Three Kiwis In Top 10 At Palma World Cup

New Zealand's first foray into the international sailing scene for some time has finished with three top-10 results after the final day of the Princess Sofia Regatta in Palma.

For many in the 20-strong Kiwi contingent, this was their first international regatta for two years so the biggest thing was to not only check in with the international fleet to see how they stack up but also get back into high-quality racing.

Tom Saunders was the best placed of the Kiwis, finishing fifth overall in the ILCA 7 (Laser) after a sixth place in today's top 10 medal race and Micah Wilkinson and Erica Dawson were second in the Nacra 17 medal race to finish sixth overall.

One of the bright spots of the week has been the performance of Veerle ten Have in the women's iQFoil class and she picked up two races wins and a handful of top-five results in her first ever international windfoiling event.

The iQFoil run a different format on medal race day to more traditional Olympic classes, with the top qualifier moving directly through to a three-person final, the second best sailor qualifying for the semfinals and the rest in the top 10 then battling it out in a one-off race for the remaining two spots in the semifinal.

Ten Have was fourth in that race, which meant she finished seventh overall.

"It was the coolest race by far that I have ever done because all of the girls were so close the entire time," the 21-year-old said. "Over those 10 minutes or so we were all within 10m-20m of each other battling it out. It was super intense.

"This regatta was really just to check in [with the international fleet]. The fact I have come through in that top bunch is really confidence boosting for the next couple of regattas and the next couple of years. I know I have all the tools to make me the best, which gives me that confidence."

Wilkinson and Dawson also know they're not too far off in the Nacra 17, although no one was able to match the Italian pair of Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti who won nine of the 13 races to finish a mammoth 36 points ahead of the next best crew.

Wilkinson and Dawson were second in today's medal race - behind the Italians - to round out the regatta in sixth.

"It was a pretty cool way to finish the regatta," Wilkinson said. "You're never happy with sixth but it's a good way to start the Olympic cycle.

"We have spent the summer training alone so to come back into the fleet and be competitive is exciting. We know we have a lot of potential and a lot more speed to find now we are mixing and mingling with everyone in Europe."

Wilkinson and Dawson, like everyone else in the 20-strong Kiwi contingent who competed in Palma, will remain in Europe and race at the next World Cup regatta in Hyeres at the end of the month. Their main target will be racing well at the various class world championships, which are mostly in the second half of the year.

One exception is the ILCA 7 class and Saunders will be defending his world title in Mexico next month. He was reasonably satisfied with his week in Palma and his fifth placing overall.

"It was a very shifty medal race for us, as we should expect these days," he said. "I just slightly misjudged the first shift and that was game over. The fleet was well spread from there, unfortunately.

"However, I'm happy to grind out fifth place for my first event this year in some very windy conditions. I have to thank [coach] Dan Slater who has been with me the last few weeks. We've made some good steps forward to becoming a more rounded sailor but I still have some areas I need to improve which was highlighted this week."

Results and final standings after day 6 of the Princess Sofia Regatta in Palma:

ILCA 7 (165 boats)

1st: Michael Beckett (GBR) 2 1 1 2 12 13 (14) 2 1 3 14 - 51 points
2nd: Matt Wearn (AUS) (56 DNC) 26 2 1 2 2 3 12 6 1 2 - 57 pts
3rd: Phillip Buhl (GER) 1 2 7 2 21 1 1 (23) 11 2 20 - 68 pts

5th: Tom Saunders (NZL) 4 10 3 5 9 19 15 (36) 2 6 12 - 85 pts
51st: George Gautrey (NZL) 17 (56 DNF) 1 2 41 49 56 UFD 26 44 37 - 273 pts
92nd: Luke Deegan (NZL) 33 28 36 26 15 39 19 28 (46) 34 - 258 pts
95th: Luke Cashmore (NZL) 29 27 36 33 11 (42) 33 34 35 29 - 267 pts

ILCA 6 (89 boats)

1st: Sarah Douglas (CAN) 2 - 2 1 1 1 (46 UFD) 2 1 1 6 1 12 - 28 pts
2nd: Hannah Snellgrove (GBR) 3 (9) 6 6 7 1 3 5 3 7 18 - 59 pts
3rd: Vaeileia Karachaliou (GRE) 7 5 2 4 3 8 4 4 4 (34) 20 - 62 pts

40th: Olivia Christie (NZL) 10 24 22 23 33 24 20 42 44 28 - 226 pts

Men's iQFoil (111 boards)

1st: Andrew Brown (GBR) 4 2 1 (6) 1 1 3 (7) 1 1 1 1 4 9 2 (16) 3 6 6 1 - 37 pts
2nd: Nicolo Renna (ITA) 3 (7) 3 2 3 3 2 (10) 1 1 4 6 (48) 3 15 1 7 2 (26) 2 - 56 pts
3rd: Luuc van Opzeeland (NED) 1 (8) (14) 5 0.5 0.5 3 2 3 7 3 4 1 (52 UFD) 1 9 1 1 (14) 3 - 42 pts

24th: Josh Armit (NZL) 13 (27) 17 17 9 9 10 22 9 (35 BFD) 31 26 21 (39) 28 23 15 9 2 - 239 pts
53rd: Thomas Crook (NZL) 7 (52 DNF) 29 18 (STP 51) NSC 51 NSC 24 8 1 15 1 4 5 4 4 (51) 11 1 (24) - 183 pts
61st: Eli Liefting (NZL) 30 35 (52 DNC) (52 DNC) 13.5 13.5 29 24 3 7 15 15 21 12 10 (51) 8 5 (51 DNC) - 241 pts
89th: Antonio Cozzolino (NZL) (52 DNC) (52 DNC) 22 52 DNC 51 DNC 51 DNC 52 DNC 52 DNC 35 DNC 35 DNC (51 DNC) 10 (51 DNC) 51 DNC 51 DNC 16 3 10 51 DNC - 544 pts

Women's iQFoil (74 boards)

1st: Helene Noesmoen (FRA) (17) 1 2 1 1 1 14 2 1 5 1 4 3 (27) (18) 3 4 13 2 1 - 58 pts
2nd: Pilar Lamadrid Trueba (ESP) 1 2 (13) 4 6 6 (15) 7 11 3 1 1 1 (75 BFD) 13 2 6 11.1 5 2 - 80.1
3rd: Maja Dziarnowska (POL) 12 (14) 9 (22) 8 8 5 (23) 9 9 3 12 14 2 10 8 7 7 8 3 - 131 pts

7th: Veerle ten Have (NZL) (21) 16 10 13 3 3 10 (46) 7 13 1 (21) 11 7 2 4 2 3 1 6 - 106 pts
52nd: Brianna Orams (NZL) (75 DNF) 59 54 55 40 40 (75 DNC) (75 DNC) 23 23 25 54 51 43 21 34 40 49 47 - 658 pts

49er (76 boats)

1st: Erwan Fischer / Clemen Pequin (FRA) 1 1 1 (14) 2 8 1 13 5 1 4 1 12 - 50 pts
2nd: Ian Barrows / Hans Henken (USA) 1 10 6 2 (13) 1 5 3 4 6 5 6 4 - 53 pts
3rd: Mikolai Staniul / Jakub Sztorch (POL) 1 12 (13) 3 4 3 6 1 1 10 6 13 14 - 74 pts

16th: Logan Dunning Beck / Oscar Gunn (NZL) 10 2 9 12 6 (18) 5 8 20 22 4 - 119 pts
27th: Isaac McHardie / William McKenzie (NZL) (27 DNC) 4 2 11 37 DSQ 1 15 7 3 9 4 2 - 85 pts
48th: Sam Bacon / Henry Gautrey (NZL) (27 DNC) 16 21 14 10 17 12 24 5 10 27 DNC 22 - 178 pts

49erFX (56 boats)

1st: Odile van Aanholt / Anette Duetz (NED) 4 1 2 (19) 2 1 1 3 14 1 6 4 12 - 51 pts
2nd: Martine Grael / Kahena Kunze (BRA) 2 1 6 15 1 9 15 2 1 4 (26 UFD) 3 2 - 61 pts
3rd: Jana Germani / Giorgia Bertuzzi (ITA) 16 3 4 (18) 3 6 5 5 2 17 2 2 4 - 69 pts

21st: Alex Maloney / Olivia Hobbs (NZL) 14 7 8 21 8 (22) 9 19 12 20 20 12 - 150 pts

Nacra 17 (38 boats)

1st: Ruggero Tita / Caterina Banti (ITA) 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 (3) 2 - 16 pts
2nd: Sinem Kurtbay / Akseli Keskinen (FIN) 3 2 2 (7) 7 3 5 4 4 3 3 2 14 - 52 pts
3rd: John Gimson / Anna Burnett (GBR) 5 8 9 1 2 2 6 1 3 6 (12) 1 12 - 56 pts

6th: Micah Wilkinson / Erica Dawson (NZL) 6 13 6 13 9 (15) 2 5 2 10 4 6 4 - 80 pts

Full results

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