NZL Sailing Team at ISAF Worlds

Yachting New Zealand
MEDIA RELEASE

18 SEP 2014

NZL Sailing Team at ISAF Worlds: Burling and Tuke out in front

Big breeze was the order of the day at the 2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships on in Santander, Spain and it suited Peter Burling and Blair Tuke who continue the lead in the 49er.

Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie only sailed one race, but did enough to climb to 5th and Sam Meech has secured a spot in the Laser medal race for tomorrow.

49er
Peter Burling and Blair Tuke remain out in front in the 49er fleet consolidating on their day one lead with another bullet and a 4th today. They have ten points on Jonas Warrer and Anders Thomsen of Denmark in 2nd place, however it’s still early in the regatta for the skiffs considering they pack in plenty of races.

Blair Tuke says, “We had another two good races today, finishing off the qualifying series of the regatta with five good scores.”

“The first race of the day for us was especially good, coming from 14th place at the first windward mark to take the win.”

“Looking forward to Gold fleet racing now with the top 25 boats.”

Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski are also sailing well and are lying 8th overall; they were 14th, 10th and 6th in their races today. Logan Dunning-Beck and Jack Simpson couldn’t repeat their opening form, but are still well within the gold fleet in 16th on the leader board.

49erFX
Limited racing took place for the 49erFX women today in Santander with just catch up racing for the fleet that missed out yesterday. Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech are in 9th overall.

Women’s and Men’s 470
Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie have inched further towards the top of the women’s 470 leader board to hold 5thoverall at the end of today.

They sailed just one race today, finishing 5th. The defending champions have 18 points after five races and sit amidst a tight bunch on the board – the French pair in 2nd have 16 points, with the crews in 3rdand 4th both sharing 17 points with the kiwis just behind.

Lara Vadlau and Jolanta Ogar of Austria are showing terrific form and they lead with nine points after a bullet today.

In the Men’s 470 Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox didn’t race today and are in 22nd place.

Laser & Laser Radial
Sam Meech will represent New Zealand in tomorrow’s Laser medal race after a good result in today’s single Laser gold fleet race earns him a top ten spot. Three races were scheduled, however only one took place and the top ten are determined after eight races sailed over five days.

The Tauranga Yacht & Powerboat Club sailor placed 6th today shifting him up the board from 16th place into 10th by a narrow one point margin. Now assured of a top ten finish this will be Meech’s personal best at a Laser World Championships, his previous best result being a 13th in 2013.

New Zealand’s other three Laser campaigners have not made the medal race cut in Santander, Andy Maloney missing out after a 15th on the water today and finishing 14th overall.

“The Worlds have finished a day prematurely for me after failing to break into tomorrow's top ten medal race,” reports Maloney. “Today we had awesome 15-25 knots offshore breeze. That should have resulted in three great races, but unfortunately the race committee may have forgotten a big enough anchor! We sat out there waiting for a few hours watching the conditions pass us by.”

“I finished up 14th overall, time to take some learnings and move on.”

Thomas Saunders has wrapped up the regatta in 20th, while Mike Bullot finishes 31st in the 147-strong fleet of single-handed sailors.

New Zealand is among the 23 nations that have now secured a place for Rio 2016 Olympic Games in this event and can choose to send a representative in the Laser class.

In the Women’s single-handed event Sara Winther has come close to a medal race spot narrowly missing out after a 5th on the water today – her best race of the regatta. Just one point adrift of the sailor in 10thplace Winther, from the Takapuna Boating Club has finished in 12th overall.

She is well inside the top 19 nations in the Laser Radial and secures New Zealand a berth in this event for Rio 2016.

Men’s and Women’s RS:X
Better breeze on the RS:X course allowed for more racing for the windsurfers in Santander who have one day left in the schedule before Friday’s medal race. The change in conditions made an impact on the fleets with the extra puff suiting some sailors better.

Jon-Paul Tobin came out firing with a 3rd and a 4th in the day’s first two races, with a retirement showing for the third race of the day. He is lying 12th with ten points to make up to break into the top ten.
Meanwhile Natalia Kosinska is lying 21st in the women’s event after placing 17th, 24th and 19th in racing today. Three races are scheduled for both the men and the women tomorrow with the medals set to be determined on Friday in Santander.

Nacra multihull
No racing was possible for the Nacra multihull fleet again today – this time as a result of too much, and not too little wind. After three days of scheduled competition they’ve sailed just two races and will be hoping to get more favourable conditions on their assigned race area over the remainder of the series.

New Zealand’s Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders are lying 5th.

Finn
Playing catch-up the Finn fleet managed three races today, Josh Junior pulling out a 7th and two 8thplaces to move into 18th overall. Andrew Murdoch is not far behind in 21st with a 5th, 12th and 25th on the water today.

National qualification for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games is also on offer at the 2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships – read ISAF’s Qualification System for Rio 2016 for the details.

Tomorrow in Santander the Nacra multihull, 49er, 49erFX and Finn fleets will all get underway.

2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships, Santander, Spain
New Zealand’s Current Standings
Full results here

49er Skiff
1st Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (1, 4, 6, 1, 4)
8th Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski (1, 22, 14, 10, 6)
16th Logan Dunning-Beck and Jack Simpson (5, 8, 5, 18, 34)

49erFX Skiff
9th Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech (3, 8, 11)
19th Erica Dawson and Ellie Copeland (4, 22, 14)
Laser (Men’s single-handed dinghy / 150 boats)
10th Sam Meech (12, 6, 2, 43, 16, 13, 19, 6)
14th Andy Maloney (18, 10, 19, 4, 1, 16, 39, 15)
20th Thomas Saunders (11, 5, 22, 5, 23, 15, 31, 38)
31st Mike Bullot (23, 11, 4, 24, 4, 23, 38, DNF)
Laser Radial (Women’s single-handed dinghy / 120 boats)
12th Sara Winther (7, 19, 10, 13, 26, 19, 5)
51st Susannah Pyatt (18, 11, 36, 61, 11, 57, 49)
108th Ali Nightingale (19, 58, 58, 58)
Men’s RS:X Windsurfing / 100 sailors
12th Jon-Paul Tobin (9, 10, 9, 4, 24, 4, 3, DNF)
Women’s RS:X Windsurfing / 62 sailors
21st Natalia Kosinska (10, 5, 18, DSQ, 3, 17, 24, 19)
Women’s 470 (double-handed dinghy)
5th Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie (7, 5, 6, 2, 5)
Men’s 470 (double-handed dinghy)
22nd Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox (14, 4, 20)
Nacra 17 (mixed multihull)
5th Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders (12, 2)
Finn (men’s heavy-weight dinghy)
18th Josh Junior (12, 7, 8, 8)
21st Andrew Murdoch (9, 5, 12, 25)
Support and Coaching:
Jez Fanstone , Nathan Handley, Mark Howard, Dave Robertson, Ian Neely , John Cutler, Hamish Willcox, Will Howden, Peter Evans, Grant Beck, Louise Johnson, Rebecca van Weerd
Links
Regatta website
ISAF website
Yachting New Zealand website
NZL Sailing Team sailor profiles
NZL Sailing Team Facebook page

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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