NZL Olympic Sailing Finn Class Trial Underway

NZL Olympic Sailing Finn Class Trial Underway

Finn Class Trials for New Zealand's Olympic Spot begin - Peter Fox leads Clifton Webb and Dean Barker on day one.

Peter Fox had the start he would have hoped for today as he took the lead in day one of the first of two Olympic Trial regattas for the Finn Class.

Fox finished the day in 8th place 4 points ahead of Kiwi rival Clifton Webb and 9 points ahead of Dean Barker who lie in 13th and 14th respectively.

The Bay of Palma De Mallorca in Spain brought in 5-6knots breezes in the morning which increased to 9-10 knots in the afternoon for the first day of racing of the 35th HRH Princess Sofia Trophy regatta.

The combined results of this regatta and the Finn European Championships will determine which New Zealand Finn class sailor will be considered by Yachting New Zealand’s nomination panel for a crack at Olympic glory.

There are a number of New Zealand sailors also competing in other classes as build up to their Olympic trials or as part of their build up to the Games for those already nominated.

Sarah Macky who won the Auckland Trials and has been nominated in the Europe class lies 13th after 2 races.

In the Mens Laser, Olympic nominee Hamish Pepper finished the day with a 6th place in race 3, although earlier in the day he had a bad start with a 40th place in race one and lies 19th overall.

In the Womens 470, Shelley Hesson and Linda Dickson lie in 16th place and Melinda Henshaw and Jan Shearer are in 23rd place.

In the Womens keelboat, Yngling class, Sharon Ferris and her crew of Johanna White and Kylie Jamieson lie in 4th place with 28 points (5th, 10th and 13th) and Alesha Thorpe and her crew of Karen Lambert and Michelle Vinsen lie in 8th on 33 points. Alesha Thorpe and crew had the best result of the day with third in race one but picked up a 24th place in race 2 that Thorpe will no doubt hope to drop later in the regatta.

In the Tornado catamaran Aaron McIntosh and Mark Kennedy lie in 15th place.

Racing concludes on the 9th of April. ]

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