Sailing: Rising stars George Lee Rush and Seb Menzies in quest to gain weight after stepping up to 49er

George Lee Rush and Seb Menzies are in their first year of sailing in the 49er. Photo / Adam Mustill Photography

George Lee Rush and Seb Menzies have their sights set on a bright future – but they’ve got work to do to get there.

After finding success in the 29er and 49er FX classes, the young Kiwi sailors are in their first year of making the step up to the 49er and have been learning a lot very quickly.

Among the lessons, they have learned they’re currently too light to get the best performance out of the boat.

So, as well as getting familiar with the new class, the pair - both yet to hit 20 years old – are on a quest to bulk up.

“We’ve got 15kg or so between us to put on somehow,” Lee Rush told the Herald.

“So, we’re just doing that as quickly as we can, but it’s a bit of a tough grind.”

The duo, who are competing at the Oceanbridge Sailing Regatta at Torbay Sailing Club this weekend, are working with a nutritionist in order to try to reach that goal, while spending plenty of time in the weight room as well as with their sport-specific training.

“Basically, balancing those three things is our life at the moment,” Menzies said.

While still new to the class, they have quickly become competitive. In the national championships, they finished in fourth place after winning the final two races of the regatta.

After the departure of Peter Burling and Blair Tuke from the Olympic scene, there is plenty of competition to take their place as New Zealand’s 49er entry into the next edition of the Games, in Paris next year.

There is plenty of talent in the New Zealand scene in the class; Logan Dunning-Beck and Oscar Gunn, Isaac McHardie and Will McKenzie, and Campbell Stanton and Will Shapland are just some of the teams looking to claim that spot.

But while Paris may be too early for Lee Rush and Menzies to be targeting, they are eager to soak up as much knowledge as they can in the next couple of years before potentially challenging the top boats in the next Olympic cycle.

The pair have drawn comparisons to a young Burling and Tuke, too, but were quick to brush those off given the success the latter have had across several different areas of the sport for an extended period.

“We’ve definitely got a long way to go,” Menzies said. “With the fleet, we’re not at the top and there are a lot of people who are. There’s a lot of work for us all to do. Hopefully one of us can fill those shoes, but there’s a lot of work to go.

“It’s a much more difficult boat to sail,” he said of the 49er.

“You’ve got all the older guys, the Olympic guys to sail against as well, so there’s so much skill everywhere you look. Just racing... is awesome; you learn so much every day.”

In terms of setting goals, Lee Rush said it was hard to figure out how they shaped up on the world stage as they haven’t had the opportunity to sail the 49er against the international fleet.

He said a lot of their planning for the future would come down to how quickly they would be able to put on the required weight.

“I think for the worlds in 2024, we’d be looking to get into the gold fleet, but that very much depends on how quickly we put on the weight and seeing how we stack up against the international fleet this year.”