NZL Sailing Team- Three medals at World Championships

by Kristine Lederis on 19 Dec 2011
The final races of the 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships resulted in the NZL Sailing team winning three medals.

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke return to NZ as silver medallists in the 49er class while Andrew Murdoch won Bronze in the Men’s Laser, and Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie won the Bronze medal in the Women’s 470.

'What we aim for is to go into the last day with the opportunity to win medals. We had that chance in all classes today and came away with three.' Jez Fansone, Yachting New Zealand’s Olympic Programme Manager is delighted with the outcomes of today’s final racing.

'It’s the end of two long weeks and the team kept going right to the very end. They made the most of the opportunity they were given today.' Jez said.

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke started the day in fourth overall, and after securing a second place finish in the double point medal race, they climbed their way up to the silver medal position.

'We’ve been hanging around the fourth mark all week, it’s been similar every day, we just went in trying to make better happen.' And that’s just what they did, said Peter. 'It gives us a lot of confidence going forward for the next 6 months'

Andrew Murdoch was in a similar position, but entered today’s medal race in eighth overall. 'Obviously things were really tight going into it, so I just had to sail my own race, and I was able to do that so I’m happy.'

'I’ll also be going to next year’s world championships in Germany, that’s not long away so it’s another world champs to look forward to.'

Even though the regular local breeze didn’t serve up kind conditions to the sailors, Andrew Murdoch commented 'It was still a great venue and I’m happy with the conditions we had.'

In the Women’s 470 fleet, Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie recovered well from an individual recall on the start line and found their way back up to the lead pack to finish third in the medal race.

For this team and all the others on the Centre Course of Bathers Bay, racing in front of the hundreds of people on the grandstands was out of the ordinary.

'It was amazing seeing all the people there and seeing all the flags, it brings such a different feel to the sailing because usually we are miles out in the ocean with no one there, it was cool to have all the support with everyone there' said Jo Aleh.

JP Tobin and Tom Ashley both came out of the event with top ten results not to be dismissed in this competitive fleet, JP in fifth and Tom in sixth.

Last week’s accomplishments are also not forgotten; the NZL Sailing Team had two career highlight results, an eighth place finish for the 470 team of Paul Snow-Hansen with Jason Saunders, and a tenth for Sara Winther in the Laser Radial.

In total, the NZL sailing team had eight boats within the top ten at the 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships.

Stay tuned as there is more to come from this team over the next seven months as the campaigners continue working toward the 2012 Olympic Games.

The team of kiwi sailors in Perth have also qualified the country for the Olympic Games in nine classes.
Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships

New Zealand’s Final Standings:

2nd Peter Burling and Blair Tuke – 49er
3rd Andrew Murdoch- Laser
3rd Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie- Women’s 470
5th JP Tobin- Men’s RS:X
6th Tom Ashley- Men’s RS:X
8th Paul Snow-Hansen and Jason Saunders- Men’s 470
9th Stephanie Hazard, Jenna Hansen and Susannah Pyatt- Match Racing
10th Sara Winther- Laser Radial
13th Andy Maloney- Laser
17th Mike Bullot- Laser
21st Dan Slater- Finn
26th Steff Williams – Women’s RS:X
28th Matt Coutts- Finn
32nd Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski
34th Sam Meech- Laser
35th Natalia Kosinska- Women’s RS:X
37th Josh Junior- Laser
38th Miranda Powrie- Laser Radial
41st Justina Sellers- Women’s RS:X
43rd Vicki Francis and Erica Dawson – Women’s 470
46th Nik Burfoot- Finn
55th Rachel Basevi- Laser Radial
55th James Turner and Matthew Jones- Men’s 470
56th Luke Stevens and Sam Bullock- Men’s 470
57th Brad Douglas- Finn
57th Antonio Cozzolino- Men’s RS:X
62nd Chris Burgess and Rohan Swanson
64th Rob Coutts- Finn
69th Gareth Moore and Ben Goodwin- Men’s 470
70th Mike Snow-Hansen and Derek Snow- Men’s 470
77th Carl Evans- Men’s RS:X
82nd Tom Saunders- Laser

For more information:

Visit the official event website www.perth2011.com

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