Sailing: Siblings leading NZ charge

Rising Northlanders Andy and Alexandra Maloney continue to make their mark on the sailing world, this time at the ISAF World Cup in Palma.

At the halfway stage of World Cup, the New Zealand sailing team is in good shape thanks to the Kerikeri sailors.

Leading the charge for the Kiwi team, alongside the Maloneys, are the Meech siblings, with Andy Maloney and Sam Meech in the Laser and 49er pair Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech, all sitting in the top three of their fleets.

A further two Kiwis are lying in the top eight - Josh Junior in the Finn, and 470 Men Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox.

From this point in the regatta each boat's scorecard gets wiped clean and as the fleets enter the two-day finals stage, before the medal races on the final day.

Day three belonged to Andy Maloney on the Laser course, the young sailor coming away with two bullets from two races sailed, lifting him in the standings to second overall. Lying fourth at the outset of day three, Maloney's results mean that he goes into the second half of the regatta with two points.

"Andy had two good starts," said Yachting New Zealand high performance manager Jez Fanstone. "He sailed good beats, and he was just too quick. Sam was fast too - he won his last race. They're a pleased bunch."

Alexandra and Molly continued their good form into day three of the regatta, and were the best-performing crew on the 49er FX class for the day. Starting the day second overall they added two wins and a second place making big points gains on the leaders - narrowly missing out on overtaking them for the lead. They head into the finals stage with two points and the knowledge that they have the speed and the nous to win races regardless of the conditions on the bay.

In the men's 470 Snow-Hansen and Willcox had a strong day too with a second and seventh.

Both Junior and Andrew Murdoch sail through to the gold fleet for Finn finals, Junior in eighth place and Murdoch back in 15th.

Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders, New Zealand's new pairing in the mixed multi-hull Nacra 17 have sailed well enough to secure a place in the gold fleet too.

Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski were back amongst the action on the 49er course today after suffering gear failure. Things didn't go all their way, and from today they will sail the finals stage in the 49er silver fleet.

New Zealand's standings after day three:

Finn: 8th Josh Junior 7, 26, 4, 4, 5, 28; 15th Andrew Murdoch 9, 18, 7, 30, 23, 21.

Laser: 2nd Andy Maloney 5, 3, 2, 2, 0, 0; 3rd Sam Meech 2, 2, 8, 4, 11, 0; 16th Thomas Saunders 7, 16, 0, 9, 9, 16.

470 Men: 6th Paul Snow-Hansen and Dan Willcox 11, 3, 0, 5, 2, 7; 31st Francisco Lardies and Luke Stevenson 20, 16, 10, 18, 16, 8.

49er: 45th Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski 4, DNC, DNC, DNC, 8, 21, 22.

49erFX: 2nd Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech 4, 0, 15, 5, 0, 2, 0.

Nacra 17: 15th Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders 18, 16, 5, 18, 24, 14; 21st Nicole van der Velden and Tomer Simhony 32, 24, 23, 17, 7, 20.

-APNZ