Issue date
New Zealand's top two 49er crews will be on the hunt for medals in tomorrow's final day of the 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 world championships in Canada.
Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie are fourth, two points behind Spain's Diego Botin and Florian Trittel in third, with Logan Dunning Beck and Oscar Gunn a further 13 points behind in fifth.
The picture can still change significantly with one more gold fleet race before the top-10, double-points medal race. And what could make it even more complex is the fact the wind is forecast to switch around to the north again, potentially dishing up the sort of tricky offshore conditions that played havoc with the fleets on day three of the regatta.
"We’re excited for it," McKenzie said. "Third place is within reach at the moment so we are going to give it everything and see if we can find ourselves on the podium.
"A lot can still change. The one offshore day we've had in this regatta was incredibly shifty. You could go from first to last on one downwind and sometimes it was out of your control. We just have to sail the best race we can, not worry about any other boats except ourselves really and put it all on the line. It’s going to be tricky but we are ready for it."
McHardie and McKenzie banked three good scores, including a second in the final race, on a day when the right side of the course proved powerful. Dunning Beck and Gunn battled for most of the day, with a best result of 10th, but remain in touch thanks largely to having gone into the day with a reasonably low drop for their worst result.
"It was a tough day of racing for us," Gunn said. "We didn't quite manage to claw our way back through the fleet like some of the previous days.
"Having avoided a bad score earlier in the regatta, we have managed to stay in touch. With one race and a medal race tomorrow, we know we need to produce two very good races."
Three other New Zealand are likely to make their medal races at these world championships but all have slipped out of medal contention.
Micah Wilkinson and Erica Dawson struggled to find their groove in their three Nacra 17 races today and have dropped to eighth overall with one more fleet race and the medal race remaining. Italy's Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti have already secured the world title, having won an incredible 13 of the 15 races to date.
Alex Maloney and Olivia Hobbs (eighth overall) and Jo Aleh and Molly Meech (10th) will both be aiming to make the 49erFX medal race, which will represent a good return for the two new crews. Sandwiched between them are two-time Olympic champions Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze, illustrating the growing depth of the women's skiff.
"It’s a pretty deep fleet and everyone is so close," said Aleh, who returned to Olympic campaigning earlier this year after a five-year break. "We had a few good moments and a few mistakes and so we're adding to the list of what we need to work on, which is plenty. We can take a few good things away from the day, so we're pretty happy."
Results and standings after day 5 of the 49er, 49erFx and Nacra 17 World Championships in Nova Scotia:
49er (65 boats)
1st: Bart Lambriex / Floris van de Werken (NED) (12) 2 1 1 2 11 10 3 2 2 7 1 5 8 - 55 points
2nd: Sime Fantela / Mihovil Fantela (CRO) 3 2 1 5 17 7 (25) 12 1 1 5 21 3 1 - 79 pts
3rd: Diego Botin / Florian Trittel (ESP) 6 1 7 3 (25) 8 7 2 3 18 4 6 9 15 - 90 pts
4th: Isaac McHardie / William McKenzie (NZL) (22) 5 4 22 9 8 3 1 11 6 3 11 7 2 - 92 pts
5th: Logan Dunning Beck / Oscar Gunn (NZL) 9 7 9 6 6 1 16 1 6 12 8 14 (22) 10 - 105 pts
46th: Sam Bacon / Henry Gautrey (NZL) 13 20 30 26 24 24 (UFD) 27 11 DSQ 8 9 8 19 - 253 pts
49erFX (36 boats)
1st: Odile van Aanholt / Annette Duetz (NED) 2 1 1 3 2 5 9 (29) 24 4 2 3 2 1 3 - 62 pts
2nd: Vilma Bobeck / Rebecca Netzler (SWE) 5 3 2 7 1 3 5 (31) 18 1 14 2 3 8 2 - 73 pts
3rd: Tamara Echegoyen / Paula Barcelo (ESP) 4 2 3 (24) 4 4 13 16 9 19 5 5 7 1 - 105 pts
8th: Alex Maloney / Olivia Hobbs (NZL) 10 (26) 13 4 7 9 6 8 7 9 18 17 9 16 14 - 146 pts
10th: Jo Aleh / Molly Meech (NZL) 9 20 8 8 3 10 26 (32) 4 5 19 10 22 4 16 - 163 pts
Nacra 17 (34 boats)
1st: Ruggero Tita / Caterina Banti (ITA) 1 1 1 1 1 1 (20) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 - 15 pts
2nd: Gianluigi Ugolini / Maria Giubilei (ITA) 3 3 9 4 2 2 11 5 (18) 2 5 3 3 9 4 - 64 pts
3rd: John Gimson / Anna Burnet (GBR) 4 11 14 6 5 3 18 4 8 3 8 2 4 2 3 - 77 pts
8th: Micah Wilkinson / Erica Dawson (NZL) 7 8 2 9 8 11 2 3 17 5 16 8 18 12 (22) - 126 pts
Pic: Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie will go into the final day at the world championships in fourth in the 49er. Photo: Sailing Energy.
