New Zealand sailors in World Cup mix
New Zealand 470 sailors Paul Snowhansen and Dan Willcox moved into second place after a tricky third day at the World Cup regatta in Hyeres, France.
Plenty of high scores were being recorded as sailors struggled with the light winds but a handful of Kiwis were in medal contention as the regatta moved into the final stages.
Alex Maloney and Molly Meech were second in the 49erfx and Sam Meech is fourth in the Laser.
A number of other crews are also still in the mix with Logan Dunning Beck and Oscar Gunn fifth in the 49er, Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders fifth in the Nacra 17 and Josh Porebski and Trent Rippey seventh in the 49er.
Snow-hansen and Willcox had two races called off on Friday (NZ time) but still managed to complete two others when they were third and sixth to climb one place overall into second. Crucially, they’ve had only one result outside the top 10 and, even then, it was an 11th which puts them in a strong position for the remainder of the regatta.
‘‘We’re happy with how we executed today,’’ Willcox said. ‘‘The conditions were tough and we had two races which were abandoned.
‘‘We’re halfway through our series now and we’re happy we haven’t had any bad races. We’re feeling comfortable in the light winds and happy with the way we are racing. We just need to keep executing our starts and back our decision making and boat speed. We’re looking to make it into the medal race with our sights on gold.’’
Sam Meech is also eyeing a medal and he managed to maintain fourth overnight on a day of change in the Laser fleet. The leaderboard received a shakeup as a number of sailors struggled with the light and patchy winds, meaning some big scores were posted.
Meech banked a ninth and 18th in the two races which was good enough in the circumstances and he’s now only four points behind France’s Jean Baptiste Bernaz in the lead. Olympic champion Tom Burton (Australia) dominated the day, winning both races, and is now only two points behind Meech in fifth
‘‘I didn’t really have an epic day but I didn’t have a bad day, either, so I think I survived,’’ Meech said.
‘‘I managed to pull back a few places in the first race and was in a really good position in the second but didn’t take advantage.
‘‘It was one of those days and Tom Burton seemed to sail by himself at the front of the fleet.’’