The New Zealand Match Racing Championship 2025 opened at 10am this morning with a steady breeze over Westhaven and a clear tide. It is one of the signature regattas on the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron calendar and a cornerstone of New Zealand’s match racing pathway. With a compressed eight boat field, the margin for error is smaller than ever.
The RNZYS Elliott 7 fleet forms the backbone of the event. These boats are light on the helm, responsive in gusts, and ruthless in close quarters. Their tight cockpits and exacting one design build make them ideal for match racing crews who thrive on precision. A little trivia: Jamie Caisley’s Ex-Machina which has been on the offshore racing scene in New Zealand for a while, including the 2025 Route 66 yacht race and the 2025 PIC Coastal Classic is a 2004 Elliott 7.
Today’s early flights settled the fleet and gave race officers confidence to push through the schedule. With four days of racing and a 1700hrs latest attention signal on Sunday, the national title is wide open.
Where this event sits in New Zealand’s match racing ladder
New Zealand’s match racing system is built around a clear national pathway, and all three major championships are hosted by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. Together, they form a stepped progression that takes sailors from youth competition to the senior national title, and then into international match racing circuits.
New Zealand Match Racing Championship – today’s event
November 2025
This is the flagship event and the one that decides the national champion. It is open to senior and elite sailors, and it attracts top crews from New Zealand alongside invited overseas teams. A strong showing here carries genuine weight, as it feeds directly into world ranking lists.
Oceanbridge New Zealand Youth Match Racing Championship
August 2025
This is the major national title for youth sailors and the single most important event for identifying New Zealand’s next generation of match racers. The 2025 edition was fiercely contested, with Noah Malpot delivering an 8–0 round robin and winning a tight five-race final over Lucas Day. Ethan Fong took third after beating Robbie Wooldridge in straight wins, while Samuel Scott topped the second tier with four wins from four. Many of these sailors now appear again in this week’s senior championship, carrying real form into the fleet.
NZL Youth Match Racing Worlds Trials
May 2025
This trial event determines New Zealand’s representative for the Youth Match Racing World Championship. The 2025 trials produced a standout performance from Josh Hyde, who won every stage and swept the final three–nil over Ethan Fong. Malpot reached the petit final and beat Samuel Scott two–one to secure third. Strong showings from Charley Cates and Robbie Wooldridge also stood out, reinforcing how deep the current youth talent pool is. Almost half of this week’s senior fleet raced at the trials, and several bring valuable knockout-stage experience into the Elliott 7s.
Together, these three events create a structured pathway: learn the craft at youth level, fight for national youth honours, and then graduate into the senior championship to measure up against the country’s best. This week’s New Zealand Match Racing Championship 2025 is the top rung of that ladder.
The New Zealand Match Racing Championship 2025 field: eight teams and plenty of storylines
Mastercard Youth Training Programme
Skipper: Robbie Wooldridge (NZL)
Crew: Dominic Lilley, Oliver Davidson, Josh Hilder, Lewis Snape
Wooldridge brings months of tight training from the Squadron’s Youth Programme. He reached the top four at the Oceanbridge Nationals and took strong wins during the Worlds Trials. Wooldridge raced the 2024 championship and finished seventh, an impressive result for a young skipper against a deep senior field. His time in last year’s event sharpened his starting discipline and downwind mode control. With another season of Youth Programme training behind him, he arrives stronger and far more settled. His team handles the Elliott 7 cleanly, and they thrive in tidy pre-start exchanges.
VMG Racing
Skipper: Noah Malpot (NZL)
Crew: Will Mason, Luca Smith, Tayne Haag, Sophia Morgan
Malpot placed fifth in 2024, showing clear speed but losing several tight matches late in the round robin. He arrives this year with major form after winning the 2025 Oceanbridge Youth Nationals. Malpot reads shifts well and has the confidence to engage in tight tacking duels. They enter this week as a serious title threat.
Hauraki Racing
Skipper: Leo Jeffery (NZL)
Crew: Apikera Baker, Georgia Howlett, James West, Robyn Ashton
Jeffery was seventh at the Youth Nationals and showed clear improvement across the season. His crew is calm and balanced. Expect smart shift play and a steady mode upwind.
Quest Racing
Skipper: Ethan Fong (NZL)
Crew: Hugo McMullen or Henry Angus, Maddie Rist, Harry McMullen, Lucas Day
Fong finished seventh equal in 2024, tied with Hayden Smith at the back of the second tier. He showed flashes of speed but lacked consistency across the flight schedule. His form in 2025 has been outstanding. He reached the final of the Youth Worlds Trials and took third (losing to Josh Hyde) at the Youth Nationals. He is a serious danger in the knockouts.
Jam Hot Racing
Skipper: Charley Cates (NZL)
Crew: Jacob Furniss, Jolly Koska, Chris Kenrick
Cates delivered strong results across the 2025 Youth Worlds Trials. He beat several higher ranked sailors in key races. Jam Hot Racing brings a bold style that can unsettle more experienced teams.
True Blue Racing
Skipper: Gavin Brady (USA)
Crew: Rye Brady, Megan Thomson, Phoebe Buckland, Florence Sharpe
This is the most intriguing international entry. Born in New Zealand, veteran match racing skipper Gavin Brady is a highly-decorated international sailor with four Congressional Cup victories and over 30 years of competitive experience. While competing for the USA with his True Blue Racing team, Brady has maintained a consistent top-tier presence on the World Match Racing Tour, finishing second at the 2023 WMRT Final in Shenzhen. His extensive career includes six America’s Cup campaigns, the Volvo Ocean Race, Olympic representation for New Zealand, and numerous offshore championship wins, solidifying his reputation as a formidable and respected competitor.
His crew includes sailors with strong Squadron links. If they settle early, expect them to push into the knockouts.
Black Sheep Racing
Skipper: Reuben Corbett (NZL)
Crew: Guy Pilkington, George Angus, Oliver Lloyd
Reuben Corbett, skipper of Black Sheep Racing, is a highly experienced New Zealand match racer and a former national champion. A respected competitor with a deep match racing background, he re-claimed the title in the 2024 New Zealand Match Racing Championship, beating Cole Tapper in a confident final, demonstrating superior tactical skill against younger opponents. His Black Sheep Racing team is a force to be reckoned with.
Black Sheep Racing enters as clear favourites, but the 2025 fleet is far more experienced than the one Corbett dominated last season.
Corbett Triumphs in Nail-Biting Final of the 2024 New Zealand Match Racing Championships
Gage Roads
Skipper: Xavier Bates (AUS)
Crew: Vass Katsaieis, Will Mcaully, George Elms
The sole Australian crew adds fresh competition. Xavier Bates is an up-and-coming match racer from Australia, hailing from the Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club. Still in the youth divisions, he has been steadily building experience, including recently skippering his own team in the JESS Match Cup and gaining international experience sailing with Cowes Match Racing Blue in the UK. He is also an accomplished ILCA dinghy sailor.
His team is fit, well drilled, and quick through manoeuvres. They may surprise a few local favourites.
How youth results shape the 2025 championship
Many sailors in this week’s fleet arrive with fresh form from both the Oceanbridge Youth Nationals and the Youth Worlds Trials.
At the Oceanbridge Youth Nationals, Malpot delivered one of the most complete youth campaigns in recent seasons. He won every match in the round robin, then edged Day in a five-race final where the lead changed several times. Day proved fast and fearless, taking two wins off Malpot in the final and beating Fong in the semi finals. Fong’s third place was hard-earned. He pushed through a tough semi final against Day and then delivered a clean performance in the petit final. Wooldridge, Jeffery, Clarke, and Scott all banked tactical miles in demanding conditions that included brief squalls and a fast repair turn-around by the support crews.
At the Youth Worlds Trials, Hyde was unmatched. He finished the round robin at the top, controlled both his semi final and final, and secured the New Zealand berth with a confident three–nil win over Fong. Fong once again showed his ability to reach the sharp end of a knockout series, winning his semi final three–nil over Malpot before falling to Hyde. Malpot showed grit in the petit final, beating Scott two–one. Cates, Clarke, and Wooldridge all traded blows across the second tier, gaining valuable practice in the tight timing windows common to Elliott 7 match racing.
The combined effect is a senior championship where several of the top sailors have already faced each other in full round robins and knockouts within the past six months.
The Elliott 7: the perfect platform for a national title
The Elliott 7 has been a mainstay of match racing in New Zealand for good reason. Greg Elliott designed it as a small keelboat that reacts quickly, rewards tidy teamwork, and stays predictable when the pressure comes on. That combination has kept it at the centre of the Squadron’s training programmes for years.
At seven metres, the boat is light on its feet. It picks up speed easily and holds it through manoeuvres, which is why crews learn so much from it. A slight trim change or a mis-timed tack shows up immediately. When a team gets the balance right, the boat feels sharp and purposeful.
The cockpit is set up for racing, not comfort. Everything sits within reach. Space is limited, so crews must move with intent. Nothing about the layout is fussy, and nothing slows a crew down. You can tell very quickly whether a team has spent time together.
The boat’s stability is one of its strengths. The keel gives it a firm feel upwind, and the helm stays steady even when the breeze flicks around. That helps younger sailors build confidence, but it still leaves enough responsiveness to keep experienced crews on their toes.
Downwind, the Elliott 7 carries a generous gennaker off a retractable bowsprit. A well-timed mode change can open up space fast. Crews who shift weight cleanly, keep the boat flat, and work the sheet with discipline can turn a narrow lead into something far more comfortable.
Strict one design rules keep the emphasis on the sailors. Every hull, spar, and sail set sits within tight limits, so any advantage comes from decisions on the water, not from equipment. That is why the boat works so well for match racing. If you win a dial-up, a cross, or a penalty call, it is because you earned it.
The boats are built for hard use. They handle daily racing, quick turnarounds, and the occasional close-quarters scrape that comes with this style of sailing. Rudders pop off easily for between-flight swaps, and the controls stand up well to repeated tacking duels.
For sailors stepping into match racing, the Elliott 7 is often their first real test. For experienced teams, it still offers enough challenge to keep things honest. It remains one of the best platforms for seeing who can push harder, think faster, and hold their nerve when the race comes down to metres.
