Blair Tuke and Peter Burling during World Championships. Photo / Sailing Energy
Blair Tuke and Peter Burling during World Championships. Photo / Sailing Energy
The 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 world championships in Auckland might be halfway through but for New Zealand's top sailors the real business starts today.
The biggest thing was to get into the gold fleet with as little damage on their scorecard as possible and, for some, they've done it particularly well.
Peter Burling and Blair Tuke had another very solid day in the 49er, posting a first, third and seventh in their three races to sit only one point off the lead held by Germany's Erik Heil and Thomas Ploessel.
They'll be joined in the top 25 boats by fellow Kiwis Logan Dunning Beck and Oscar Gunn (sixth) as well as Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie (22th).
Dunning Beck and Gunn had one scary moment yesterday when they discovered a sizeable hole in their gennaker in their final race of the day. They had been leading the race and were wondering why they felt sluggish sailing downwind.
"We didn't actually see it happen in that first run," Gunn said. "We were just trying to make the boat go fast and it just wasn't happening and we were getting a bit frustrated. Turns out there was a massive hole. It looks pretty bad and we were lucky not to blow it apart."
They got to the finish line in relative safety, eventually finishing fifth in that race to round out another good day on the water. They've shown excellent speed at times this week, winning two of their nine races and finishing in the top five in three others, but know they need to establish some consistency over the coming days.
"This is where the real racing starts and you get to race the top teams," Gunn said. "It was good to get through that qualifying series relatively unscathed. Now the fun begins."
Alex Maloney and Molly Meech didn't have a particularly enjoyable day in the 49erFX as they dropped to seventh overall and lost some ground on the leaders. They were fourth, 21st, 10th and ninth in their four races and felt that most things they tried didn't pay off.
Kiwis Logan Dunning Beck and Oscar Gunn are in the top 25 boats. Photo / Supplied
Olympic champions Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze of Brazil profited in the mostly light sea breezes, winning two of their four races, and hold a 14-point lead over Norway's Helene Naess and Marie Ronningen who were the other big movers of the day.
Maloney and Meech are by no means out of it, especially as mistakes are magnified in gold fleet racing and the points can rack up quickly, but they will look to post some low scores today.
Liv Mackay and Jason Saunders started in that way in Nacra 17 yesterday, winning two of the first three races to jump up the leaderboard before finishing 15th in their last race after a lengthy delay due to a shifting wind direction.
"It is always good for the confidence to win races," Saunders said. "We were going really nicely in those conditions, which were conditions prior to this regatta we had the biggest question mark over, but that was awesome. It was nice to be sailing at the front of the fleet again."
Micah Wilkinson and Erica Dawson (15th) and Gemma Jones and Josh Porebski (21st) will join them in gold fleet. Great Britain's John Gimson and Anna Burnet hold a narrow one-point lead over Italy's Vittorio Bissaro and Maelle Frascari, with siblings Nathan and Haylee Outteridge of Australia two points further back in third.
There will be a noticeable lift in intensity when all three classes kick off gold fleet racing today and the medal races come closer into view.
"It only just begins, doesn't it?" Mackay said of the regatta. "It becomes harder, that's for sure.''
