NZL Sailing Team: Allianz Sailing Worlds - Kiwis close in on more Paris2024 spots

NZL Sailing Team: Allianz Sailing Worlds - Kiwis close in on more Paris2024 spots - Day 7

by Eduan Roos/Yachting New Zealand 17 Aug 2023 18:02 PDT 17 August 2023

George Gautrey - NZL - ILCA 7- Day 7, 2023 Allianz Sailing World Championships, The Hague, August 17, 2023 © Sailing Energy / World Sailing

A second race win in The Hague has pushed George Gautrey into medal territory with three races to go in the ILCA 7 (Laser) competition at the Allianz Sailing World Championships.

The event which has attracted 1400 sailors is the first Qualification event for the Paris2024 Olympic Sailing Regatta.

The 25-year-old broke into the top three last night - the first Kiwi sailor in any of the 10 classes to do so this week - with a comfortable victory in the first of two races on day 7 to follow up his bullet in the final race of day 6.

"I had a good start and just used my pace to get clear of the fleet,” Gautrey said.

Eli Liefting - NZL - iQFoil - Day 7, 2023 Allianz Sailing World Championships, The Hague, August 17, 2023 - photo © Sailing Energy / World Sailing

“Gold-fleet racing in the Lasers is just hectic – there’s so much going on and it can be carnage at the top mark, so it was good to be out in front of that. Luckily, I managed to stay out in front and not do anything too stupid.”

Gautrey is on 56 points – 21 points behind Australia’s Matt Wearn and 32 behind Michael Beckett of Britain.

Pavlos Kontides (59) and Jean Baptiste Bernaz (60) is breathing down the Kiwi’s neck.

The margin between Gautrey and reigning Olympic champion Wearn could have been smaller, but for a costly tactical error that saw him finish 26th in the second race.

“I had another cracking start and three-quarters of the first beat but I tried to be a little more conservative in the middle of the course and just got absolutely punished coming into the top [mark],” Gautrey said.

Thomas Saunders - NZL - ILCA 7- Day 7, 2023 Allianz Sailing World Championships, The Hague, August 17, 2023 - photo © Sailing Energy / World Sailing

“It’s a shame not to tick off another good one there, but I'm still in the running, and I’ve just got to give it a good punch tomorrow.”

With two gold-fleet races remaining ahead of Sunday’s double-points medal race, Gautrey has an opportunity to haul in the competition leaders.

“There’s a lot of points still on the table and I’ll be looking to make my way up toward the front a bit more and close that gap to Mickey and Matty.”

Fellow Kiwi Tom Saunders (10th overall, 101 points) is on track for a spot in the medal race, too, meaning New Zealand is likely to obtain one of the Olympic qualification places on offer in the class.

NZL points situation - Nacra 17 - Day 7, 2023 Allianz Sailing World Championships, The Hague, August 17, 2023 - photo © Sailing Energy / World Sailing

Earlier, Micah Wilkinson and Erica Dawson concluded their campaign in the Nacra 17 in eighth place after also finishing eighth in the medal race.

It is their best top-level result since winning bronze at the Lanzarote international regatta in February.

Also primed for a podium push and an automatic entry for the country in the men's windfoil at next year’s Games, is Josh Armit.

The 21-year-old has been steady, if not spectacular, in difficult conditions all week and last night continued to inch his way up the fleet.

Erica Dawson posts their points situation - NZL - Nacra 17- Day 7, 2023 Allianz Sailing World Championships, The Hague, August 17, 2023 - photo © Sailing Energy / World Sailing

He is now eighth overall with five qualifying races remaining and would likely need to take the longer route to silverware – through a quarterfinal and semifinal knockout.

"Josh did just enough to keep him up there, ahead of what will be another big day tomorrow,” said coach Nathan Handley.

“We've got five races tomorrow, and with the unique finals format in our class anything can happen, provided he stays in that top ten.”

Veerle ten Have is 22nd in the women’s event and will need something special to book her spot in the 10-board shootout in what is expected to be lighter conditions on the final day.

Josh Armit - NZL - iQFoil - Day 7, 2023 Allianz Sailing World Championships, The Hague, August 17, 2023 - photo © Sailing Energy / World Sailing

Justina Kitchen is 24th in the gold fleet of the women's kitefoil, while Lukas Walton-Keim narrowly missed the cut-off and has to complete the rest of the men's competition in the silver fleet.

Isaac McHardie and Will McKenzie will line up in the 49er medal race in sixth place overall tonight (NZ time) after a dramatic last day of qualifying saw them effectively forfeit their chance of a medal at the world champs.

Jo Aleh and Molly Meech start their final 49erFX race in the same position.

George Gautrey - NZL - ILCA 7- Day 7, 2023 Allianz Sailing World Championships, The Hague, August 17, 2023 - photo © Sailing Energy / World Sailing

Results and standings from Day 7 at the 2023 Sailing World Championships in The Hague.

49er (83 boats)
1st: Bart Lambriex/Floris Van De Werken (Ned) 1 4 5 2 1 1 3 5 2 10 (13) 6 1 1 3 - 45 points
2nd: Diego Botin/Florian Trittel (Esp) 1 1 5 3 8RDG 2.8RDG 1 1 2 8 12 7 4 (26BFD) 16 - 71.8 pts
3rd: Sebastien Schneiter/Arno De Planta (Sui) 3 4 3 9 7 5 2 1 6 (25) 9 4 12 5 5 - 75 pts
6th: Isaac McHardie/Will McKenzie (NZ) 2 (15) 8 7 2 6 6 6 4 2 7 10 (26RET) 9 13 - 97 pts
23rd: Logan Dunning Beck/Oscar Gunn (NZ) 2 (29UFD) 12 10 2 1 4 17 3 20 14 20 14 19 22 - 160 pts
41st: Campbell Stanton/William Shapland (NZ) 16 5 (26) 16 10 20 22 14 13 18 2 14 13 16 14 - 193 pts
81st: Sam Bacon/Cailen Rochford (NZ) 12 29UFD 18 16 15 7 29DNC 29DNC 29DNC (30DNC) 30DNC 30 DNC 30DNC 30DNC - 304 pts

49erFX (59 boats)
1st: Vilma Bobeck/Rebecca Netzler (Swe) 2 3 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 2 3 19 (26BFD) 1 9 - 48 pts
2nd: Odile Van Aanholt/Annette Duetz (Ned) 3 10 7 1 10 (30DSQ) 1 1 8 7 11 9 2 2 12 - 84 pts
3rd: Olivia Price/Evie Haseldine (Aus) 1 4 2 3 2 5 3 10 9 3 12 (23) 4 10 20 - 88 pts
6th: Jo Aleh/Molly Meech (NZ) 4 7 3 13 5 2 12 1 10 15 10 11 6 (18) 7 - 106 pts
49th: Courtney Reynolds-Smith/Brianna Reynolds-Smith (NZ) 21 14 25 24 23 22 23 28 22 23 24 19 25 (30) - 293 pts

Nacra 17 mixed (49 boats)
1st: Ruggero Tita/Caterina Banti (Ita) 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 9 (12) 5 1 1 3 2 - 31 pts
2nd: John Gimson/Anna Burnet (GBR) 3 2 2 3 3 1 3 5 5 1 (20) 4 3 6 4 12 - 57 pts
3rd: Emil Jarudd/Hanna Jonsson (Swe) 2 7 3 4 6 4 6 1 (17) 2 7 1 7 5 7 4 - 66 pts
8th: Micah Wilkinson/Erica Dawson (NZ) 5 (26UFD) 7 3 2 5 3 4 4 7 6 11 8 10 2 16 - 93 pts

470 mixed (64 boats)
1st: Keiju Okada/Miho Yoshioka (Jpn) 1 4 1 6 3 2 5 1 (24) 3 14 10 - 50 pts
2nd: Jordi Xammar Hernandez/Nora Brugman Cabot (Esp) 7 13 4 4 15 5 (20) 4 3 8 15 8 - 86 pts
3rd: Tetsuya Isozaki/Yurie Seki (Jpn) 6 8 12 1 2 11 6 13 14 (21) 12 6 - 91 pts
53rd: Derek Scott/Rebecca Hume (NZ) 27 28 27 21 23 17 7 6 (32UFD) 14 22 - 192 pts
57th: Brittany Wornall/Sam Street (NZ) 29 24 12 19 26 (32UFD) 32RET 30 22 7 24 - 225 pts
60th: Annabelle Rennie-Younger/Blake McGlashan (NZ) 26 32 (33RET) 25 24 12 24 31 15 13 27 - 229 pts

ILCA 7 (138 boats)
1st: Michael Beckett (GBR) 3 1 3 2 (70BFD) 2 5 8 - 24 pts
2nd: Matt Wearn (Aus) (11) 11 6 5 1 3 2 7 - 35 pts
3rd: George Gautrey (NZ) 15 16 3 4 16 1 1 (26) - 56 pts
10th: Tom Saunders (NZ) 10 13 21 3 17 30 7 (34) - 101 pts
89th: Luke Deegan (NZ) 43 23 (50) 30 7 34 25 45 - 207 pts
108th: Caleb Armit (NZ) 39 (56) 51 22 36STP 35 43 37 - 263 pts

ILCA 6 (109 boats)
1st: Emma Plasschaert (Bel) 7 11 (30) 2 2 3 15 2 - 42 pts
2nd: Maria Erdi (Hun) 5 1 3 7 17 4 (22) 6 - 43 pts
3rd: Maud Jayet (Sui) 21 15 (43) 1 1 2 2 7 - 49 pts
70th: Olivia Christie (NZ) 19 43 17 (55) 14 29 22 10 - 154 pts
74th: Greta Pilkington (NZ) 23 (45) 30 14 22 36 32 11 - 168 pts

Men's windfoil (93 boards)
1st: Nicolo Renna (Ita) (15) 3 3 5 (9) 5 1 1 1 1 (11) 4 3 1 - 28 pts
2nd: Sebastian Kordel (Ger) 9.3RDG 3 1 1 4 (31) (27) 1 1 3 6 3 (19) 7 - 39.3 pts
3rd: Luuc Van Opzeeland (Ned) 1 5 1 3 (6) 1 3 (21) 5 2 (12) 6 9 4 - 40 pts
8th: Josh Armit (NZ) 7 (19) 9 (31) 6 9 7 3 3 16 (17) 2 17 10 - 89 pts
34th: Eli Liefting (NZ) (51BFD) 11 (27) 15 17 19 21 9 13 27 (38) 23 27 30 - 212 pts
35th: Thomas Crook (NZ) 15 9 21 (51BFD) 18 22.7RDG (35) 17 11 28 (45) 39 12 20 - 212.7 pts
59th: Patrick Haybittle (NZ) (51BFD) 15 (39) 33 31 39 31 23 23 3 1 5 6 (21) - 210 pts

Women's windfoil (88 boards)
1st: Emma Wilson (GBR) 4 3 2 1 2 (7) (7) 1 3 (10) 1 1 3 6 - 27 pts
2nd: Shahar Tibi (Isr) 3 (10) 1 8 5 3 (11) 1 1 (15) 4 5 6 1 - 38 pts
3rd: Katy Spychakov (Isr) 5 2 5 3 (19) 5 (47BFD) 1 7 (28) 7 2 1 2 - 40 pts
22nd: Veerle ten Have (NZ) (25) 18 10 17 8 9 (47BFD) 9 11 21 13 4 26 (37) - 146 pts
66th: Aimee Bright (NZ) 25 25 22 (38) 16 29 15 (39) 33 (36) 22 34 29 14 - 264 pts
82nd: Stella Bilger (NZ) 30 (40) 36 33 (39) 39 33 35 37 (39) 38 24 35 36 - 376 pts

Men's kitefoil (84 boards)
1st: Toni Vodisek (Slo) 1 1 1 3 (4) 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 (11) 4 (17) 3 - 22 pts
2nd: Maximilian Maeder (SGP) 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 2 4 (8) 2 (9) 3 (7) 2 - 23 pts
3rd: Riccardo Pianosi (Ita) 1 4 2 1 (5) 4 4 3 5 3 3 (7) 7 (12) 5 1 - 43 pts
28th: Lukas Walton-Keim (NZ) 9 5 7 (15) 4 10 12 10 (29DNF) (13) 13 11 6 10 2 - 99 pts

Women's kitefoil (53 boards)
1st: Lauriane Nolot (Fra) (7) 1 1 2 (28DNC) 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 (4) 4 1 1 - 18 pts
2nd: Eleanor Aldridge (GBR) (13) (28DNF) 2 2 2 1 2 1 1 2 1 3 2 2 3 (7) - 24 pts
3rd: Lily Young (GBR) (28DNF) 2 2 1 2 (28DSQ) 2 3 (28UFD) 6 2 4 9 9 5 2 - 49 pts
24th: Justina Kitchen (NZ) 4 11 (28RET) 10 8 14 8 9 (17) 7 9 11 20 (21) 20 21 - 152 pts