NZL Sailing Team- Leading in two fleets after Day 7 at the ISAF Worlds

by Jodie Bakewell-White on 19 Sep 2014 As the 2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships head into the business end New Zealand leads in both the 49er and women’s 470 after a blustery day in Santander.

Top performances from Peter Burling and Blair Tuke sees them extend their lead in the men’s skiff, while Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie have stormed to the top of the women’s 470 standings with three good races today.

The Laser medal race took place today featuring New Zealand’s Sam Meech who has finished ninth.

49er

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke are on fire and have extended their overall lead in the 49er class to a massive 29 point margin.

With an eighth, a second and a bullet in today’s three races the defending world champions are demonstrating to their rivals that consistent single digit results are required to stay at the top of the board.

Blair Tuke reports; “Really windy conditions again today for our three races. Gusts were close to 30 knots which made for some great rides and a lot of carnage and capsizes!”

“We sailed well in these races, but a capsize at the bottom mark gates in one race had us drop from third back to eighth but still a 'keeper' score.”

“The last race of the day was sailed this evening inside the harbour in front of a big crowd. We took the bullet in this race to top off a great day for us. Still plenty more racing to happen.”

Like some of the international rivals Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski struggled for form today and have slipped down the leader board to 21st place showing what a difference a day can make. Racing tomorrow will provide the 2013 silver medallists an opportunity to make up some ground.

Logan Dunning-Beck and Jack Simpson are in 25th.

Women’s and Men’s 470

Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie have stormed into the overall lead after three great races in Santander today. After an average opening day a successful title defence required some resilience and the classy kiwi sailors are back on track with one more day of finals before Saturday’s medal race.

Lying fifth going into today Aleh and Powrie started the day with a bullet, then a fourth and a second to displace Austrians’ Lara Vadlau and Jolanta Ogar from the lead they’ve held since day one.

But while the kiwis have climbed to the top of the board the 2014 world crown isn’t in the bag yet, and the Austrians are breathing down their necks just a point behind. USA’s Anne Haeger and Briana Provancha are lying third a further five points adrift.

In the Men’s 470 Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox have slipped to 26th overall.

Tomorrow will see the 470 fleets head out for more finals racing with the medal races scheduled for Saturday in Santander.

49erFX

Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech retain ninth overall in the 49er after their three races today. On the race track today the kiwi skiff women placed 15th and second and are three points off eighth place going into tomorrow.

Laser

23 year old Sam Meech from the Tauranga Yacht & Powerboat Club has secured his personal best result at a Laser World Championship Regatta with a ninth place. Sailing today’s medal race Meech crossed in fifth place improving to finish ninth overall after going into the grand finale lying 10th.

Final results for New Zealand’s remaining Laser and Laser Radial sailors were set in stone yesterday at the end of the finals series, and are listed below.

Men’s and Women’s RS:X

Both Jon Paul Tobin and Natalia Kosinska have bowed out of the 2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships without making the top ten sailors, and neither will sail tomorrow’s medal race.

Both have however sailed well enough to qualify New Zealand for a Rio 2016 Olympic berth in the both the men’s and women’s windsurfing. 18 places were on offer for the men at this regatta and Tobin has finished 16th overall, well inside the top 18 nations.

In the women’s RS:X just the top thirteen placed nations would earn the right to send one representative to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Kosinska ended the regatta in 22nd overall, after placing 19th, 24th and 21st in today’s three gold fleet races, and New Zealand was the 13th placed nation just squeaking in for Olympic qualification.

Finn

Both Josh Junior and Andrew Murdoch made huge gains in the standings today relishing the blustery wet conditions to take some great race results.

Junior, from the Worser Bay Boating Club has climbed from 18th into 10th place taking an eighth and a 10th in today’s two Finn races.

Andrew Murdoch, from the Kerikeri Cruising Club, is close behind in 12th place after an 11th and a sixth on the water today.

The Finn class has two more days of finals racing to determine the top ten for Sunday’s medal race.

Nacra multihull

The Nacra fleet finally added some more points to the board after plenty of abandonments over the opening days of the series. Sailing three races today New Zealand’s Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders placed fifth, seventh and 12th to hold 12th place overall in the highly competitive fleet of 68 boats.


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 click here

49er Skiff
1st Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (1, 4, 6, 1, 4, 1, 8, 2)
21st Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski (1, 22, 14, 10, 6, 17, 25, 21)
25th Logan Dunning-Beck and Jack Simpson (5, 8, 5, 18, 34, 26, 21, 24)

49erFX Skiff
9th Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech (3, 8, 11, 15, 2)
40th Erica Dawson and Ellie Copeland (4, 22, 15, DNF, DNF)

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

Men’s 470 (double-handed dinghy)
26th Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox (14, 4, 20, 15, 24)

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

Finn (men’s heavy-weight dinghy)
10th Josh Junior (12, 7, 8, 8, 8, 10)
12th Andrew Murdoch (9, 5, 12, 25, 11, 6)

Men’s RS:X Windsurfing / 100 sailors
16th Jon-Paul Tobin (9, 10, 9, 4, 24, 4, 3, RET, 29, 12, 29, 12, 30)

Women’s RS:X Windsurfing / 62 sailors
22nd Natalia Kosinska (10, 5, 18, DSQ, 3, 17, 24, 19, 19, 24, 21)

Laser Final Results (Men’s single-handed dinghy / 150 boats)
9th Sam Meech (12, 6, 2, 43, 16, 13, 19, 6)
14th Andy Maloney (18, 10, 19, 4, 1, 16, 39, 15)
20th Thomas Saunders (11, 5, 22, 5, 23, 15, 31, 38)
31st Mike Bullot (23, 11, 4, 24, 4, 23, 38, DNF)

Laser Radial Final Results (Women’s single-handed dinghy / 120 boats)
12th Sara Winther (7, 19, 10, 13, 26, 19, 5)
51st Susannah Pyatt (18, 11, 36, 61, 11, 57, 49)
108th Ali Nightingale (19, 58, 58, 58)

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.

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