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A need for greater consistency over a sustained period and restricting the number of mistakes when competing against the best in the world in Olympic waters.
Those are two of the key takeaways from the Olympic test event, which failed to deliver medals but offered plenty of lessons for a young New Zealand sailing team.
Six Kiwi sailors lined up in four different classes on the final day at the Marseille Marina but couldn’t quite do enough to get on the podium.
Micah Wilkinson and Erica Dawson came closest to a top-three spot, ending their campaign in fifth – eight points from the bronze position – after a similar result in the Nacra 17 medal race.
Had it not been for a slight error early in the contest, the duo may well have had silverware around their necks.
“We had an okay start and we were in second or third round the first top mark but we just didn't quite nail the bottom gate decision,” Wilkinson explained.
“We went the right way, but unfortunately, we were in too tight a lane. In these sorts of conditions and in our boats you get murdered. We’re a little disappointed with that but, all in all, fifth in the medal race and fifth overall means plenty of positives.”
A below-par final day of fleet racing proved costly, Wilkinson said.
“We had one bad day where we struggled a bit for speed and didn't quite link it up, which kind of cost us a podium in the end. But we had a pretty good week overall and we sailed well. We’re pretty happy.”
Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie finished fifth overall in the 49er. Photo / Sailing Energy
Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie were also left to rue a series of mistakes after being in the gold-medal position halfway through fleet racing.
They lined up in seventh for last night's medal race but a poor start stymied their podium push.
“We wanted to just go out there and race the best race we could as we felt that was all we could do. Unfortunately, we didn't get off the line very well, but managed to claw our way back to sixth which put us in P5 overall,” McHardie said.
“We were happy to move up the leaderboard a bit but we couldn’t quite make the podium. That’s what happens when you make mistakes but we'll work on those.”
Veerle ten Have in action in the women's windfoil. Photos / World Sailing
Veerle ten Have finished sixth in the women's windfoil competition, narrowly missing out on the semifinals.
Ten Have was in the top three for much of the week but dropped to fourth on the final day of qualifying. She needed to finish in the top two in back-to-back races in the quarterfinal and semifinal to make the three-board final.
“Veerle didn’t have the best of starts [in the quarterfinal] but she came back through and got amongst it. Unfortunately, she finished third with only the top two progressing,” said windfoil coach Nathan Handley.
Josh Armit’s medal hopes ended in heartbreaking fashion when he was disqualified for getting over the start line prematurely in his quarterfinal.
The 21-year-old did well to get back into medal contention after dropping as deep as 18th in the fleet after some initial struggles with his board set-up.
“Josh fully went for it at the start and was black-flagged. He is obviously gutted… but there were plenty of positives to take from the week and we know they can both do so much better,” Handley said.
Josh Armit was disqualified in his quarterfinal of the men's windfoil. Photos / World Sailing
Following some time off, the team will reconvene in Marseille for a training block before heading to The Hague for the combined Sailing World Championships starting early next month.
The world champs are the first opportunity for several classes to qualify a boat for next year's Olympics where sailing will be held at the same venue as this week’s test event.
The Games remain the ultimate goal, said Yachting New Zealand high performance director Ian Stewart.
“We had a key mission of learning how to win starts, beats and races here at the Olympic venue and we had some decent success,” he said.
“However, we now need to learn how to do that over the course of an event. We’ve got a young team and I’ve loved their attitude to racing, but ultimately, we fell short in the pressure pot of an Olympic fleet.”
Stewart is encouraged by what he’s seen over the past eight days.
George Gautrey's fourth place in a world-class ILCA 7 fleet – missing out on a medal by a single point – was a highlight, while Justina Kitchen also showed progress finishing ninth in the women’s kitefoil.
“We have identified plenty of performance gaps but there is huge potential,” Stewart said.
“Now it’s all about how quickly we can learn from this event.”
Final results and standings at the Olympic test event in Marseille:
49er (29 boats)
1st: Bart Lambriex/Floris Van De Werken (Ned) 5 19 2 (25) 2 3 1 1 1 5 7 7 2 - 55 points
2nd: Erwan Fischer/Pequin Clement (Fra) 2 9 6 4 11 13 12 (19) 6 1 4 6 6 - 80 pts
3rd: Sebastien Schneiter/Arno De Planta (Swi) 6 2 6.5DPI 14 4 10 (16) 2 16 10 6 9 8 - 93.5 pts
5th: Isaac McHardie/William McKenzie (NZ) 14 4 3 5 (20) 1 8 13 8 8 9 18 12 - 103 pts
49er FX (23 boats)
1st: Odile Van Aanholt/Annette Duetz (Ned) 3 6 3 (21) 1 1 2 6 6 13 1 1 4 - 47 pts
2nd: Martine Grael/Kahena Kunze (Bra) (24UFD) 3 2 2 12 5 15 1 8 7 6 4 12 - 77 pts
3rd: Vilma Bobeck/Rebecca Netzler (Swe) 13 1 1 1 2 (14) 8 14 2 5 10 2 22DNC - 81 pts
16th: Jo Aleh/Molly Meech (NZ) 11 (22) 7 11 20 18 17 3 20 12 12 7 - 138 pts
Nacra 17 (18 boats)
1st: Gianluigi Ugolini/Maria Giubilei (Ita) 2 7 8 1 1 1 (9) 4 1 7 7 7RDG 2 -57 pts
2nd: Sinem Kurtbay/Akseli Keskinen (Fin) (7) 2 1 4 6 6 4 3 3 1 4 1 18 - 60 pts
3rd: John Gimson/Anna Burnet (GBR) 9 5 4 3 5 (12) 6 2 9 4 1 3 6 - 69 pts
5th: Micah Wilkinson/Erica Dawson (NZ) 3 3 7 2 (11) 3 5 7 4 6 11 5 10 - 77 pts
ILCA 7 (42 boats)
1st: Matt Wearn (Aus) 1 7 5 10 5 2 3 1 6 (43RET) 2 - 42 pts
2nd: Michael Beckett (GBR) 2 5 2 4 7 1 (14) 5 2 3 18 - 49 pts
3rd: Pavlos Kontides (Cyp) (20) 2 3 5 3 7 9 2 10 7 6 - 54 pts
4th: George Gautrey (NZ) (15) 9 12 3 1 4 5 3 7 1 10 - 55 pts
ILCA 6 (38 boats)
1st: Marit Bouwmeester (Ned) 2 2 11 (12) 2 7 2 4 7 1 6 - 44 pts
2nd: Anne-Marie Rindom (Den) 7 11 9 3 7 4 3 3 12 (19) 4 - 63 pts
3rd: Chiara Benini Floriani (Ita) 1 9 (15) 5 10 2 10 8 13 3 9DPI - 70 pts
26th: Olivia Christie (NZ) 36 30 8 18 23 20 25 14 (37) 34 - 208 pts
Men's windfoil (24 boards)
1st: Nicolas Goyard (Fra) (12) 2 1 1 (25DNF) 1 6 1 1 (10) 1 5 1 3 4 4 1 2 4BFD - 35 pts
2nd: Sebastian Kordel (Ger) (25BFD) 11 2 6 (25DNF) 5 2 13 18 12 (21) 1 2 8 2 2 4 7 1 1 4BFD - 100 pts
3rd: Nicolo Renna (Ita) 1 1 9 4 (25DNF) 2 3 6 (13) 9 3 4 4 1 10 1 3 (20) 2 4BFD - 63 pts
9th: Josh Armit (NZ) 8 (19) (21) 17 2 20 12 7 5 1 2 7 6 10 15 6 13 3 8BFD - 134 pts
Women's windfoil (23 boards)
1st: Sharon Kantor (Isr) 5 5 (11) 5 3 1 (11) 3 1 (15) 6 2 2 2 3 1 1 1 1 - 42 pts
2nd: Emma Wilson (GBR) 3 1 1 1 (8) 5 3 1 4 2 1 (8) 1 6 5 (13) 4 8 1 2 - 51 pts
3rd: Sara Wennekes (Ned) 4 4 3 (14) 5 6 5 6 3 (13) (24RET) 5 7 5 2 3 3 3 2 3 - 70 pts
6th: Veerle ten Have (NZ) 6 3 5 2 (24DNF) 9 1 2 9 5 9 9 4 (12) 8 6 9 5 3 - 92 pts
Men's kitefoil (20 boards)
1st: Axel Mazella (Fra) 1 (5) 2.2RDG 1 2 2 1 2 2 3 3 (4) 3 3 1 (21DNC) 2 2 1 - 26.2 pts
2nd: Connor Bainbridge (GBR) 2 4 3 (16) 4 3 4 3 1 1 (12) 5 4 4 (7) 2 1 1 3 - 40 pts
3rd: Maximilian Maeder (SGP) (14) 1 (16) 3 3 5 2 1 10 (21DNF) 2 1 1 1 11 1 - 2 1 3 2 - 42 pts
15th: Lukas Walton-Keim (NZ) (17) 14 13 13 (17) 14 14 11 14 6 (17) 16 12 11 8 10 - 156 pts
Women's kitefoil (20 boards)
1st: Lauriane Nolot (Fra) 2 1 (7) 1 1 (4) 1 1 3 1 (7) 1 2 4 2 1 2 1 - 21 pts
2nd: Eleanor Aldridge (GBR) 1 2 (11) 2 4 (9) 3 (6) 1 2 1 3 3 1 1 4 1 3 - 28 pts
3rd: Daniela Moroz (USA) (12) 5 3 3 2 1 (9) 2 4 3 (9) 2 5 2 7 2 2 1 2 - 41 pts
9th: Justina Kitchen (NZ) 6 9 (15) 10 8 7 10 11 (21DNF) (12) 5 6 8 8 10 12 3 5RET 4 -110 pts
Full results here.
