Sailing: Alex Maloney and Molly Meech in mix at World Cup

Alex Maloney and Molly Meech. Photo / Supplied

There's a familiar look to the top of the 49erFX leaderboard after the second day of the World Cup regatta in Enoshima, with Alex Maloney and Molly Meech battling it out with the Brazilian combination.

Of course, Brazil's Martine Soffiatti Grael and Kahena Kunze narrowly beat Maloney and Meech for the gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics and have recently returned to Olympic sailing after Grael took part in the last Volvo Ocean Race. The rivals are also good friends and the New Zealand crew were at the wharf to greet Grael in the early hours of the morning when AkzoNobel won the leg into Auckland.

Grael and Kunze hold a 12-point lead over Maloney and Meech after the second day of racing at the venue for the 2020 Olympics but there are still plenty of points at stake with three more days of racing.

"It's cool to have the Brazilians back racing but there are a lot of other competitors out there doing well," Meech said. "It's so up and down in the fleet. No matter who you are our there with, you have to be pushing it and making the right decisions."

Maloney and Meech can't afford too many big scores after posting a 19th in the first race of the regatta, which is presently their drop, and started the day in fine fashion with a second and fourth.

"We started with two good races and then the last one got a bit funky and we didn't quite gets the shifts right," Maloney said. "But overall, it was an OK day for us. We got off the start line in a bit better shape and that was a big goal for us.

"Every race we are going out to try to win. We will see what the weather gods provide for us [tomorrow]."

Learning about the Olympic venue is the main priority for the majority of the New Zealand sailors in Enoshima this week but events held on Olympic waters are often strong indicators on what to expect at the Olympic Games.

As many as 17 medallists from the London test event in 2011 went on to win an Olympic medal in 2012 and 16 medallists from the Rio test event clinched a medal at the 2016 Olympics.

Maloney and Meech aren't the only New Zealand crew performing well in Enoshima. Josh Junior is third in the Finn class, Logan Dunning Beck and Oscar Gunn are third in the 49er and Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders fifth in the Nacra 17. Andy Maloney (ninth in the Finn) and Josh Porebski and Trent Rippey (10th in the 49er) are also inside the top 10.

Junior had a solid day in the 12-14 knots breezes, finishing eighth and third in his two races to be two points off the lead, and Dunning Beck and Gunn have settled in behind the two British crews after a sixth, ninth and 17th in their three races.

Results and standings after the second day of the World Cup regatta in Enoshima, Japan, today:

Laser (59 boats)
1st: Karl-Martin Rammo (EST) (22) 1 7 - 8 pts
2nd: Michael Beckett (GBR) 8 2 (18) - 10 pts
3rd: Philipp Buhl (GER) 1 10 (13) - 11 pts
9th: George Gautrey (NZL) 5 (36) 11 - 16 pts
13th: Sam Meech (NZL) 4 (35) 17 - 21 pts
16th: Tom Saunders (NZL) 15 (18) 8 - 23 pts

Laser Radial (53 boats)
1st: Alison Young (GBR) 4 (17) 2 4 - 10 pts
2nd: Marit Bouwmeester (NED) 2 (23) 4 5 - 11 pts
3rd: Josefin Olsson (SWE) (15) 1 10 2 - 13 pts
19th: Olivia Christie (NZL) 25 4 21 (45) - 50 pts

Nacra 17 (25 boats)
1st: Ruggero Tita / Caterina Marianna Banti (ITA) 1 1 1 1 1 (12) - 5 pts
2nd: Vittorio Bissaro / Maelle Frascari (ITA) (11) 2 2 2 7 3 - 16 pts
3rd: Jason Waterhouse / Lisa Darmanin (AUS) (6) 5 3 5 3 2 - 18 pts
5th: Gemma Jones / Jason Saunders (NZL) 2 3 10 3 (13) 10 - 28 pts

Finn (21 boats)
1st: Giles Scott (GBR) (6) 1 2 6 - 9 pts
2nd: Jorge Zarif (BRA) 5 (9) 3 1 - 9 pts
3rd: Josh Junior (NZL) 2 6 (8) 3 - 11 pts
9th: Andy Maloney (NZL) (14) 8 12 7 - 27 pts

49er (27 boats)
1st: James Peters / Fynn Sterritt (GBR) 4 3 5 1 7 (8) - 20 pts
2nd: Dylan Fletcher-Scott / Stuart Bithell (GBR) 1 2 4 (23) 2 13 - 22 pts
3rd: Logan Dunning Beck / Oscar Gunn (NZL) 3 5 8 6 9 (17) - 31 pts
10th: Josh Porebski / Trent Rippey (NZL) 19 (22) 2 10 13 5 - 49 pts
18th: Isaac McHardie / William McKenzie (NZL) 21 6 20 14 (24) 9 - 70 pts

49erFX (24 boats)
1st: Martine Soffiatti Grael / Kahena Kunze (BRA) 1 5 2 1 1 (13) - 10 pts
2nd: Alex Maloney / Molly Meech (NZL) (19) 3 1 2 4 12 - 22 pts
3rd; Charlotte Dobson / Saskia Tidey (GBR) 3 6 4 4 5 (18) 22 pts

Men's 470 (32 boats)
1st: Keiju Okada / Jumpei Hokazono (JPN) (5) 2 1 2 - 5 pts
2nd: Mathew Belcher / William Ryan (AUS) 3 (15) 5 1 - 9 pts
3rd: Tetsuya Isozaki / Akira Takayanagi (JPN) (12) 1 12 3 - 16 pts
21st: Paul Snow-Hansen / Daniel Willcox (NZL) 19 (32) 14 18 - 51 pts

Women's 470 (23 boats)
1st: Afrodite Kyranakou / Anneloes van Veen (NED) 2 5 (6) 2 - 9 pts
2nd: Agnieszka Skrzypulec / Jolanta Ogar (POL) 3 (10) 1 8 - 12 pts
3rd: Ai Kondo Yoshida / Miho Yoshioka (JPN) (11) 1 2 11 - 14 pts
22nd: Courtney Reynolds-Smith / Brianna Reynolds-Smith (NZL) 21 20 20 (23) - 61 pts

Men's RS:X (40 boards)
1st: Kiran Badloe (NED) 3 2 8 2 4 (11) - 18 pts
2nd: Mattia Camboni (ITA) 1 2 1 (34) 10 7 - 21 pts
3rd: Dorian van Rijsselberghe (NED) 4 7 (24) 7 2 2 - 22 pts

Women's RS:X (30 boards)
1st: Yunxiu Lu (CHN) 2 5 4 (17) 1 2 - 14 pts
2nd: Peina Chen (CHN) 1 3 (10 3 8 4 - 19 pts
3rd: Emma Wilson (GBR) 6 (15) 5 1 9 3 - 24 pts