NZL Sailing Team - Kiwi crews in Medal Hunt on Final day of 470 Worlds

by Jodie Bakewell-White, Yachting NZ on 27 Feb 2016 It’s all on for the NZL Sailing Team for the final day of the 2016 470 World Championships with New Zealand vying for medals in both the men’s and women’s divisions after a solid penultimate day.

Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox have relinquished their overall lead but go into the final day lying second overall, while Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie have continued their climb through the standings to hold third place with one day left.

With its brown, muddy waters San Isidro, Argentina is a challenging venue to sail, as the 49er and 49erFX Olympic sailors discovered last November, however this year an unusual prevalence of weed on the course areas is adding yet another dimension.

Images and footage show floating fields of green weed, and teams are reporting that is making for interesting racing. Today brought thunder storms, rain and strong winds as well!

Men's 470:

Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox are guaranteed of their best ever result from a 470 World Championships regatta, now assured of finishing within the top four in Argentina.

The Croatian pair of Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic outperformed the kiwis today with a second and a win, while Snow-Hansen and Willcox are now lying second overall after placing fourth and then 14th in today’s two races.

They’re anticipating a close battle tomorrow and are looking forward to it. Willcox says, “It’s going to be tight and exciting racing tomorrow. In Olympic sailing the competition is so close and if you make a mistake you feel it, so tomorrow is going to be about whoever can put together a good performance around the medal race course.”

He continues, “Our goal before the regatta was to be in the shot for a medal and we have put ourselves in a position to do so, so we are just excited and happy to be here and will enjoy getting amongst it tomorrow in the medal race.”

“We have sailed a solid week you know, and it’s been tough conditions with long days on the water, but the Race Committee has done a great job in getting a full series under the belt. Feeling happy that we have got through the week.”

They’re being coached in Argentina by Hamish Willcox, a three-time 470 World Champions himself in 1981, ’83 and ’84, and also coach to Peter Burling and Blair Tuke.

Snow-Hansen and Willcox’s previous best result at a 470 World Championship Regatta came in 2013 when they placed seventh in La Rochelle, France. The year prior Snow-Hansen, then partnered with Jason Saunders, represented New Zealand at the London Olympic Games where they finished fifth.

Women's 470:

Finding consistency has been tough for everyone in Argentina, and New Zealand’s Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie are no exception with some double-digit scores seeing them chasing the front runners as the regatta has unfolded.

“It’s been a pretty hard week, we have struggled a bit with a few different issues, so sort of surprised we are still in the mix so that makes tomorrow fun,” Jo Aleh says about their performance so far.

Today was their best day yet and they’re now within the top three ready to do battle in what promises to be a very close fought medal race. Just eight points separate fifth and second place, with a handful of crews all within reach of the gold medal or a podium finish.

Aleh and Powrie, supported in Argentina by long-time coach Nathan Handley, opened today with a race win, and followed that with an eighth place which lifts them from fifth to third.

Asked about their strategy for tomorrow’s medal race Aleh says, “I guess I haven’t really looked at the results that closely, but the way it looks everyone is pretty close so it’s just going to be a matter of sail the race. Sail the race to win the race, and I guess will be doing that, so it’s just another race but 10 boats, which will be a nice change.”

Camille Lecointre and Helene Defrance (FRA) have the overall lead, six points in front of defending champions Lara Vadlau and Jolanta Ogar (CRO), with the New Zealand pair very close behind just one point back. China’s Xiaoli Wang and Lizhu Huang had their poorest day of the series in the stronger winds and have dropped back to fourth.

This World Championships is a key event in the build-up to August’s Rio Olympic Games and everyone is upping their game and making the most of the competition environment.

Aleh says, “The fleet is slowly getting deeper and deeper and there are more people who can be up there for a race here or there and even consistently up there all week and I guess this whole regatta we have had pretty soft conditions until today, and that really mixes things up a bit. A good challenge.”

Tomorrow the Women will sail their medal race first with warning signal expected at 1100 local time. The Men’s medal race will follow with a scheduled warning signal at 1145 in Argentina.

Women's RS:X:

Natalia Kosinska will sail one more race in Eilat, Israel tomorrow on the final day of the 2016 RS:X World Championships where she will go up against the other women’s gold fleet sailors who didn’t make the top ten cut for the medal race.

On the penultimate day Kosinska placed 14th and ninth in the two races sailed to improve one position overall up to 18th.

Both Championships have one day remaining with the podium places set to be decided over the next 12 to 24 hours.

2016 Men’s and Women’s 470 World Championships, Argentina - New Zealand’s current standings:

Men
2nd Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox (1, 1, BFD, 7, 23, 1, 3, 1, 4, 14)
38th Sam Barnett and Zak Merton (36, 32, 30, 38, 22, 32, 35, DPI, 27, 34)

Women
3rd Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie (6, 13, 13, 3, 1, 7, 15, 1, 8)

2016 RS:X World Championships, Israel
New Zealand’s current standings

18th Natalia Kosinska (8, 9, 4, 3, 22, 20, 30, 14, 9)

Links:

2016 470 World Championships regatta website click here
2016 RS:X World Championships regatta website click here