NZL Sailing Team Update: Wild and wet in Palma with two days to go

It was an eventful day in Palma for day four of the ISAF Sailing World Cup Regatta with plenty of wind, waves and capsizes - and one enormous air carrier forcing the Race Committee to change course areas.

Despite not staying upright Peter Burling and Blair Tuke still have the overall lead in the 49er. None of the 470 divisions raced in today’s high winds meaning Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie are still lying 3^rd. 

49er and 49erFX: Keeping their cool in the conditions Burling and Tuke (pictured above) sailed well enough to extend their leading margin in the 49er class and now sit 18 points clear ahead of the pack.

Blair Tuke reports in after racing; “We raced two races today in some really big breeze and waves, lots of carnage with capsizes everywhere.”

“In the first race we were leading all the way around and then capsized on the last downwind to finish, ending up 5^th.”

“Second race we were 10th at the last top mark after an earlier capsize had dropped us back, on a crazy downwind to the finish we were the last team standing, taking the win. Looking forward to the final two days racing.”

In the women’s skiff Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech sailed home with a 15^th and a 13^th from their two races today. They’re now in 15^th overall, up two paces from yesterday, with limited races remaining to make it into the top ten for the medal stage racing on Saturday. 

470 Women and Men: There was no racing today for the Women’s or Men’s 470 fleets and both NZL Sailing Team pairs hold their respective positions – Aleh and Powrie in 3^rd, Snow-Hansen and Willcox in 5^th – eager to get back out on the race track tomorrow. 

Finn: Spectacular and challenging racing for the Finn fleet has seen kiwi Josh Junior take a tumble down the standings after today. He placed 35^th and 32^nd and now lies 16^th no doubt keen to produce some top results tomorrow for a shot at the medal race on Saturday in which only the top ten placed sailors compete.

Andrew Murdoch made a gain on the leader-board into 24^th place after today’s racing.

Laser: Andy Maloney, who opened the day with a race win, is now the best placed of the three NZL Sailing Team campaigners in the Laser fleet in 10^th place, with Sam Meech in 12^th and Thomas Saunders in 13^th.

Nacra 17: The kiwi Nacra team of Gemma Jones from the Murrays Bay Sailing Club, and Jason Saunders from the Tauranga Yacht & Powerboat Club are lying 12^th overall in the multihull event at the end of day four. They were 15^th in the one race sailed today. 

Women’s RS:X: Natalia Konsinska remains on track for a medal race start and now lies 9^th overall in the Women’s RS:X class after placing 8^th in today’s only race on the results board.

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

The schedule for ISAF Sailing World Cup Palma…
31^st March – 4^th April: Qualifying and Finals Races
5^th April – Medal Races

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

Women’s RS:X (56 boards)
9^thNatalia Kosinska – NZL Sailing Team, RS:X Women (11, 1, 21, 27, 6, 11, 8)
Women’s 470 (47 boats)
3^rd  Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie - NZL Sailing Team (9, 17, 4, 5, 4, 2)
Men’s 470 (78 boats)
5^th  Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox – NZL Sailing Team (9, 9, 11, 12, 2, 6, 6)
49er (79 boats)
1^st  Peter Burling and Blair Tuke – NZL Sailing Team (16, 1, 29, 2, 2, 2, 14, 1, 1, 5, 1)
41^st  Marcus 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)
15^th  Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech – NZL Sailing Team, 49erFX (15, 5, 8, 23, 8, 8, 11, 10, 15, 13)
Finn (92 boats)
16^th  Josh Junior – NZL Sailing Team, Finn (26, 6, 8, 4, 5, 9, 2, 35, 32)
24^th  Andrew Murdoch – NZL Sailing Team, Finn (7, 14, 28, 22, 6, 20, 32, 9, 24)
Laser (144 boats) no racing today
10^th   Andy Maloney – NZL Sailing Team (15, 13, 14, 1, 2, 13, 1, 12)
12^th  Sam Meech – NZL Sailing Team (14, 2, 7, 10, 1, 20, 8, 28)
13^th  Thomas Saunders – NZL Sailing Team (7, 11, 6, 3, 2, BFD, 15, 20)
71^st  Andrew McKenzie (32, 23, 12, 25, 18, 15)
Nacra 17 (73 boats)
12^th  Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders – NZL Sailing Team (27, 26, 8, 1, 13, 18, 1, 8, 15)

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