NZL has outstanding penultimate day at 49er Worlds in Zadar, Croatia

by NZL 49er association on 12 May 2012
Peter Burling and Blair Tuke report from the 49er World Championships:

Fantastic penultimate day for both NZL 49er crews at their 2012 Worlds in Zadar, Croatia.

The second to last day of 49er racing started the same as every day this week with a light Mediterranean sea breeze coming in before lunch, barely rising to 10 knots each day. With beautiful weather and the air temp rising to nearly 30 deg - sunnies, hats and rash top conditions. Zadar is an absolutely stunning place (unless you want more than 10 knots) to sail in with next to no tidal movement.

NZL’s apprentice crew Marcus Hansen/Josh Porebski (both 19) are Peter Burling /Blair Tuke’s NZ 49er training partners. They started the day off by leading the first race in Gold fleet and finishing this race in third. They are having an amazing week currently lying in 10th overall – this being their first time in Gold fleet at a major regatta. With scores of 3,7,12 they were the third best scoring boat for the day.

Peter (21) and Blair (22) consolidated their second overall with scores of 7,1,3 reducing the deficit to overall leaders, current World champions Nathan Outteridge/Iain Jensen, from 21 to 9 points once the first gold fleet drop came into play -and increasing their buffer from the boats behind to over 20 points.

The forecast tomorrow is for more of the same.

Gold fleet are programmed to start their final 2 races at 11am local time – wind permitting (9pm Sat Evening NZ time) followed by the Top 10 medal race to decide the 49er World Champion. 74 crews are completing in the regatta, split into three fleets.

NZL 49er Assn

Overall results ... http://www.49erworlds.org/index.php/overall-results/
Daily reports from venue ... http://www.49erworlds.org/index.php/media/