NZL Sailing Team: Five Kiwi crews still in the top 10 Day 4 of 49er, FX Nacra 17 Worlds

49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 World Championships - Day 4 © Sailing Energy

New Zealand's sailors remain in the hunt in Nova Scotia as the 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 world championships come towards a conclusion.

The fourth day of competition saw the return of a sea breeze, which proved a lot more comfortable for most after the tricky offshore conditions of the previous day, but it also meant it tightened up the racing as crews fought for every point.

Five Kiwi combinations are still in the top 10 of their various fleets with two days of racing remaining.

Logan Dunning Beck and Oscar Gunn are fourth in the 49er, closely followed by Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie in fifth. Alex Maloney and Olivia Hobbs are sixth and Jo Aleh and Molly Meech 10th in the 49erFX and Micah Wilkinson and Erica Dawson are sixth in the Nacra 17.

All three fleets still have four more fleet races to go, meaning there's still plenty of time to make a move before the top-10, double-points medal race.

McHardie and McKenzie continued their climb up the 49er leaderboard and got better as the day went on, banking scores of 11th, sixth and third to now be only 12 points off third.

"It was really, really close racing and we had to fight for every place we got," McKenzie said. "Overall, we’re pretty happy with how we came out. We had a good one to finish with, finishing third on the line.

"In terms of the overall picture, it keeps us in the hunt, which is all we can ask for at this stage but we still have two days of very tight racing to go so we are still taking every race as it comes and trying to put everything on the line."

It's something Wilkinson and Dawson will look to do as well as they try to claw their way onto the podium in the Nacra 17.

The finished fifth, 16th and eighth in their three races today to leave them 18 points behind the Finnish crew in third. Italy's Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti continued to produce their near-flawless sailing with three more race wins today to tighten their grip on the world title.

"It was a bit of a tough day out there for us today," Dawson admitted. "We actually had three really good starts but unfortunately we were lacking pace in the first couple and then in the last one we got a big clump of weed on our rudder. That’s no excuse because everyone is facing the same issues.

"We are still looking up because we still have four races of fleet racing to go, so there’s still a lot to play for. We can’t wait to go at it hard tomorrow."

The top two crews in the 49erFX have established a handy lead on the rest of the fleet but the picture can change very quickly with 36 boats on the start line.

Maloney and Hobbs struggled for pace today, with a best result of ninth, but are still in touch with the leaders.

"In those four races remaining we'll try to really go for it and try to minimise mistakes," Maloney said. "We'll try to get the boat going as quick as we can and keep pushing as hard as we can."

Results and standings after day 4 of the 49er, 49erFx and Nacra 17 World Championships in Nova Scotia: 49er (65 boats)

1st: Bart Lambriex / Floris van de Werken (NED) (12) 2 1 1 2 11 10 3 2 2 7 - 41 points 2nd: Sime Fantela / Mihovil Fantela (CRO) 3 2 1 5 17 7 (25) 12 1 1 5 - 54 pts 3rd: Diego Botin / Florian Trittel Paul (ESP) 6 1 7 3 (25) 8 7 2 3 18 4 - 60 pts

4th: Logan Dunning Beck / Oscar Gunn (NZL) 9 7 9 6 6 1 (16) 1 6 12 8 - 65 pts 5th: Isaac McHardie / William McKenzie (NZL) (22) 5 4 22 9 8 3 1 11 6 3 - 72 pts 48th: Sam Bacon / Henry Gautrey (NZL) 13 20 30 26 24 24 (UFD) 27 11 19 8 - 202 pts

49erFX (36 boats)

1st: Odile van Aanholt / Annette Duetz (NED) 2 1 1 3 2 5 9 (29) 24 4 2 3 - 56 pts 2nd: Vilma Bobeck / Rebecca Netzler (SWE) 5 3 2 7 1 3 5 (31) 18 1 14 2 - 61 pts 3rd: Freya Black / Saskia Tidey (GBR) 20 13 11 1 (21) 6 10 3 5 10 1 9 - 89 pts

6th: Alex Maloney / Olivia Hobbs (NZL) 10 (26) 13 4 7 9 6 8 7 9 18 17 - 108 pts 10th: Jo Aleh / Molly Meech (NZL) 9 20 8 8 3 10 26 (32) 4 5 19 10 - 122 pts

Nacra 17 (34 boats)

1st: Ruggero Tita / Caterina Banti (ITA) 1 1 1 1 1 1 (20) 1 1 1 1 1 - 11 pts 2nd: Gianluigi Ugolini / Maria Giubilei (ITA) 3 3 9 4 2 2 11 5 (18) 2 5 3 - 48 pts 3rd: Sinem Kurtbay / Akseli Keskinen (FIN) 5 2 3 (14) 7 6 4 10 9 7 2 6 - 61 pts

6th: Micah Wilkinson / Erica Dawson (NZL) 7 8 2 9 8 11 2 3 (17) 5 16 8 - 79 pts

Full results 49er.org/event/2022-world-championship/#49erresults