Sail-World New Zealand- April 28, 2013

by . on 28 Apr 2013 Welcome to Sail-World.com's New Zealand newsletter for April 28, 2013

The Steinlager ANZAC 18ft skiff series concluded on the Waitemata harbour today, with a win for the top Australian crew, Thurlow Fisher, led by Michael Coxon.

The regatta was a great effort by the 18ft skiff class, underlining the development work done in New Zealand with a 12 boat fleet including three Australian skiffs.

Our thanks to Brad Davies of www.livesaildie.com for providing images of the regatta..

Next major regatta is the San Francisco International, which wil be staged from the St Francis Yacht Club, adjacent to the America's Cup course. The 18fters will provide a welcome fillup to a program that is lacking in sailing action, with the skiffs racing both on the days when there is an America's Cup race scheduled, after the races for the day. Then the days when there is no America's Cup racing, the 18fters will sail earlier in the afternoon.

A strong contingent from Australia and New Zealand will be travelling to San Francisco - hopefully crews from UK and Europe will also make the trip to San Francisco.

Staying with the America's Cup is entering a new phase with the launching and first sails of the Defender, Oracle Team USA new AC72. We have images and video of this occasion in thus edition of Sail-World.com's newsletter. The team are now in their suspension period, imposed by the International Jury for breaching the Reconnaisance providions of the Protocol when their spy boat ventured with the 200metre exclusion zone around challneger, Luna Rossa.

The fourth round of the ISAF World Sailing Cup has finished in Hyeres, France. New Zealand performed very well in two classes, winning a Gold and Bronze medals.

In the Womens 49erFX, Alex Maloney and Molly Meech continue their domination of the world fleets in the new Olympic class, winning two of the four World Cup events sailed, finishing second in Palma, Spain in the third round, and then winning the Gold medal again in Hyeres. They did not compete in Round 2, in Miami, USA.

Big mover has been Josh Junior in the Mens Finn class. In his first year of serious international competition, the young Wellington sailor has placed third, after placing eighth in his previous world cup regatta at Palma. But all said and done, this was a superb effort from John Junior, and he will look to hold this for as he build up for Rio de Janerio.

New Zealand's medalists from the 2012 Olympics Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie, along with Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, have elected to sit out much of this international season, and both crews should be in with a good chance of medals in Rio. Add to that the crews above and a couple that are currently just short of the podium,

New Zealand looks very well placed going into the 2016 Olympics, even though many would consider these to be early days. But the simple point is that if you are a new sailor planning an Olympic campign, there is not a lot of point in firing up two years out - you just won't make it.

In this edition we have reports on all the World Cup racing, plus video interviews with the two New Zealand medalists.

On the Waitemata, today, Karlene Dixon, won the Baltic Lifejackets Nationals Womens Keelboat championship. Dixon sailed on the first Womens Keelboat Nationals and it would seem that her touch has not deserted her.

We have a full report and images in this edition of Sail-World.com's newsletter.

And from the picturesque Pcton, Rob Burn very kindly provides coverage of the 2013 Starling class Nationals, which attracted a fleet of over 100 boats, won by Trent Rippey - another in long line of top sailors emanting from Tauranga Yacht Club's excellent junior programs.

Stay tuned to www.sail-world.com for all the latest sailing news from around New Zealand and the world.

Good sailing!

Richard Gladwell
NZ Editor

sailworldnzl@gmail.com

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