NZ Sailing World Champions continue to lead the way

Yachting New Zealand
MEDIA RELEASE
25 APR 2014

NZL Sailing Team Update: Our World Champions continue to lead the way

New Zealand continues to lead in the 49er and Women’s 470 at ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyeres Regatta where over 1100 of the world’s best Olympic campaigners are competing.

Kiwis also occupy second place in the 49erFX and the Laser, and third place in the 49er putting the NZL Sailing Team in good shape for the medal hunt. Day four has just concluded with two days of racing remaining.

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke have now amassed a 22-point lead over the fleet in the 49er skiff class after another three races were added to the score-card today. While Burling and Tuke’s results from the day – 9, 4, 9 – weren’t their best of the series, they were better than their rivals many of whom suffered from double-digit scores being added to their tally.

Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski also navigated the day well and have climbed into the top three as they progress into the penultimate day of the regatta. The young kiwi pair is just one point off second place held by Ireland’s Ryan Seaton and Mathew Mcgovern.

Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie retain their overall lead in the Women’s 470 class returning a 7th and a win on the water today, but with two crews just two points behind them on the leader-board the reigning world and Olympic champs are in easy reach. Britain’s Sophie Weguelin and Eilich McIntyre are in second and Anne Haeger and Briana Provancha of the USA share 20 points, while the kiwis lead on 18.

Jo Aleh reflects on the day and the regatta; “It was good to get some races in. It looked a bit suspect for a while with a delay and not much wind when we first got out but there were two good races. We stuffed up one of them but came through in the last one and it was good to get another win.”

“We came here to find things to work on and we’re finding lots. The thing with sailing is that you’re always learning and you’ve never learnt it all. There’s always something new and the conditions change and the fleet change. Every day we get a bit out of it.”

Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech have moved up into second place in the 49erFX class - the women’s skiff set to make its Olympic debut in 2016. The young kiwi pair, who are current world champions, have continued to improve through the opening four days in Hyeres and three single-digit scores from today follows the trend.

Brazil’s class act of Martine Soffiatti Grael and Kahena Kunze are out in the lead and lying 12 points clear of Maloney and Meech after day four, while the kiwis have nine points over third place.

In the Laser class Andy Maloney is making his mark in the fleet which includes over 120 sailors. Lying third at the outset of day four Maloney is now just one point off overall leader Tom Burton of Australia. In racing today the kiwi was 3rd then 8th and is just one of two sailors to have finished all nine races sailed in the top ten – the other being Burton.

Andy Maloney comments after racing, “I was pretty happy to come away with another top ten result and I go into tomorrow with a good score-line.”

“Hopefully we’ll get another couple of good ones tomorrow and push on to the medal race.”

Sam Meech has slipped into 12th after today and now has tomorrow to regain a top ten spot to qualify for Saturday’s medal race, while Thomas Saunders is lying 16th.

Over in the Finn class Josh Junior has slipped to sixth overall after a 30th and a 7th on the water today, still in good shape for a start in the Finn medal race. Team-mate Andrew Murdoch is now in 20th overall.

Natalia Kosinska will be looking for a great day tomorrow in the Women’s RS:X now lying 12th overall and in a position to challenge for a top ten spot.

Elsewhere Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders are lying 13th in the mixed multihull Nacra 17, Jon-Paul Tobin is in 19th in the Men’s RS:X, Sara Winther is in 18th in the Laser Radial and Men’s 470 pair Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox are in 24th.

Racing resumes in Hyeres tomorrow with another two days remaining. Medals will be decided on April 26th.

The schedule: ISAF Sailing World Cup – Hyères
21 - 22 April: Qualifying Rounds
23 - 25 April: Finals
26 April: Medal Race and Award Ceremony at 5 pm

ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyeres; New Zealand’s provisional standings after day four
Full results here

Women’s 470 (51 boats)
1stJo Aleh and Polly Powrie - NZL Sailing Team (1, 8, 3, 2, 2, 2, 7, 1)

Men’s 470 (81 boats)
24thPaul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox – NZL Sailing Team (4, 21, 16, 25, 13, 19, BFD, 15, 18)

49er (79 boats)
1stPeter Burling and Blair Tuke – NZL Sailing Team (16, 1, 1, 4, 5, 1, 2, 5, 9, 9, 4, 9)
3rdMarcus Hansen and Josh Porebski – NZL Sailing Team (5, 4, 16, 4, 1, 2, 4, 15, 7, 12, 16, 3)
55th Ben Goodwin and Sam Bullock (14, 16, 30, 33, 30, 30, 8, 9, 9, 10)

49erFX (42 boats)
2ndAlexandra Maloney and Molly Meech – NZL Sailing Team (2, 19, 3, 6, 8, 3, 6, 5, 1, 3, 9, 4)

Finn (59 boats)
6thJosh Junior – NZL Sailing Team (BFD, 4, 9, 7, 8, 2, 30, 7)
20thAndrew Murdoch – NZL Sailing Team (BFD, 27, 24, 15, 20, 9, 15, 22)

Laser (123 boats)
2ndAndy Maloney – NZL Sailing Team (8, 7, 1, 6, 3, 1, 3, 3, 8)
12thSam Meech – NZL Sailing Team (6, 2, 15, 5, 6, 9, 35, 11, 53)
16thThomas Saunders – NZL Sailing Team (14, 9, 32, 27, 10, 3, 1, 20, 29)
101st Andrew McKenzie (57, 51, 48, 33, 43, 40, 36, 34)

Women’s RS:X (58 windsurfers)
12thNatalia Kosinska – NZL Sailing Team (12, 1, 2, 7, 17, 8, 14, 13, 36, 12, 12, 6)

Men’s RS:X (91 windsurfers)
19th Jon-Paul Tobin (8, 9, 6, 12, 12, 6, 29, 26, 17, 35, 16, 2)

Nacra 17 (77 boats)
13thGemma Jones and Jason Saunders – NZL Sailing Team (14, 8, 5, 13, 14, 7, 13, 18, 7, 30, 5)
57th Rachel Basevi and Tomer Simhony (28, 30, 26, 26, 29, 25, 5, 39, 7, 21, 31, 26)
68th Vicky Francis and Geoff Woolley (32, 28, 24, 25, 34, 31, 16, 12, 22, 33, 32, 36)

Laser Radial (79 boats)
18th Sara Winther (6, 15, 13, 8, 8, 18, 20, 26, 16)
63rd Ali Nightingale – NZL Yachting Trust Youth Team (28, 22, 36, 29, 27, 22, 21, 17, 26)

Coaches and support: Nathan Handley, Mark Howard, Ian Neely, Dave Robertson, John Cutler, Hamish Willcox, Steve Erickson, Peter Evans and Will Howden

How to follow the NZL Sailing Team at ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyeres

Yachting New Zealand will issue a written media release daily updating you on the progress and standings of the New Zealand sailors; our daily updates will be published on yachtingnz.org.nz. And you can follow the NZL Sailing Team on Facebook.

For full results and extra information, head to the regatta website.

Event media will be providing high resolution images and tv quality footage and Yachting New Zealand can help media with access on request. Please contact Jodie Bakewell-White (details below).

Links

Regatta website
ISAF Sailing World Cup website
NZL Sailing Team sailor profiles
NZL Sailing Team on Facebook

About the NZL Sailing Team

The NZL Sailing Team includes New Zealand’s top Olympic campaigners who have made the top 20% in their most recent (respective) class World Championships or pinnacle event and have shown consistency of performance over the year including other significant Championships.

Yachting New Zealand’s High Performance Programme is focussed on winning medals at the Olympics in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.

NZL Sailing Team sailors all started out at grass roots yacht clubs around the country and with commitment, dedication and drive have risen to be world class athletes; they work hard in the gym, train long hours on the water and are supported by great coaches.

ENDS

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