Sail Auckland- Tight racing expected in Medal Races

by Jodie Bakewell-White, Yachting NZ on 5 Feb 2011
Just one day of racing remains at Sail Auckland 2011 off Takapuna Boating Club with the podium places set to be decided tomorrow.

After a grey morning the day turned into a sunny scorcher with light and at times patchy westerly breezes ranging between 6-15 knots on the Hauraki Gulf for racing in the Olympic, Paralympic and invited classes.
RS:X

On day three consistency was key in the shifty winds and Tom Ashley blew off the chasing pack by coming home with two race wins from two races sailed. After yesterday the points spread was just three between first and fourth, but at the end of the penultimate day the Olympic champ has marched out to a six point lead from Antonio Cozzolino.

Dorian van Rijsselberge is in third place with Jon-Paul Tobin in fourth.

It was a similar story in the Women’s fleet where Kate Ellingham dominated on day three scoring two wins and consolidating her lead on the fleet going into the final day. Natalia Kosinska holds onto second place five points behind.

Laser
It’s a two horse race on the Laser course with a ding-dong battle going on between the two most experienced campaigners of the NZL Sailing Team, Mike Bullot and Andrew Murdoch, with Murdoch out in front at the start of the day.

But Bullot managed to come home ahead of Murdoch in all of today’s three races, rounding out the day with a win he has turned the tables and is now two points in front.

This one promises to provide an exciting finale tomorrow.

Radial
Michael Cate has had a strangle-hold on the Radial course over the first half of the regatta, but Olympic campaigner Sara Winther, sailing at her home Club, has pulled ahead and now tops the leader board in the 40-strong fleet.

Finn
In the Finn, Dan Slater continues to extend his lead with three wins on the water today. The NZL Sailing Team rep is now six points clear of Rafael Trujillo.

470
Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie had a good day on the water pulling themselves up the board from fifth overall into second place behind the Britons with Nick Rogers at the helm. With a 2-1-2 score card today the kiwi women had a better day than the GBR team (1-2-5).

But having been on scorching form throughout the regatta Rogers and Grube have it essentially sewn up with a 14 point leading margin. Paul Snow-Hansen and Jason Saunders are in third place going into the final day.

49er
Three 49ers are racing at Sail Auckland with Marcus Hansen and Aaron Hume-Merry dominant from the outset. Tomorrow they look set to bring it home for the gold medal.

Paralympics
On the SKUD course near Westhaven Tim Dempsey and Jan Apel are leading after two days of racing while Paul Francis has the top spot in the 2.4 metre.

Racing resumes tomorrow at 11am with the medals to be determined by the end of the day.

Results after day two – top three

See www.sailauckland.org.nz for full results

Laser top three
1st Mike Bullot NZL – 18 points
2nd Andrew Murdoch NZL – 20 point
3rd Tom Burton AUS – 34 points

Laser Radial top three
1st Sara Winther NZL – 28 points
2nd Michael Cate NZL - 33 points
3rd Nicholas Croft NZL – 55 points

470 top three
1st Nick Rogers & Chris Grube - 11 points
2nd Jo Aleh & Olivia Powrie NZL – 25 points
3rd Paul Snow-Hansen & Jason Saunders - 30 points

Finn top three
1st Dan Slater NZL - 9 points
2nd Rafael Trujillo Villar ESP - 15 points
3rd Matt Coutts NZL – 21 points

RS:X Men top three
1st Tom Ashley NZL – 9 points
2nd Antonio Cozzolino – 15 points
3rd Dorian van Rijsselberge NED – 17 points

RS:X Women top three
1st Kate Ellingham NZL – 7 points
2nd Natalia Kosinska NZL – 12 points
3rd Justina Sellers NZL – 16 points

49er top three
1st Marcus Hansen & Aaron Hume-Merry NZL - 9 points
2nd Chris Burgess & Rowan Swanson NZL - 19 points
3rd Kagan Weeks & Jake Weeks NZL – 33 points

2.4 metre top three
1st Paul Francis NZL – 12 points
2nd Michael Leydon AUS - 12 points
3rd Megan Pascoe GBR – 12 points

SKUD18
1st Tim Dempsey and Jan Apel NZL - 8 points
2nd Wei Qiang Tan Jovin and Desiree Lim SIN - 8 points
3rd Annabelle Tye & Andrew May NZL – 15 points

RS:X 8.5 top three
1st Sven Pedersen NZL - 6 points
2nd Enzo Pla FRA - 14 points
3rd Tony McKenzie NZL - 17 points

420 top three
1st Alex Munro & Brad Moss NZL - 15 points
2nd Sam Mackay & Oscar Rovick NZL - 19 points
3rd Verity Judge & Gemma Jones NZL – 22 points

29er top three
1st Matthew Spray &Tyler Russell NZL – 9 points
2nd Jack Simpson & Logan Beck NZL - 17 points
3rd Stewart Dodson & Harry Hull NZL – 27 points