Wind swings in Denmark test Kiwi sailors
WELLINGTON: New Zealand sailors struggled on the first day of the world championships in Demark.
The opening day was affected by wild swings in wind direction and strength.
Andy Maloney made the best start of the Kiwis, finishing sixth in his fleet in the Finn class, but the other New Zealanders in action struggled.
Maloney was able to switch on when he needed to, considering he spent about five hours getting ready for starts that never eventuated or waiting on the water until the sea breeze arrived.
He has made considerable progress since switching to the Finn towards the end of last year — he campaigned in a Laser in the last Olympic cycle before helping Team New Zealand win the America’s Cup — and recently won a bronze medal at the World Cup Series finals in France.
Maloney has worked closely with fellow sailor Josh Junior and coach Andrew Murdoch over recent months and started the world championships full of confidence.
‘‘Over the last month I have really jumped up a level in speed,’’ Maloney said.
‘‘I know I can sail consistently well and not have to do everything perfectly throughout a race to come away with keepers and that’s a good feeling.
‘‘It’s a really tricky venue so it’s going to be a highscoring regatta . . . so a six is a really good keeper. I’m happy with that.’’
Junior was 25th in his Finn race and Courtney and Brianna ReynoldsSmith finished 40th and a 39th in the women’s 470.
Paul SnowHansen and Dan Willcox were 25th in their race in the men’s 470 but joined a handful of other countries afterwards to protest the fairness of the race considering there were 70degree oscillations in the direction of the wind.
It meant boats could go from first to 21st in a short time and there were occasions when the fleet was virtually stalled on the water.
‘‘The race didn’t go so well for us,’’ Willcox said. ‘‘It was probably the first race in a while where we were tacking on a downwind leg, but it’s early days.
‘‘For us, it’s a case of clicking the reset button and refocusing going into tomorrow.’’
The Laser and Laser Radial fleets start their racing tonight (NZ time), when eight more New Zealanders will join the action.
Sam Meech goes in as one of the favourites in the Laser after a terrific run of results, having started his European campaign with silver at the Princess Sofia regatta in Palma and then silvers at both the World Cup in Hyeres and Laser European championships. Those results came on top of his first World Cup title in Gamagori late last year.