NZL Sailing Team Update: Burling and Tuke take the lead in Palma

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke have taken the lead in the 49er class as ISAF Sailing World Cup Palma at the regatta’s midway mark in Mallorca, Spain today. Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie retain 3^rd in the Women’s 470.

Many of the NZL Sailing Team had their best day yet making further gains on day three of the six day regatta, which saw a mix of conditions with solid breeze and waves on some course areas while others were light and fickle. Four kiwi crews are now in the top five of their fleet.

49er and 49erFX: Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (pictured above in action today) now lead the 49er class. Capitalising on a mixed day from their rivals the reigning world champions and Olympic silver medallists took a couple of race wins and edge out in front by seven points. David Evans and Edward Powys (GBR) are lying 2^nd.

“This is my first time here [Mallorca] so it’s quite a change and we’re quite enjoying it,” commented Tuke after racing. “It’s been good fun racing in the first day of the gold fleet. It’s great competition here and it draws a lot of the top 49er guys and we’ve had some great racing over the last three days.”

Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech have lifted their overall standing to 17^th coming away with an 8^th and an 11^th in the tricky conditions on Palma Bay. 

Neither of the other kiwi men’s pairs Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski, or Ben Goodwin and Sam Bullock qualified for the gold fleet and didn’t race today.

470 Women and Men: Adding another two races today Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie retain 3^rd place overall in the Women’s 470 with France’s Camille Lecointre and Helene Defrance (on 16 points) leading by a solid margin. The kiwis, who have 24 points, are almost neck and neck with Britain’s Hannah Mills and Saskia Clarke on 23 at the mid- way mark in the six day regatta.

“It was a better day overall today. We got the majority of it right, to come away with another two solid races,” says Jo Aleh.

“We made a few mistakes in the first race, but clawed our way back to 4th. Race two was tough, with a hugely biased start line. There were big pile ups and plenty of screaming off the start line. We only just sneaked through, but that was enough to keep us in the top five, from where we worked our way back into 2nd.”

“It was a crazy day weather-wise, with a delayed start caused by no wind, sailing out to the course we got hit by a good 20 knots, then out on our course there was absolutely nothing!”

Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox had their best day of the regatta so far and have climbed to 5^th overall after placing 6^th in both of today’s two races putting them in good shape as they head into the second half of the series. Australia’s Matt Belcher and Will Ryan lead the Men’s 470 class but points are tight at the top.

Finn: Like the 470 Men, Josh Junior has continued his rise through the ranks in the Finn class climbing into 5^th overall after starting the day in 7^th place. In today’s races Junior, from Wellington, was 9^th and 2^nd and he’s currently just one point adrift of 4^th place. Out in front, Giles Scott (GBR) today made up ground on Thomas Le Breton (FRA) who has been the on form Finn sailor so far, and they have opened a wide points gap on the chasing pack.

Things didn’t go Andrew Murdoch’s way today and he has slipped to 25^th place.  

Laser: Late in the day racing was abandoned for the Laser fleet and results are as they stand from the end of day two with Thomas Saunders in 6^th, Sam Meech in 8^th and Andy Maloney in 17^th.

Nacra 17: New Zealand’s mixed multihull duo of Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders took their second race win of the regatta today, then added an 8^th and climb to 13^th in the standings as a result. Like some of their team-mates it was also their best day in Palma so far.

Women’s RS:X: Natalia Kosinska is back into the top ten in the Women’s RS:X gaining a couple of positions on the board on day three of racing. A 6^th and an 11^th on the water today has moved her into 10^th place overall.

Racing continues tomorrow and runs over the next three days with titles and medals set to be decided in Palma on April 5^th. The next ISAF Sailing World Cup Regatta kicks off in Hyeres, France on April 16^th.

The schedule for ISAF Sailing World Cup Palma…

31^st March – Practice Race
31^st March – 5^th April – Racing Days

ISAF Sailing World Cup Palma; New Zealand’s standings after day three
Full results here

Women’s RS:X (56 boards)
10^thNatalia Kosinska – NZL Sailing Team, RS:X Women (11, 1, 21, 27, 6, 11)
Women’s 470 (47 boats)
3^rdJo Aleh and Polly Powrie - NZL Sailing Team (9, 17, 4, 5, 4, 2)
Men’s 470 (78 boats)
5^thPaul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox – NZL Sailing Team (9, 9, 11, 12, 2, 6, 6)
49er (79 boats)
1^stPeter Burling and Blair Tuke – NZL Sailing Team (16, 1, 29, 2, 2, 2, 14, 1, 1)
41^stMarcus Hansen and Josh Porebski – NZL Sailing Team  (13, 23, 1, 28, 27, UFD)
59^th Ben Goodwin and Sam Bullock  (15, 25, 28, UFD, 28, 21)
49erFX (49 boats)
17^thAlexandra Maloney and Molly Meech – NZL Sailing Team, 49erFX (15, 5, 8, 23, 8, 8, 11)
Finn (92 boats)
5^thJosh Junior – NZL Sailing Team, Finn (26, 6, 8, 4, 5, 9, 2)
25^thAndrew Murdoch – NZL Sailing Team, Finn (7, 14, 28, 22, 6, 20, 32)
Laser (144 boats) no racing today
6^thThomas Saunders – NZL Sailing Team (7, 11, 6, 3, 2)
8^thSam Meech – NZL Sailing Team (14, 2, 7, 10, 1)
17^thAndy Maloney – NZL Sailing Team (15, 13, 14, 1, 2)
68^th Andrew McKenzie (32, 23, 12, 25, 18)
Nacra 17 (73 boats)
13^thGemma Jones and Jason Saunders – NZL Sailing Team (27, 26, 8, 1, 13, 18, 1, 8)

Coaches and support: Jez Fanstone, Nathan Handley, John Cutler, Hamish Willcox, Steve Erickson, Peter Evans and Will Howden

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.

For more information

Jodie Bakewell-White
Yachting New Zealand Communications Manager
Tel. 021 709 065
Email. jodie@yachtingnz.org.nz

Links

Regatta website
ISAF Sailing World Cup website
NZL Sailing Team sailor profiles