Kiwi sailors have another strong day in Spain

The New Zealand sailing team is in good shape at the halfway mark at the ISAF World Cup in Palma.

The regatta enters the crunchy end overnight, after the qualification series wrapped up this morning (NZT).

Leading the charge for the Kiwi team are the Maloney and 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 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 score-card 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 4th at the outset of day three Maloney's results from today mean that he goes into the second half of the regatta with two points.

Also in the Laser fleet, Sam Meech had a top day and his results, an 11th and a win mean he climbs to third overall.

"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 Maloney and Molly Meech 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 Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox had a strong day too with a second and seventh on the water.

Both Josh 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 the mixed multihull 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 on day two. Things didn't go all their way, and with mixed results from today they will now sail the finals stage in the 49er silver fleet no doubt looking to regain some form.

New Zealand's standings after day three of the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Palma, Spain, overnight (NZT):

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