NZL Sailing Team at ISAF Worlds: 49ers Open with Fine Form

NZL Sailing Team at ISAF Worlds: 49ers Open with Fine Form

Racing continued at the 2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships in Santander, Spain today where Peter Burling and Blair Tuke have made a strong start to lead the 49er class.

Image: Burling and Tuke in action © Jesus Renedo/Sailing Energy
More photos from today here

Another five New Zealand crews are lying within the top ten of their fleets after racing today although in the Nacra, 49er, 49erFX and men’s 470 one half of the boats have one less race on the board making overall standings biased towards those that have completed more racing.

The official report describes the day as tough, “with a challenging up and down wind playing havoc across the seven race courses.”

“It was scheduled to be a Super Tuesday with all of the fleets apart from the Women's RS:X scheduled to take to the water but the schedule did not quite go to plan with abandonments, strong current and a fickle breeze challenging the Race Committees.”

49er

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke put three race results on the board today, opening the regatta in which they defend their 2013 world crown with a bullet. In race two they placed 4th, and then 7th in the last race of the day to hold the overall lead in the class at this early stage.

“No racing yesterday for us so we did our first three qualifying races today,” says Blair Tuke. “Solid three races today, which lays a nice platform for the week.”

“Really tricky course with big shifts so we are happy to get out of the day without any big scores. Two more qualifying races tomorrow before we split into Gold, Silver and Bronze fleets.”

“There has already been a lot of waiting on and off the water the past two days, and we are expecting more of it as the week goes on.”

Logan Dunning-Beck and Jack Simpson have also started well with three single digit scores from today [5, 8, 6] to lie 3rd overall in the current results. Of the 49er fleet the kiwi crews were the only two teams to score three top ten finishes on the water today.

With only two counting races so far, the yellow fleet competitors including New Zealand’s Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski have to wait until tomorrow for their third race and an opportunity to balance the results.

49erFX

Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech put their first races on the board today too. They placed 3rd, 9th and 12th which sees them in 5th overall at the end of day one, although plenty of front runners are down the standings with only two races to count.

“We managed to get our first three races of FX qualifying at Santander 2014 today in tricky conditions. Still in the game with plenty of sailing to go,” report Maloney and Meech.

Women’s and Men’s 470

Both Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie and Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox have gained places after today’s performances.

The reigning world champs Aleh and Powrie move into 7th overall with a 6th and a 2nd in today’s races. Now at the end of the second day of competition in the women’s 470 the fleet has four races on the board and points are tight at the top with the NZL Sailing Team pair just a couple of points off 4th place and plenty of racing yet to come.

In the men’s fleet Snow-Hansen and Willcox sailed two races today placing 4th and then 20th.

Laser & Laser Radial

The single-handed sailors were back on the water today after a rest day yesterday, however the kiwis struggled for form and have slipped in the standings as a result.

Andy Maloney remains the best placed of the NZL Sailing Team Laser campaigners holding 15th overall with Sam Meech close behind in 16th.

But Maloney has proven resilience and he says; “Two tough races today in a shifty offshore breeze. There are still three Gold fleet races on the schedule tomorrow to get back into the mix! All to play for.”

Thomas Saunders and Mike Bullot are now in 19th and 23rd respectively.

Men’s and Women’s RS:X

Natalia Kosinska’s position in the women’s RS:X has been affected by a disqualification applied to race four of the series. The NZL Sailing Team women’s windsurfer is now in 20th overall and will be keen to make up some ground in tomorrow’s scheduled racing which has three gold fleet races planned.

Meanwhile Jon-Paul Tobin holds 17th in the men’s fleet. Similarly, he is in a position to gain placestomorrow if he can produce great race results.

Nacra multihull

Among the last events to get started in Santander is the Nacra multihull featuring NZL Sailing Team’s Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders, and the pair has opened well.

Their fleet sailed two races, Jones and Saunders placing 12th and then 2nd to lie 5th on the board, however, like some other classes, the results are skewed until the other multihull flight race again.

Finn

Sailing just one race today the Finns are underway for their 2014 World Championship title. Andrew Murdoch opened with a 9th and Josh Junior took a 12th.

Having spent two days, and 13 hours, on the water so far the Finns will be hoping for better conditions in Santander tomorrow.

Murdoch says; “The regatta is finally underway today! We spent the whole day out on the water but only ended up with one race to show for it.”

“I managed a 9th which is a start at least. Hoping for some nice conditions for tomorrow, but we'll get what we get.”

National qualification for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games is also on offer at the 2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships – read ISAF’s Qualification System for Rio 2016 for the details.

Tomorrow in Santander the Nacra multihull, 49er, 49erFX and Finn fleets will all get underway.

2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships, Santander, Spain
New Zealand’s Current Standings
Full results here

49er Skiff
1st Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (1, 4, 7)
3rd Logan Dunning-Beck and Jack Simpson (5, 8, 6)
Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski (1, 22)

49erFX Skiff
5th Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech (3, 8, 11)
Erica Dawson and Ellie Copeland (4, 23)

Laser (Men’s single-handed dinghy / 150 boats)
15th Andy Maloney (18, 10, 19, 4, 1, 16, 39)
16th Sam Meech (12, 6, 2, 43, 16, 13, 19)
19th Thomas Saunders (11, 5, 22, 5, 23, 15, 31)
23rd Mike Bullot (23, 11, 4, 24, 4, 23, 38)

Laser Radial (Women’s single-handed dinghy / 120 boats)
18th Sara Winther (7, 19, 10, 13, 26, 19)
49th Susannah Pyatt (18, 11, 36, 61, 11, 57)
108th Ali Nightingale (19, 58, 58, 58)

Men’s RS:X Windsurfing / 100 sailors
17th Jon-Paul Tobin (9, 10, 9, 4, 24)

Women’s RS:X Windsurfing / 62 sailors
20th Natalia Kosinska (10, 5, 18, DSQ, 3)

Women’s 470 (double-handed dinghy)
7th Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie (7, 5, 6, 2)

Men’s 470 (double-handed dinghy)
10th Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox (14, 4, 20)

Nacra 17 (mixed multihull)
5th Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders (12, 2)

Finn (men’s heavy-weight dinghy)
17th Andrew Murdoch (9)
23rd Josh Junior (12)

Support and Coaching:
Jez Fanstone , Nathan Handley, Mark Howard, Dave Robertson, Ian Neely , John Cutler, Hamish Willcox, Will Howden, Peter Evans, Grant Beck, Louise Johnson, Rebecca van Weerd

Links

Regatta website
ISAF website
Yachting New Zealand website
NZL Sailing Team sailor profiles
NZL Sailing Team Facebook page

ENDS

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