Kiwis Triumphant in Australian Boat Building Comp
New Zealand Marine Trades Challenge champions, Cookson Boats have, once again, shown New Zealand's strength in trans-Tasman apprentice boatbuilding competitions.
'Sam Israelson contributing to the winning boat design.'
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The two Cookson teams won two out of the three possible categories in the Australian Boat Building Competition, held at the recent Sydney International Boat Show.
The Australian competition is the equivalent of New Zealand's Marine Trades Challenge and the Cookson teams qualified by winning the Challenge here in March.
Although the two contests are run quite differently, they do have many similarities. Both are hosted by the countries' respective training organisations and supported by the local industry associations.
In New Zealand that is the Boating Industry Training Organisation and the Marine Industry Association; in Sydney, it is the Shipwrights and Boatbuilders Association and the Boating Industry Association of New South Wales.
In New Zealand, teams of four apprentices compete to build a one-design boat; in Australia, the teams are just two-strong and have to design as well as build their entries. In both countries, the teams then have to paddle and sail their entry around an inner harbour course.
For the Sydney competition, the winning team of Vaughan Roberts, Sam Israelson, Andrew Durie and Leighton Matthews therefore split into Cookson Boats Team 1 (Roberts and Israelson) and Cookson Boats Team 2 (Durie and Matthews).
Each team had just two hours to build their boat. Having trialled several boats on the North Shore's Lake Pupuke, both teams went with a kayak-style design that was light and strong, had the maximum waterline length and was able to be neatly constructed within the time limit.
In the Sydney competition, teams earn points in three categories: Best Built Boat, Most Innovative Design and Quickest Boat Around the Course.
Roberts and Israelson in Cookson Boats Team 1 won the Best Build section and finished a close second to their teammates, Durie and Matthews in Cookson Boats Team 2 in the boat race.
In fact, the two young Kiwi teams absolutely blitzed their Aussies counterparts on the water, finishing over a leg ahead, in front of the large boat show crowd.
The winning Australian team will now compete in the New Zealand Marine Trades Challenge in Auckland next year.
by NZ Marine 
rose bay, NSW
