open event in particular had seen good winds and excellent racing among the more than 90 boats.
Jake won that event, beating Australian Tom Burton, an Olympic gold medallist in the Laser class, by a single point.
“It was great to show that the Kiwis were really able to contend,” Jake said.
He had gone to Weymouth hoping for a top ten placement at best, but surprised himself.
“We really showed that we are capable of something great, even though we are a small country and a small club.”
The moth class is described as the fastest one-person dinghy in the world. According to Jake the amazing flying boats can achieve foiling speeds of 18-20 knots upwind and up to 30 knots downwind, in winds of around 15 knots.
The Whangaparāoa College year 13 student, who turned 18 days after returning from England, said he and his clubmates Mattias and Jack are good friends.
“We all train and sail together and we’re a team. We encourage and look out for each other.”
The three were sponsored and coached by multiple America’s Cup winner Sir Russell Coutts – Mattias’ dad – who accompanied them to Weymouth for the event.
“It was a lot of fun,” Sir Russell said upon their return. “They’re pretty talented young sailors. They certainly did the Manly Sailing Club proud.”
The Russell Coutts Foundation began the youth coaching programme at Manly several years ago.
“Our focus wasn’t really on making kids super competitive, but of course if you get numbers through the programme you’re going to get some that will be competitive,” he said.
This month Sir Russell will be accompanying a group of five 10-14 year olds from the club and their parents to the O’pen Skiff junior world champs in Rimini, Italy. The boats are small, single-handed yachts designed for younger sailors.
“That should be a great event as well. The international championships that these young kids are doing are a great life experience for them.”
Manly Sailing Club Commodore Barry Thom said despite the Weymouth competition not counting as a valid world championship, it provided huge interest in what is happening at Manly.
The club is in line to host the 2024 Moth world championships, which Barry said would be a major event for the sailing community in New Zealand, likely to attract more than 100 entries.
Looking ahead at the planned December 2024 event, Sir Russell said the three young Manly sailors should all build on their performance in Weymouth and be really competitive for those worlds.
Jake said he was relishing the prospect of having the world champs held in local waters.
“With home advantage too – we’re all pretty excited. It’s going to be a huge attraction for a lot of people,” he said, adding that some of the world’s best sailors, including Dylan Fletcher and Tom Slingsby, may take part.
Beyond 2024, Jake has an eye on SailGP, the international foiling catamaran sailing competition which Sir Russell co-founded in 2019.
And ultimately? “The America’s Cup is of very high interest,” Jake smiled. “It’s awesome to watch and really motivates me to keep pursuing my dream and ambitions.”
