NZL Sailing Team- 49ers keep lead despite drama - ISAF Worlds - Day 8

by Jodie Bakewell-White on 20 Sep 2014 Tomorrow Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie will battle to defend their world title at the 2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships drawing to a close in Santander, Spain.

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke have two days remaining but continue to lead in the 49er. Both Andrew Murdoch and Josh Junior are into the top ten in the Finn class, as are multihull duo Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders.

ISAF reports; 'It was another day of good breeze with an average of 15 knots across the race tracks that hosted the fleets.'

Women’s and Men’s 470

Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie have been nudged from the top spot after some close racing today with rivals Lara Vadlau and Jolanta Ogar from Austria.

Just one point separated the two crews going into today, and after two races the margin remains at one point but the order has reversed and the kiwis hold second overall going into the medal race.

With medal race scores counting for double this sets the stage for an almighty winner-takes-all battle between the kiwis and the Austrians. Aleh and Powrie have sailed plenty of high pressure, close fought medal races before and they’ll be resourcing that experience when they hit the water for tomorrow’s title determining race.

Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark from Great Britain are also in with a shot at the title, and well placed for a podium finish lying third and 13 points adrift of Aleh and Powrie.

[Note: New Zealanders can watch the 470 medal race live action from ISAF Sailing World Championships on SKY TV from midnight on SKY Sport 1 or replayed Sunday 0930 on Sky Sport 3]

In the Men’s 470 Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox sailed well today and have moved up into 12th overall as a result, however it wasn’t quite enough to secure the pair a place in tomorrow’s medal race and this will count as their final result.

49er

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke started the day with a win and continue to lead in the 49er skiff class as racing heads into the penultimate day.

Suffering a disqualification in the second race, after a collision and capsize at the leeward mark, the on-form kiwis are not adversely affected as they can discard the poor score given their clean run of single-digit results across the first ten races.

'Very much an up and down day for us,' says Blair Tuke. 'Windy again with 20-27 knots. We sailed a great first race to take the win.'

'The second race we were doing well and had a accidental collision at the bottom mark, the other boat sustained serious damage which resulted in us retiring from the race once ashore.'

'Our boat also got a hole in it which is now fixed. Luckily both crews are ok. That's the way racing goes sometimes. Looking forward to bouncing back tomorrow.'

Friends and rivals Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen of Australia have edged into second overall after an excellent day going 2, 1 in today’s races. Still, they’re 24 points behind Burling and Tuke, a gap they’ll be looking to close tomorrow.

Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski improved again today with two good races. The younger NZL Sailing Team 49er pair are up to 14th overall after placing fifth and eighth today.

Logan Dunning-Beck and Jack Simpson remain in 25th at the back end of the hotly competitive gold fleet.

49erFX

In the women’s skiff class Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech are lying 11th dropping a couple of places on the leader board after today. They have tomorrow up their sleeve to break back into the top ten before Sunday’s medal racing, although a title defence would require them to close a 51 point gap to the leaders.

Finn

Both New Zealand’s Finn sailors have made gains on the leader board after today’s two races relishing the windy conditions in Santander.

Andrew Murdoch took second place in today’s second race and has jumped up into fifth after lying 12th going into today.

Murdoch says, 'Another solid day here at the ISAF World Championships. For today’s two races I placed 16th and second which moves me up to fifth overall.'

'Still lots of racing to go with the last two races of finals series tomorrow followed by the medal race on Sunday. Looking forward to it!'

Josh Junior is now in eighth place and just four points back from team-mate Murdoch among a tightly bunched group on the score board.

The Finn class has one more day of finals racing to determine the top ten for Sunday’s medal race, both Murdoch and Junior well positioned to feature.

Great Britain’s Giles Scott is leading the men’s heavy-weight dinghy 20 points clear on second place.

Nacra multihull

New Zealand’s Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders have also climbed up the ranks to lie sixth overall in the mixed multihull class.

The kiwis had some great races today including a second and a third pushing them up the overall standings as they head into the penultimate day of the regatta. Retaining their place in the top ten will see them with a shot at the podium and a medal race start on Sunday.

National qualification for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games is also on offer at the 2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships

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
For full results click here

49er Skiff
1st Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (1, 4, 6, 1, 4, 1, 8, 2, 1, 1, DSQ)
14th Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski (1, 22, 14, 10, 6, 17, 25, 21, 16, 5, 8)
25th Logan Dunning-Beck and Jack Simpson (5, 8, 5, 18, 33, 26, 21, 24, 24, 21, 18 )

49erFX Skiff
11th Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech (3, 8, 11, 15, 2, 14, 14, 7, 11)
36th Erica Dawson and Ellie Copeland (4, 22, 15, DNF, DNF, 3)

Women’s 470 (double-handed dinghy)
2nd Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie (7, 5, 6, 2, 5, 1, 4, 2, 3, 5)

Men’s 470 (double-handed dinghy)
12th Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox (14, 4, 20, 15, 23, 20, 4, 8, 13)

Nacra 17 (mixed multihull)
6th Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders (12, 2, 5, 7, 12, 2, 13, 3, 8)

Finn (men’s heavy-weight dinghy)
5th Andrew Murdoch (9, 5, 11, 24, 11, 6, 16, 2)
8th Josh Junior (12, 7, 8, 8, 8, 10, 11, 33)

Men’s RS:X Windsurfing / 100 sailors
16th Jon-Paul Tobin

Women’s RS:X Windsurfing / 62 sailors
21st Natalia Kosinska

Laser Final Results (Men’s single-handed dinghy / 150 boats)
9th Sam Meech
14th Andy Maloney
20th Thomas Saunders
31st Mike Bullot

Laser Radial Final Results (Women’s single-handed dinghy / 120 boats)
12th Sara Winther
51st Susannah Pyatt
108th Ali Nightingale

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

About the NZL Sailing Team

The NZL Sailing Team includes New Zealand’s top Olympic campaigners who have made the top 20% in their most recent (respective) class World Championships or pinnacle event and have shown consistency of performance over the year including other significant Championships.

Yachting New Zealand’s High Performance Programme is focussed on winning medals at the Olympics in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.

NZL Sailing Team sailors all started out at grass roots yacht clubs around the country and with commitment, dedication and drive have risen to be world class athletes; they work hard in the gym, train long hours on the water and are supported by great coaches.