Yachting: Winning streak for NZ 470s

Men's team Paul Snow-Hansen and Jason Saunders won both of their races for the second day running. Photo / Joel Ford.

New Zealand's 470 crews confirmed their medal prospects on day three at the Sail for Gold world cup regatta in Weymouth, England overnight.

Men's team Paul Snow-Hansen and Jason Saunders won both of their races for the second day running at the regatta, which doubles as an Olympic dress rehearsal, and now share the overall lead.

The pair have won four of the six races at this event so far, leaving them tied on equal points with three-time world champions Mat Belcher and Malcolm Paige of Australia.

Their performance was almost matched by compatriots Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie in the women's field, who won one race to improve their overall standing from fourth to second.

Andy Maloney in the laser fleet also picked up a few places with two more fourth place finishes to sit in ninth place overall, while Andrew Murdoch and Sam Meech also sit inside the top 20.

New Zealand's 49er crews sit next to each other in overall rankings, with Peter Burling and Blair Tuke in 12th and Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski in 13th. Regatta leaders Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen are 30 points ahead of the Kiwi boats but, with six more series races left for this fleet, there is still plenty opportunity to get near the front of the pack.

Other Olympic representatives are also on track to make their medal races, with JP Tobin sitting in ninth in the men's RS:X fleet and Hamish Pepper and Jim Turner 11th in the star class.

Stephanie Hazard, Jenna Hansen and Susannah Pyatt have turned around their slow start to the regatta in the women's match racing, wrapping up the first round robin with three more wins to qualify for the repechage round.

Sailors will now be grouped into gold or silver fleets based on their rankings in the event, before the double point medal races for the top ten competitors take place on Saturday night (NZT).

Sail for Gold world cup regatta standings - day three (race finishes in brackets)

470 (men's)

1st Paul Snow Hansen and Jason Saunders (9, 4, 1, 1, 1, 1)

470 (women's)

2nd Jo Aleh and Olivia (Polly) Powrie (5,15, 3, 8,8,1)

49er

12th Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (3, 10, 14, 10, 7, 8, 2, 7, 4)

13th Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski (7, 6, 1, 7, 9, 10, 8, 10, 6)

Finn

17th Josh Junior (10,19, 11, 23, 23, 16)

29th Matt Coutts (11,34, 32, 31, 18, 34)

39th Rob Coutts (19, 40, 39, 38, 39,40)

Laser

9th Andy Maloney (15, 8, 17, 4, 4, 4)

12th Andrew Murdoch (15, 2, 10, 5, 20, 8)

19th Sam Meech (11, 17, 20, 8, 7,12)

Laser radial

41st Sara Winther (19, 26, BFD, 19, 10, 12)

RS:X (men's)

9th JP Tobin (19, 6,14, 9, 9, 3)

RS:X (women's)

15th Natalia Kosinska (9, 10, 14, 17, 25, 44)

26th Steffanie Williams (25, 31, 21, 16)

Skud 18

6th Tim Dempsey and Jan Apel (13, 7, 6, 10, 4, 4)

Star

11th Hamish Pepper and Jim Turner (8, 7,12, 11, 11, 8)

Women's match racing

3 wins, 1 loss - Stephanie Hazard, Jenna Hansen, Susannah Pyatt