Team New Zealand have shown a return to form in round six of the Extreme Sailing Series in Istanbul following a disastrous outing in Cardiff earlier this month.
Dean Barker's crew bounced back from their last placed finish in Cardiff two weeks ago in the best possible way overnight, topping the standings after the opening day of racing. Emirates Team New Zealand are tied on equal points with defending series champion, The Wave, Muscat after the opening seven races. They are being chased hard by SAP Extreme sailing Team on 45 points and Red Bull Sailing Team on 40.
"Coming off the water we had a much better feeling today than we did throughout the last regatta in Cardiff," said Barker.
The Kiwi skipper said the aim now is to continue to improve on their performances.
"There's still a lot of racing to go, but we had a good solid day. It wasn't anything flashy, there is still a lot of things we can improve on and I'm sure everyone will be feeling the same way," he said.
"It's a difficult racecourse, it's hard to get your plan right all the time and you make some gains and some losses. I think today we managed the racecourse pretty well and took the opportunities when they were there."
