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New Zealand's windfoilers didn't really know how they would go in their first foray into international competition so are very encouraged to have two sailors in and around the top 10 at the French Olympic Regatta in Hyeres.
Veerle ten Have is fourth in the women's iQFoil, backing up from her impressive seventh-placed finish recently at the Palma World Cup event, and Josh Armit is 11th heading into the final day of gold fleet racing tonight (NZ time) before the medal race for the top 10 competitors.
Armit has been quietly chipping away in the men's iQFoil and moved up another four places overnight on the back of four top-10 results across the mixture of slalom and fleet races. The 21-year-old is relatively new to windsurfing, having won gold in the Laser Radial at the 2018 youth sailing world championships, and was 24th in Palma in his first international windfoiling event.
"I’m loving it doing some really competitive racing again," he said. "I came over here with no expectations, really, because we had no idea with how we were going to go. I’m pleased with how I am tracking at the moment and learning lots, which is the main thing at the moment."
With as many as eight races scheduled for the windfoilers tomorrow, there's plenty of opportunity for both Armit and ten Have to continue their run and even put pressure on those above them on the standings.
The rest of the classes will also have one more day of gold fleet racing before the top 10 medal races.
George Gautrey is fourth in the ILCA 7 (Laser), Micah Wilkinson and Erica Dawson fifth in the Nacra 17 and Alex Maloney and Olivia Hobbs seventh in the 49erFX. Logan Dunning Beck and Oscar Gunn (11th in the 49er) and Jo Aleh and Molly Meech (12th in the 49erFX) also sit just outside the top 10.
The ILCA 7 class is one of the most competitive fleets and Gautrey moved up one place in the standings on day four in Hyeres on the back of a fifth and an eighth. World champion Tom Saunders had another difficult day, being disqualified for a top-mark incident in the first race after his two disqualifications yesterday, but was second in today's final race and is 31st overall.
"It was a good day in the scheme of things," Gautrey said. "I did quite well avoiding trouble today, more than anything, but there’s some really, really tight racing so I was happy to come away with two keepers.
"There’s still a lot of racing to come and the points are very close so I just need to keep my head down and try to get better throughout the regatta. It’s good fun to be in with a shot so I’ll try to put the pressure on and keep pushing."
It's how Wilkinson and Dawson will approach their final day of gold fleet racing in the Nacra 17. The pair were fourth, 14th and sixth in their three races today to consolidate fifth overall but were left with mixed feelings after an ambitious start in the second race didn't pay off.
"It was another good day but there’s certainly a lot more potential for us," Wilkinson said. "Now we are fighting it out with the leaders, we need to convert, something we’ve never really had the opportunity to do consistently."
Results and standings after day 4 of the French Olympic Week regatta in Hyeres:
49er (61 boats)
1st: Dominik Buksak / Szymon Wierzbicki (POL) 3 1 1 3 4 1 1 4 2 8 2 (10) - 30 points
2nd: Nevin Snow / Max Agnese (USA) 1 4 3 1 2 3 3 11 5 4 (19) 17 - 54 pts
3rd: Frederik Rask / Jakob Jensen (DEN) 3 2 6 (27) 15 2 9 9 1 3 3 2 - 55 pts
11th: Logan Dunning Beck / Oscar Gunn (NZL) 12 6 7 8 1 13 11 5 14 17 (21) 4 - 98 pts
18th: Isaac McHardie / William McKenzie (NZL) 2 11 4 8 11 3 2 20 15 (27) 26 23 - 125 pts
32nd: Sam Bacon / Henry Gautrey (NZL) 14 15 12 29 23 22 20 (32 BFD) 5 10 1 1 - 152 pts
49erFX (38 boats)
1st: Vilma Bobeck / Rebecca Netzlar (SWE) 1 1 14 (20 DSQ) 2 9 3 2 1 1 1 9 - 44 pts
2nd: Stephanie Roble / Margaret Shea (USA) 2 1 6 9 (12) 1 9 1 6 4 4 2 - 45 pts
3rd: Isaura Maenhaut / Anouk Geurts (BEL) 7 2 8 7 2 4 3 2 7 (19) 3 1 - 46 pts
7th: Alex Maloney / Olivia Hobbs (NZL) 3 10 5 11 10 1 1 4 3 10 9 (11) - 66 pts
12th: Jo Aleh / Molly Meech (NZL) 6 12 16 4 15 2 9 8 6 3 8 (19) - 88 pts
Nacra 17 (32 boats)
1st: Ruggero Tita / Caterina Banti (ITA) 1 (5) 4 4 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 - 18 pts
2nd: John Gimson / Anna Burnet (GBR) 3 (16) 3 1 5 4 5 2 1 3 3 3 - 33 pts
3rd: Sinem Kurtbay / Akseli Keskinen (FIN) (14) 1 3 2 2 2 3 6 2 4 2 - 38 pts
5th: Micah Wilkinson / Erica Dawson (NZL) 7 1 12 (16) 6 3 3 10 4 4 14 6 - 70 pts
Women's iQFoil (32 boards)
1st: Hélène Noesmoen (FRA) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 (2) (6) 1 21 1 (8) - 10 pts
2nd: Maja Dziarnowska (POL) (6) (6) 5 2 3 2 2 3 4 2 5 (9) 5 - 34 pts
3rd: Delphine Cousin (FRA) 2 3 (7) 6 2 4 3 4 2 6 (11) 3 (13) - 35 pts
4th Veerle ten Have (NZL) (9) 4 2 5 7 3 4 5 (8) 4 (17) 5 3 - 42 pts
27th: Brianna Orams (NZL) 27 28 26 28 (30) (30) (29) 25 25 25 25 17 20 - 247 pts
Men's iQFoil (57 boards)
1st: Nicolas Goyard (FRA) (10) (2) 2 (6) 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 - 13 pts
2nd: Sebastian Koerdel (GER) (11) 1 6 4 3 2 4 3 (18) 2 (11) 3 1 5 - 34 pts
3rd: Clément Bourgeois (FRA) 2 3 3 1 6 (57 DNF) 8 2 (13) (11) 1 3 6 - 38 pts
11th: Josh Armit (NZL) (15) 13 13 (28) 7 10 (17) 9 11 5 5 9 9 7 - 98 pts
30th Eli Liefting (NZL) 27 (36) (47) 20 20 31 24 32 31 (40) 13 5 13 36 - 252 pts
56th: Thomas Crook (NZL) (DNC 58) (DNC 58) DNC 58 DNC 58 DNC 58 DNC 58 DNC 58 DNC 58 DNC 58 DNC 58 39 DNC 39 DNC 39 DNC 57 DNC - 573 pts
ILCA 7 (129 boats)
1st: Philipp Buhl (GER) 1 3 1 1 2 1 1 (9) - 10 pts
2nd: Pavlos Kontides (CYP) 3 1 2 2 1 (10) 7 5 - 21 pts
3rd: Matt Wearn (AUS) 2 1 1 1 1 (44 UFD) 15 4 - 25pts
4th: George Gautrey (NZL) 9 2 2 2 5 (16) 5 8 - 33 pts
31st: Tom Saunders (NZL) 2 3 1 4 (44 UFD) 44 UFD 44 DSQ 2 - 100 pts
88th: Luke Cashmore (NZL) 35 26 28 (41) 9 29 2 18 - 147 pts
89th: Luke Deegan (NZL) (35) 17 31 25 33 21 4 21 - 152 pts
ILCA 6 (65 boats)
1st: Agata Barwinska (POL) 8 2 1 17 4 (19) 7 2 - 41 pts
2nd: Sarah Douglas (CAN) 12 1 16 40 5 (47) 1 1 - 76 pts
3rd: Emma Plasschaert (BEL) 6 7 10 8 6 37 (66 BFD) 5 - 79 pts
43rd: Olivia Christie (NZL) 32 33 40 39 36 (44) 38 26 - 244 pts
