The Kings College team of Hamish McLaren, Oscar Little, Sam Scott and Walter Coop stormed home on the final day of the 2020 HARKEN National Secondary Schools Keelboat Championship in March to win in dominant fashion.

Kings won three of the four gold fleet final races and finished second in the other to easily claim the national title.

Skipper Hamish McLaren was understandably thrilled: “We were nice and relaxed out there today, full credit to the boys who worked really hard, we just stayed super-calm and sailed really well as a team. It feels cool to be national champions, we couldn’t be happier. A massive thank you to everyone at Kings who helped us get here, to HARKEN, and to the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron for putting on such an awesome event.”

As an extra bonus for winning, McLaren and his team now gain automatic entry into the Yachting Developments New Zealand Match Racing Championship later this year at the RNZYS.

Finishing behind them in second place was the Westlake Boys High School Team 2 which finished 10 points adrift on 14 points, followed closely by Auckland Grammar School with 16 points.

St Kentigern College was fourth (17), followed by Glendowie College (17), Rosmini College (24), the all-girls team from Baradene College (24), and Rongotai College (27).