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Isaac McHardie and Will McKenzie are firmly in the medal hunt ahead of the final day of the 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 European championships in Vilamoura, following a mixed day five for the Kiwi skiff crew which included a race win and a battle from the back of the fleet.
The New Zealanders briefly returned to the top of the 49er leaderboard after claiming their fourth bullet of the regatta but slid down to third overall with a 20th in their last outing in more very light conditions.
The pair were among the front of the pack at the top mark but dropped to last place in the 25-boat gold fleet before clawing back five places.
They remain within reach of leaders Lucas Rual and Emile Amoros of France, however, with one gold-fleet race to come before the double-points medal race.
"It's been a solid week and we're happy with how we're tracking," McHardie said.
"We've had a couple of high-scoring results in there, but it's been a super high-scoring regatta, so we're still in the mix, which is nice."
Will McKenzie in action on day five in Vilamoura. Photos / PROW Media
McHardie and McKenzie have been consistent all season, claiming top-six results in every international competition since March. However, they have only been on the podium once - when they won bronze at the Princess Sofia Regatta in Palma de Mallorca in April.
They identified their starts as a possible weakness and have spent the last few months in Auckland working hard at that area of their sailing.
"We had a good training block back at home with the wider NZL sailing team, working on our starting procedures," McHardie said.
"It's been good to see that paying off quite nicely here - managing to get some good starts, hold some good lanes, and use our speed to our advantage."
With the European championships also doubling as the first of two selection trials for next year's Paris Olympic Games, McHardie and McKenzie know a strong finish in Portugal will do their chances a lot of good.
"Tomorrow we've got one fleet race scheduled and then onto the medal race, so we'll be looking to put a solid result down in the morning and follow it up with a good medal race."
While McHardie and McKenzie have been near the top of the leaderboard all regatta, teammates Logan Dunning Beck and Oscar Gunn have had to work their way back into contention - from 43rd after a disappointing first day to 11th overnight following scores of 12, 11 and 7.
They are only seven points adrift of Swiss pair Sebastien Schneiter and Arno de Planta and could still secure a place in the top-10 showdown in the final gold fleet race.
The Morgan twins, Sam and Pat, locked in two top-10 results in the silver fleet to move up to 40th overall, with Seb Menzies and George Lee Rush in 42nd.
Jo Aleh and Molly Meech managed a second place in the silver fleet. Photos / PROW Media
Jo Aleh and Molly Meech remain 34th overall in the 49erFX competition, their impressive second in the day's penultimate silver-fleet race undone by a 31 in the last.
It was a similar story for Micah Wilkinson and Erica Dawson in the Nacra 17 fleet. They followed up their best result of the regatta – fourth in their first race – with their worst in their last outing of the day.
The pair still gained a spot on the overall leaderboard, though, moving up to fifth ahead of the final day.
Erica Dawson and Micah Wilkinson are fifth overall in the Nacra 17 fleet. Photos / PROW Media
Results and standings after day 5 of the 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 European championships in Vilamoura, Portugal.
49er fleet (91 boats)
1st: Lucas Rual/Emile Amoros (Fra) 3 2 11 (17) 10 9 2 4.3 2.3 5 8 2 - 68.6 points
2nd: Dominik Buksak/Szymon Wierzbicki (Pol) 6 5 6 5 4 12 3 4 (15) 11 3 10 - 69 pts
3rd: Isaac McHardie/Will McKenzie (NZ) 1 19 4 1 6 6 17 1 8 8 1 (20) - 72 pts
11th: Logan Dunning Beck/Oscar Gunn (NZ) 16 9 1 (17) 1 14 8 8 14 12 11 7 - 101 pts
40th: Sam Morgan/Pat Morgan (NZ) 9 20 22 18 13 11 (23) 20 6 4 - 123 pts
42nd: Seb Menzies/George Lee Rush (NZ) 3 23 17 23 7 20 13 (28) 15 5 - 126 pts
49erFX fleet (55 boats)
1st: Helene Naess/Marie Ronningen (Nor) 3 4 2 5 4 7 7 1 (24) 7 8 3 7 - 58 pts
2nd: Jana Germani/Giorgia Bertuzzi (Ita) 1 1 6 4 3 3 5 2 (20) 19 15 4 3 - 66 pts
3rd: Támara Echegoyen/Paula Barcelo (Esp) 12 5 6 1 1 4 12 (17) 7 2 13 5 12 - 80 pts
34th: Jo Aleh/Molly Meech (NZ) 22 23 10 8 9 21 6 21 17 2 (31) - 139 pts
Nacra 17 fleet (38 boats)
1st: John Gimson/Anna Burnet (GBR) 1 13 2 1 9 8 1 (14) 1 1 2 1 1 - 41 pts
2nd: Ruggero Tita/Caterina Banti (Ita) 6 (9) 3 6 1 1 6 1 4 8 3 2 8 - 49 pts
3rd: Gianluigi Ugolini/Maria Giubilei (Ita) 2 4 1 7 3 2 2 6 2 (14) 6 4 13 - 52 pts
5th: Micah Wilkinson/Erica Dawson (NZ) 10 8 5 5 15 12 10 10 19 15 4 5 (28) - 118
Full results here.
