It wasn’t a straightforward path to the podium. Three days of shifting breeze, a Sunday postponement, a beach clean for microplastics, and a dolphin sighting two nautical miles offshore, and somewhere in the middle of all of it, Lauchy Wills and Will Handley quietly went about winning a national championship.
The HSC/MBSC pair claimed the 2026 RS Feva National Championship title at Wakatere Boating Club’s Narrow Neck Beach in Devonport, posting a nett score of 16 (1-1-4-3-(9)-2-2-3) points across eight races to take the Youth division and the national trophy. With the title going to the top Youth team, it was theirs to lose, and they never looked like losing it.
Flora Stevens and Isla Brown (GBC/KYC) pushed hardest, finishing second overall and claiming the Female division, while Annika Wells and Milla Holland (GBC/WBC) rounded out the podium in third and doubled up with the Junior title, a clean sweep for a partnership that clearly thrives in mixed conditions.
And mixed conditions there were. Saturday got away on time, flags flying at Wakatere. Sunday was a different story. A postponement sent the fleet back to shore, the temperature dropped, and the hoped-for breeze took its time arriving. The regatta crew turned the wait into something useful, running a beach clean focused on the tiniest microplastic fragments hiding in the high tide line. Then the dolphins showed up. By the time racing resumed, five races were in the bank and everyone was ready for Monday.
The final day delivered the drama the scoreboard needed, with the Race Officer’s note setting the tone: “Breeze up, breeze down, tide on the move.” Wills and Handley held firm.
Division prizes recognised excellence across the fleet. Polly Powrie and Katie Burgess (WBC) won the Open, Ally Burfoot and Micah Bollen (TYPBC) took the Mixed, and the Female prize went to Stevens and Brown. Twenty-six entries from clubs across the country made for a genuinely competitive fleet, exactly the kind of depth the class has been building toward.
