NZL Sailing Team: McHardie, McKenzie in medal charge at SOF Hyères - Day 5

49er - Day 5 - NZL Sailing Team - Semaine Olympique Francais - April 28, 2023 © Sailing Energy

Three Kiwi boats will compete in two medal races at the French Olympic Week regatta, with teammates again going head-to-head for 49er silverware.

It comes after Isaac McHardie and Will McKenzie continued their steady climb up the leaderboard with a win and three top-10 finishes in four gold-fleet races against quality opposition and in fickle breeze in Hyères overnight.

"It was another tricky day. We had about 5kn to 6kn and some very, very tight racing," McHardie said.

"The top marks were compressed and at times it felt like the whole fleet would arrive at the top mark at the same time."

The pair qualified for the double-points medal race in sixth place and have been working on their starting tactics after being sluggish off the line earlier in the regatta.

"For us, today was all about a good start. After not getting off the line well yesterday we put ourselves to work and made sure we got off the line better today, which showed dividends."

McHardie says they have taken some lessons from the Princess Sofia Regatta in Palma de Mallorca three weeks ago when they started the medal race in first place but had to settle for bronze after finishing toward the back of the 10-boat fleet.

This time, they start on 86 points, six points behind second-placed Mikolaj Stanul and Jakub Sztorch from Poland and five off Ian Barrows and Hans Henken (US) in third - with Spain's Diego Botin and Florian Trittel (64 points) with one hand on the gold medal.

"We've qualified in sixth for the medal race, with plenty of points to still be gained. We're looking forward to getting out there and giving it heaps and seeing how it all goes."

49er - Day 5 - NZL Sailing Team - Semaine Olympique Francais - April 28, 2023 - photo © Sailing Energy

Lining up alongside them will be Logan Dunning Beck and Oscar Gunn, who start the medal race in eighth - nine points behind their teammates.

The pair, who leapfrogged McHardie and McKenzie to claim gold in Spain, have had similar struggles on the start line this week but remain a mathematical chance for a podium place.

Micah Wilkinson and Erica Dawson also booked their spot among the top 10 Nacra 17 boats by winning the first race of the day - their second of the regatta.

Britain's John Gimson and Anna Burnett have already secured the gold medal with a dominant display, but Dawson is encouraged by her and Wilkinson's progress after an error-laden start to the week.

"It's been a tricky light-air regatta for us, but we felt like the last couple of days we've got a bit faster, sorted out our boat speed and made some slightly better decisions," Dawson said.

"We're happy with how we started today - we had four out of four good starts - and then just tried to pick it up from there. We're excited to have just scraped into the medal race by the skin of our teeth, and we're looking forward to tomorrow."

Narrowly missing out on a shot at the medals are ILCA 7 (Laser) duo Tom Saunders and George Gautrey.

Former world champion Saunders, who was near the front of the fleet for much of the competition, finished 11th overall with scores of 26 and 38 in the final gold-fleet races, while Gautrey moved up to 14th with a 12 and 17 overnight.

"We had some pretty wild conditions in the gold fleet - I don't think we had a race much over 4.5kn, which makes for some interesting racing in the Lasers," said Gautrey, who won silver in Palma.

"Personally, I just felt that little bit off all week - which is a shame, but there is plenty to take away and to work on from both events."

Results and standings after Day 5 of the French Olympic Week regatta in Hyères:

49er (72 boats)
1st: Diego Botin/ Florian Trittel (Spa) 1 11 5 4 1 2 12 1 1 13 (RET25) 3 10 - 64 points
2nd: Mikolaj Stanul/Jakub Sztorch (Pol) 7 1 2 12 8 3 1 (15) 14 8 7 13 4 - 80 pts
3rd: Ian Barrows/Hans Henken (US) 1 3 3 4 6 16 4 19 (21) 3 10 11 1 - 81 pts
6th: Isaac McHardie/Will McKenzie (NZ) 5 15 9 1 5 11 (20) 16 2 10 1 6 5 - 86 pts
8th: Logan Dunning Beck/Oscar Gunn (NZ) 2 1 1 11 1 10 (19) 12 16 6 6 12 17 - 95 pts
42nd: Campbell Stanton/Will Shapland (NZ) 19 (DNC25) DNC25 3 3 21 18 14 4 6 15 - 128 pts
49th: Scott McKenzie/Blake McGlashan (NZ) 14 15 (DNC25) 16 17 10 1 DNC25 - 98 pts
53rd: Sam Morgan/Pat Morgan (NZ) 17 (DNF25) DNC25 22 3 13 8 DNC25 - 113 pts

49er FX (50 boats)
1st: Odile van Aanholt/Annette Duetz (Ned) 2 2 (9) 2 2 7 3 3 4 2 4 6 1 - 38 pts
2nd: Jana Germani/Giorgia Bertuzzi (Ita) 1 1 14 3 3 1 2 17 16 (24) 2 16 10 - 86 pts
3rd: Isaura Maenhaut/Anouk Geurts (Bel) (21) 7 10 9 4 10 13 5 2 20 14 2 2 - 98 pts
29th: Alex Maloney/Olivia Hobbs (NZ) 11 10 18 16 (23) 11 2 9 8 7 8 - 100 pts
34th: Jo Aleh/Molly Meech (NZ) 13 14 13 18 11 17 (24) 10 14 1 4 - 115 pts
45th: Courtney Reynolds-Smith/Brianna Reynolds-Smith (NZ) 22 (DNC26) 20 24 16 22 4 16 11 18 16 - 169 pts

ILCA 7 (155 boats)
1st: Michael Beckett (GBR) 3 3 5 3 1 4 (11) 3 4 3 - 29 pts
2nd: Elliot Hanson (GBR) 2 1 1 1 (18) 8 6 4 7 4 - 34 pts
3rd: Pavlos Kontides (Cyp) 16 4 4 2 3 6 1 1 2 (20) - 39 pts
11th: Tom Saunders (NZ) 5 1 7 3 15 1 5 32 26 (38) - 95 pts
14th: George Gautrey (NZ) 5 6 4 7 6 21 25 (31) 12 17 - 103 pts
73rd: Luke Cashmore (NZ) 30 14 16 25 34 (45) 28 19 - 166 pts
107th: Luke Deegan (NZ) 21 27 37 29 38 (44) 13 1 - 166 pts
125th: Caleb Armit (NZ) 46 31 19 34 34 (48) 27 26 - 217 pts

ILCA 6 (94 boats)
1st: Sarah Douglas (Can) 1 2 9 2 8 4 8 12 (23) 8 - 54 pts
2nd: Anne-Marie Rindom (Den) 4 13 4 (17) 8 5 2 6 8 7 - 57 pts
3rd: Casey Imeneo (Aus) 8 5 6 1 3 (38) 6 2 25 17 - 73 pts
60th: Olivia Christie (NZ) 22 18 23 34 33 33 (35) 2 - 165 pts

Nacra 17 Mixed (46 boats)
1st: John Gimson/Anna Burnet (GBR) 3 3 1 5 (7) 1 1 1 6 5 1 1 - 28 pts
2nd: Mateo Majdalani/Eugenia Bosco (Arg) 2 1 11 11 5 3 4 11 4 1 (13) 7 - 60 pts
3rd: Gianlugi Ugolini/Maria Giubilei (Ita) 7 5 2 (20) 1 15 5 4 10 3 11 2 - 65 pts
10th: Micah Wilkinson/Erica Dawson (NZ) 6 15 14 1 11 7 8 16 1 14 4 (17) - 97 pts

470 Mixed (64 boats)
1st: Jordi Xammar/Nora Brugman (Spa) 1 1 12 3 2 4 2 5 (29) 19 - 49 pts
2nd: Lara Vadlau/Lukas Mahr (Aut) 5 3 2 9 6 9 10 1 4 (UFD33) - 49 pts
3rd: Diogo Costa/ Carolina Joao (Por) 6 (14) 4 1 9 10 14 7 7 3 - 61 pts
57th: Brittany Wornall/Sam Street (NZ) 18 (DNC33) 30 19 17 26 25 21 22 23 - 201 pts

Kitefoil Women (50 boards)
1st: Lauriane Nolot (Fra) 3 1 (4) 2 1 1 1 2 1 2 (12) 11 3 (15) 5 1 - 34 pts
2nd: Ellie Aldridge (GBR) 3 2 1 (4) (5) 3 5 3 5 5 1 1 1 4 3 (18) - 37 pts
3rd: Jessie Kampman (Fra) 1 1 (2) 2 9 2 2 1 2 4 (19) 6 4 3 1 (DNC26) - 38 pts
28th: Justina Kitchen (NZ) (15) (12) 12 11 5 2 4 - 34 pts