Yachting: Top Kiwi sailors fail to impress

JP Tobin. Photo / Supplied

A handful of New Zealand's sailors might have qualified for next year's Olympics but they are hardly sending convincing messages to selectors that they deserve to go to London.

Kiwis in the Laser Radial and women's RS:X boardsailing have secured spots at the Olympics and the men in the 470 and Finn are on the verge of confirming their place but most of the New Zealand sailors are down the fleet at the ISAF world championships in Perth.

The racers have been split into gold and silver fleets based on their standings but only six New Zealand sailors have reached the gold fleet.

The New Zealand selectors have not made the criteria public but they won't send a boat unless they think it has the potential to win a medal.

A number of New Zealand's top sailors, including Tom Ashley and JP Tobin (both RS:X), Andrew Murdoch (Laser) and Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie (470) start their world championships campaigns next week.

Paul Snow-Hansen and Jason Saunders, who made a strong start, have slipped to eighth in the men's 470 after a 13th placing yesterday and Sara Winther is 11th in the Laser Radial after a difficult day in strong and unstable breezes off Freemantle.

Dan Slater is 25th in the Finn after a 23rd placing yesterday, well behind leader Pieter-Jan Postma (Netherlands) and British pair Ben Ainslie and Giles Scott. Steff Williams is 29th in the women's RS:X.

Natalia Kosinska, a member of the elite New Zealand squad, failed to qualify for the gold fleet and is second in the silver fleet.

Stephanie Hazard, Jenna Hansen, Susannah Pyatt have made a good start in the women's match racing, which has been added to the programme for the London Olympics, and progressed to the second round after coming sixth overall in their round robin.

Their day was an eventful one with their morning race with Anna Tunnicliffe (US) abandoned after Hazard collided with an umpire boat while attempting to take a penalty.

It was not the only excitement this week, with a 4m shark, suspected to be a great white, spotted in the area.