Olympic Test Event: Kiwis Make Waves On 'Pretty Wild' Day

After two days of dinghy and kite racing, the rest of the New Zealand sailing team announced their arrival at the Olympic test event in Marseille with a string of stellar performances in the skiff, multihull and windfoil classes.

Seven Kiwis are among the top 10 in their respective fleets after day 3 of the regatta, with Micah Wilkinson and Erica Dawson (Nacra 17), Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie (49er), and Veerle ten Have (women’s windfoil) all impressing in their first outings in the south of France.

George Gautrey last night also claimed a first Kiwi race win of the week to have the leaders in the ILCA 7 (Laser) fleet firmly in his sights.

"Pretty wild" conditions couldn’t slow down Wilkinson and Dawson, who started with two third places before a seventh to be third overall.

It's been a mixed season for the Olympic pair with a bronze at the Lanzarote International Regatta in February followed by a 15th at the Princess Sofia Regatta in Palma in early April and a 10th at the Hyères World Cup a fortnight later.

They showed excellent consistency overnight, however, to be within reach of German leaders Paul Kohlhoff and Alica Stuhlemmer.

"It’s great to be underway here after what has been a decent lead-in for us," Wilkinson said.

"It was a long first day with the breeze all over the place and plenty of delays. We got one race away and then sat around for a few hours waiting for it to stabilise."

Unpredictable conditions have been a feature of the competition which serves as a dry run for next year's Games with sailing at the same venue.

"The first two [races] were pretty solid and then the last one got quite windy, quite unexpectedly," Wilkinson said.

"We didn't quite nail the start and just didn't quite get the boat stable on the first beat. But, overall, our pace was good and we’re feeling good in the boat. We’re on the board and ready to roll into another big day tomorrow."

For McHardie and McKenzie, their first races were as much about taming the breeze as it was about getting on top of a quality fleet.

"The racecourse was extremely tricky," McKenzie said. "We had our course area basically in the lee of a huge mountain and had breeze coming left and right, either side, up to about 60 degrees and wind ranging from zero to 18 knots."

The pair, bronze medallists in Palma, recovered with scores of 3 and 4 after finishing 14th when getting on the wrong side of a shift early in their opening race.

They’re tied on seven points with two other teams, and only three points adrift of leading Croatian crew Sime and Mihovil Fantela.

Also back at the sharp end of her fleet is ten Have, who has shaken off a tough European championship in Greece in May to sit third overall in Marseille.

She punched in top-six results in all four slalom races and she was especially pleased with her starts and speed.

"My build-up to this regatta has been slightly different than normal with very specific sessions with my training partner and a bit more R&R at home after Greece. I have a positive mindset with an awesome team around me," ten Have said.

"We are here to learn as much as we can about the Olympic venue, so that is the main priority."

Meanwhile, Gautrey continued his ascent up the ILCA 7 leaderboard, bagging New Zealand's first race win with a “bullet” in the first completed race of the day.

Gautrey is now sixth overall and on course for the all-important medal race after narrowing the gap between himself and Britain's Michael Beckett atop the standings to 15 points.

"We got some pretty wild conditions again today with our first race abandoned halfway down the last run with me in second," he said.

"To back it up and get a bullet was nice – to show that when I get into it, I can really pull away.

"I’m looking forward to a day off tomorrow and then another two days of trying to push up toward the medals and give those guys a bit of grief."

Justina Kitchen is also firmly in podium contention, with two top-10s moving her up to ninth on the women’s kitefoil standings.

Results and standings from day 3 of the Olympic test event in Marseille:
49er (29 boats)
1st: Sime Fantela/Mihovil Fantela (Cro) 1 3 (15) - 4 points
2nd: Bart Lambriex/Floris Van De Werken (Ned) 5 (19) 2 - 7 pts
3rd: Sebastien Schneiter/Arno De Planta (Sui) (6) 2 5 - 7 pts
4th: Isaac McHardie/William McKenzie (NZ) (14) 4 3 - 7 pts

49er FX (23 boats)
1st: Vilma Bobeck/Rebecca Netzler (Swe) (13) 1 1 - 2 pts
2nd: Martine Grael/Kahena Kunze (Bra) (24UFD) 3 2 - 5 pts
3rd: Stephanie Roble/Maggie Shea (USA) 1 5 (15) - 6 pts
11th: Jo Aleh/Molly Meech (NZ) 11 (22) 7 - 18 pts

Nacra 17 (18 boats)
1st: Paul Kohlhoff/Alica Stuhlemmer (Ger) 1 1 (2) - 2 pts
2nd: Sinem Kurtbay/Akseli Keskinen (Fin) (7) 2 1 - 3 pts
3rd: Micah Wilkinson/Erica Dawson (NZ) 3 3 (7) - 6 pts

ILCA 7 (42 boats)
1st: Michael Beckett (GBR) 2 5 2 4 (7) 1 - 14 pts
2nd: Jean Baptiste Bernaz (Fra) (11) 8 1 2 2 6 - 19 pts
3rd: Matt Wearn (Aus) 1 7 5 (10) 5 2 - 20 pts
6th: George Gautrey (NZ) (15) 9 12 3 1 4 - 29 pts

ILCA 6 (38 boats)
1st: Marit Bouwmeester (Ned) 2 2 11 (12) 2 7 - 24 pts
2nd: Maud Jayet (Sui) 6 4 4 (14) 5 5 - 24 pts
3rd: Chiara Benini Floriani (Ita) 1 9 (15) 5 10 2 - 27 pts
24th: Olivia Christie (NZ) (36) 30 8 18 23 20 - 99 pts

Men's windfoil (24 boards)
1st: Nicolas Goyard (Fra) (12) 2 1 1 - 4 pts
2nd: Nicolo Renna (Ita) 1 1 (9) 4 - 6 pts
3rd: Noah Lyons (USA) (25BFD) 5 5 3 - 13 pts
18th: Josh Armit (NZ) 8 19 (21) 17 - 44 pts

Women's windfoil (23 boards)
1st: Emma Wilson (GBR) (3) 1 1 1 - 3 pts
2nd: Pilar Gonzalez De La Madrid Tru (Esp) 1 2 (13) 3 - 6 pts
3rd: Veerle ten Have (NZ) (6) 3 5 2 - 10 pts

Men's kitefoil (20 boards)
1st: Axel Mazella (Fra) 1 (5) (2RDG) 1 2 2 1 2 2 - 11 pts
2nd: Connor Bainbridge (GBR) 2 (4) 3 (16) 4 3 4 3 1 - 20 pts
3rd: Maximilian Maeder (SGP) (14) 1 (16) 3 3 5 2 1 10 - 25 pts
16th: Lukas Walton-Keim (NZ) (17) 14 13 13 (17) 14 14 11 14 - 93 pts

Women's kitefoil (20 boards)
1st: Lauriane Nolot (Fra) 2 1 (7) 1 1 (4) 1 1 - 7 pts
2nd: Daniela Moroz (USA) (12) 5 3 3 2 1 (9) 2 - 16 pts
3rd: Eleanor Aldridge (GBR) 1 2 (11) 2 4 (9) 3 6 - 18 pts
9th: Justina Kitchen (NZ) 6 9 (15) (10) 8 7 10 10 - 50 pts
 

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