NZL Sailing Team - Kiwis lead two events after Day 4 in Florida Worlds

by Jodie Bakewell-White, Yachting NZ on 13 Feb 2016 New Zealand sits atop both the 49er and 49erFX leader board at the end of day four of the 2016 49er and 49erFX World Championships in Clearwater, Florida.

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke sailed well again today to now lead by 28 points.

Meanwhile Alex Maloney and Molly Meech have climbed into the overall lead in the women’s fleet with two days of competition to run.

Conditions today were described as light and tricky with the breeze decreasing as the day progressed.

49er

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke have stepped out their overall lead in the 2016 49er World Championships edging closer to securing what would be their fourth consecutive world crown in the hotly contested Olympic men’s skiff class.

While their clean-streak of race wins came to an end, the New Zealanders overall performance on day four of the regatta was still among the best of the fleet with a 3-1-2-11 score-card from today’s four races. They discard the 11th as their worst result.

Reigning Olympic champions Nathan Outteridge and Ian Jensen, from Australia, are lying second overall behind Burling and Tuke, but 28 points adrift. Currently in third overall are Diego Botin and Iago Lopez Marra of Spain, five points back from the Aussies.

Tomorrow will see the fleet split into gold and silver with the top 25 boats progressing into gold fleet racing from here.

49er FX

Alex Maloney and Molly Meech have continued their strong form into day four of the regatta and have taken the overall lead in the battle for women’s 49erFX 2016 world title as a result.

Starting the day with a third place the NZL Sailing Team pair went on to take race seven of the series in convincing style crossing the line well clear of the fleet. In their next race they placed 10th, but discard that as their worst and will go into gold fleet racing tomorrow having not finished outside the top ten in any of their races so far.

“We got out there this morning and were quite surprised at how nice a wind there was and the first two races went really well for us, and then the last one we had a bit of a bad start and managed to sail through the fleet for a top ten finish so overall I think we’re really happy with today,” says Meech.

“Our attitude is to just take each day as it comes, and race by race, and just try and stay consistent.”

Their leading margin is narrow with Victoria Jurczok and Anika Lorenz of Germany just three points behind them, and Brazil’s Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze only one point further adrift.

Maloney and Meech have admitted to working hard towards improving their performance in light wind conditions and today that paid dividends.

“Molly and I have had a pretty big focus on our light air speed in the last few years and we’re really happy with how far we’ve come with our light air settings,” said Alex Maloney.

New Zealand’s young pair of Erica Dawson and Ellie Copeland (from the Aon Fast Track Squad) continue to impress with a couple of excellent races today including a sixth and a fifth. They’re in 15th overall at the end of day four and have easily made the cut for gold fleet, an impressive achievement for them.

Nacra 17

With twelve races now completed in the 2016 Nacra 17 World Championships New Zealand is lying 15th and 18th in the 43 boat fleet.

Packing in five races on day four of the regatta both kiwi crews had some good results, and some mid-fleet finishes. Olivia Mackay and Micah Wilkinson (Aon Fast Track Squad) are lying 15th overall, while Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders (NZL Sailing Team) are not far behind in 18th.

Racing resumes tomorrow in Clearwater for the penultimate day of the regatta. Medal races are planned for Sunday 14th February.

New Zealand’s current standings…

49er World Championship

1st Peter Burling & Blair Tuke (1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 3, 1, 2, 11)
31st Markus Somerville & Josh Porebski (DNF, 29, 22, 7, 6, 26, 2, 12, 7)
32nd Logan Dunning Beck & Jack Simpson (22, 7, 13, 17, 21, 16, BFD, 10, 6)
47th Isaac McHardie & Trent Rippey (11, 22, 29, 9, 3, 26, 28, 26, 20)

49erFX World Championship
1st Alexandra Maloney & Molly Meech (6, 4, 7, 2, 1, 3, 1, 10)
15th Erica Dawson & Ellie Copeland (4, 8, 10, 11, OCS, 6, 5, 12)

Nacra 17 Championship
15th Olivia Mackay & Micah Wilkinson (12, 26, 27, 13, 21, 9, 20, 5, 32, 7, 4, 17)
18th Gemma Jones & Jason Saunders (28, 22, 2, 24, 8, 18, 30, 17, 17, 15, 17, 4)