Kate and Greta (helm) Stewart racing in the girls' 29er at the Aon Youth Sailing World Championships at Torbay today. Photo / Sailing Energy / World Sailing
Kate and Greta (helm) Stewart racing in the girls' 29er at the Aon Youth Sailing World Championships at Torbay today. Photo / Sailing Energy / World Sailing
Bermuda will become the focus of the sailing world next year for the 35th America's Cup and the Stewart sisters will have front-row seats.
The only issue is they don't really know who they want to win.
Kate (18) and Greta (16) relocated from Auckland's North Shore to the island archipelago last year with their father Ian who joined Oracle Team USA as part of their on-shore team.
"It's been interesting because it's his first year with Oracle - he was with Team New Zealand in the last America's Cup - and we don't really know who to support," Kate said.
The move is not without its benefits. Not only can they launch their boat from the beach adjacent to their back garden and train in the company of some of the world's best sailors but there is always someone around willing to talk about yachting.
"We babysit [Oracle skipper] Jimmy Spithill's kid so we get to chat to him about sailing, which is pretty wicked," Greta said.
"It's a pretty cool place to live. There's a nice vibe there. The America's Cup teams are starting to arrive and it's going to be a really great event."
This week the pair are chasing their own silverware, competing for New Zealand in the Aon Youth Sailing World Championships off Auckland's Torbay. They picked up bronze in the girls' 29er skiff at last year's world event in Malaysia and today were sitting in fourth after two days of racing but only one point off the Finnish crew in third.
Kate and Greta (helm) Stewart racing in the girls' 29er at the Aon Youth Sailing World Championships at Torbay today.
Supplied: Sailing Energy / World Sailing
They posted solid results throughout the day - seventh, sixth and a fourth out of 24 crews - and know consistency is critical across the five days.
The windy conditions have proved challenging for some of the more than 380 sailors from 65 nations under the age of 19 competing in the youth sailing classes - 29er skiff, Laser Radial, RS:X, 420 and Nacra 15.
George Gautrey was the best placed of the Kiwis, sitting second in the Laser Radial (he picked up silver last year), only one point off Denmark's Patrick Doepping. Jackson Keon and Tom Fyfe were fifth in the Nacra 15, Patrick Haybittle is sixth the in the boy's RS:X and 14-year-old Francesco Kayrouz and Oscar Gunn sixth in the boy's 29er.
New Zealand were also third in the Nations Trophy for the best overall team behind Great Britain and Italy.
New Zealand has enjoyed good success since the first youth world championships in 1971, having won 50 medals. Past winners have included decorated Kiwi sailors Chris Dickson, Russell Coutts, Blair Tuke and Dean Barker.
The Stewarts have their sights set on going to the Olympics, whether as a combination in the larger 49erFX class (Molly Meech and Alex Maloney won silver in Rio) or on their own.
"We want to keep sailing and see how far it can get us," Greta said.
Kate is likely to return to New Zealand after the America's Cup to attend university but Greta is unsure of her next port of call - it depends a little on which team wins the Auld Mug.
It might help her settle on who she wants to win in Bermuda.
