KEY POINTS:
New Zealand Laser Radial sailor Jo Aleh moved closer to medal contention with a fine second in her third race at the Olympics yesterday.
The light airs which plague Qingdao struck again yesterday and the sailors' warning that such conditions could see wild jumps in fortune continued to ring true as yesterday's Laser leader, Andrew Murdoch, plummeted down to 40th in his first race yesterday, which will now likely be his "discard" race.
Aleh, however, did well for the second race in a row and, although in seventh place overall, she is only four points off a bronze and six points off a silver medal at this early stage.
Earlier New Zealand coach Rod Davis - himself with a rich Olympic background - gave a typically frank review of the team and their fortunes thus far. The facility and the organisation at Qingdao are the best Davis has seen at an Olympics - some praise given Davis began his Olympic career in 1984 at Los Angeles and finished at 1996 in Atlanta (although he didn't go to the 1988 Seoul Olympics) with a gold and a silver in three Olympics.
It was too early to say much about the "windwhackers" (boardsailors Tom Ashley, third overall, and Barbara Kendall, sixth overall), and Murdoch, leading his fleet before yesterday's poor finish saw him settle at 13th overall after the first of two races yesterday and only three in total.
While everyone in the New Zealand camp thinks Murdoch and Ashley are medal contenders, no one is quite sure about the amazing Kendall, in her fifth Olympics with three medals (gold, silver and bronze) under her belt. Whatever happens here, the 40-year-old Kendall will still be one of New Zealand's most outstanding sportswomen - but some have felt this Olympics might be a bridge too far.
"[Barbara's] 20 years older than most of the opposition and that makes it tough right there," said Davis. "But sailing is about having the confidence to get into a rhythm and, when you do, things fall into place".
The 470 teenagers, Carl Evans and Peter Burling, were down the fleet overall after being black-flagged for a starting penalty in their first race yesterday but Davis said they were doing a great job as newcomers. In their second race, they recovered to finish 10th and now sit at 10th overall - with the top 10 going into the medal race.
Finn sailor Dan Slater had a mathematical chance of a medal - and is now up to 12th place in his quest to make the top 10 to contest the medal race - but probably needed to place higher than his 13th yesterday; the points gap may be too big to make up now.
