ISAF World Cup Weymouth - Overall
by Pippa Phillips 14 Jun 2015 22:58 BST
10-14 June 2015
ISAF Sailing World Cup Weymouth and Portland wrapped up on Sunday with ten Medal Races deciding the podium finishers, Abu Dhabi World Cup Final qualifiers and prize money recipients.
The day started off light from a northern direction with the Nacra 17 fleet getting the first racing in. Following a short postponement whilst the wind shifted the race action got going again and culminated in some tense Medal Race action.
Brought to a worldwide audience on TV and online – watch the race action again here:
Finn
Giles Scott (GBR) kept Josh Junior (NZL) at bay in the Finn to extend his unbeaten run. There was just six points of separation in advance of the Medal Race and the Briton forced the Kiwi down the back of the pack in an intriguing race.
The pair were close throughout and both were penalised with penalty turns. With the pair at the rear of the fleet, Scott stayed on top of Junior to keep him at bay. Even though Junior came through in ninth compared to Scott's tenth, it was enough for another Finn gold for Scott. Junior settled for silver with Andrew Murdoch (NZL) taking bronze.
"It feels good, I'm very relieved," said a relaxed Scott, "It was a bit of a stressful race out there. Both Kiwis were right on my tail and I didn't make it easy getting a yellow flag and a penalty turn.
"I thought I was in a good position up the first beat but then the jury came in and gave me a penalty, which really livened it up.
"It's always a nice way to win to come out in a match race situation and come out on top but they can be a little bit stressful."
Men's 470
Stu McNay and Dave Hughes (USA) sealed gold in style in the Men's 470. They took a comfortable Medal Race victory to finish 21 points ahead of Mat Belcher and Will Ryan (AUS).
"It feels awesome and it is a good return for both of us and a great way to close it out," commented Hughes.
McNay added, "We have been knocking on the door for a while and it is great when hard work pays off. We have been sailing a lot and working with each other a lot in this and other classes and it feels good to close out this regatta."
The Americans have been consistently at the top of the pack throughout the week with only a 17th looking out of place from eight top five results.
Mat Belcher and Will Ryan (AUS) finished eighth in the Medal Race to take silver whilst Panagiotis Mantis and Pavlos Kagialis (GRE) advanced to third overall after Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic (CRO) finished tenth in the Medal Race.
Women's 470
The last time Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark (GBR) and Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie (NZL) did battle in a Women's 470 Medal Race in Weymouth and Portland it was for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Aleh and Powrie came out victorious then but the roles were reversed at the ISAF Sailing World Cup regatta. Mills and Clark stayed ahead of the Kiwis throughout the duration of the race and with their fourth, compared to the Kiwis fifth, they sealed the deal.
"I think we still feel gutted after the [Olympic] Games that we basically lost control of that race and it was a bit passive and there was no race," commented Clark.
"We were definitely up for a fight today and having a good race and a good battle. We were strict on ourselves about what we wanted to do and we managed to pull it off."
Aleh and Powrie were forced to make do with silver whilst bronze went the way of Tina Mrak and Veronika Macarol (SLO) following a second in the Medal Race.
Nacra 17
First up on the day, the Nacra 17 had to contend with some light breeze on a changing race course. It was a game of patience where calm heads were required.
Keeping their cool were overnight leaders Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin (AUS). The Aussies kept things tight and a third was enough for gold, "It's been a pretty tricky week. We had pretty nice breeze for the first couple of days so that was fun but there were lots of shifts and big pressure lines out there.
"Today was a little bit of a change of pace, nice and slow but still just as stressful."
Matias Buhler and Nathalie Brugger (SUI) were ready to pounce on the Aussies if they slipped up. Waiting in the wings they came through directly behind Waterhouse and Darmanin which handed them silver.
Darren Bundock and Nina Curtis (AUS) were in top form and came through in second. This was enough to promote them up into bronze medal position after Thomas Zajac and Tanja Frank (AUT), who occupied the final podium spot overnight, were on the course side at the start and penalised with 22 points added to their tally.
Women's RS:X
Italy's Flavia Tartaglini won gold in the Women's RS:X after overnight leader Isobel Hamilton (GBR) sailed the wrong course.
Instead of heading to the leeward gate in advance of the finish she missed it and went straight to the finish line. Upon noticing her error she was forced to retire which dropped her out of the medals.
For the Italian, it was pure joy and a second behind race winner Bryony Shaw (GBR) gave her gold, "It was a really tough race and we were really close with points," commented Tartaglini.
"We were all really close so it was all about the Medal Race. It was really exciting. The four people who could win were all together around the first mark so it was a straight race between the four of us."
With Hamilton out of the equation, Shaw's bullet handed her a silver medal. Tuuli Petaja (FIN) came through in bronze.
Men's RS:X
Great Britain's Nick Dempsey rounded off a solid week of action with a third in the Medal Race to seal gold. The Briton rarely finished out of the top two throughout the week and was rightly rewarded.
"For me the event has really gone to plan. It's been six or seven weeks since the last World Cup in Hyeres and I didn't do so well there so I wanted to get out on the water and perform again," commented Dempsey, silver medallist at London 2012.
Dempsey's compatriot Tom Squires (GBR) had a medal sewn up in advance of the Medal Race with the colour to be decided. A ninth kept him in silver medal position, 18 points off Dempsey.
The battle for bronze was far from straight forward. A number of competitors had the opportunity to seize it but Cho Wonwoo (KOR) managed to get the job done with a bullet. For Mattia Camboni (ITA) it was heartbreak as he finished on the same points as the Korean, missing out via countback.
Laser Radial
The odds were heavily stacked in Marit Bouwmeester's (NED) favour in the Laser Radial after a commanding week of racing.
She held a 15 point advantage over Evi Van Acker (BEL) and only a near disaster could have seen her knocked off her perch. She sailed well, finishing fourth which was more than enough for gold.
"It has been a really good week for me," commented Bouwmeester. "I had some steady results and I was happy to take it in today during the Medal Race.
"I had five first places and two seconds and that was my best scorecard ever, so I am very pleased with that, that's results wise but todays sailing was a little less brilliant and still a lot to work on."
Van Acker took the Medal Race victory to confirm silver.
The race for bronze was little bit more tense with plenty of equations possible. Alison Young (GBR) held the spot overnight however a great performance from Anne-Marie Rindom catapulted her into bronze. Rindom's second enabled her to remove Young who managed a seventh.
Laser
It was a tense finale in the Laser with toos and fros aplenty.
Anything was possible with a number of competitors mathematically in with a chance of taking the medals.
Germany's Phillipp Buhl clinched gold in the nerve racking race. He finished in third but had Tom Burton (AUS) to thank for him taking gold after he finished in between Buhl and Matt Wearn (AUS). Wearn needed to make up one more spot to pick up gold but Burton held him off on the run to the finish ensuring he missed out by a single point, resulting in silver.
After racing Buhl said, "For myself, the discard in the second race [a 28] made it hard for me to get a medal but I managed to stay consistent through the week and in with a chance for the Medal Race. It turned out to be a gold one which is incredibly surprising.
"The World Cup in Weymouth has been better than ever of course for me. It's been nice weather with sun and wind, and not too cold like other years. It's been a good advert for the event and the venue."
Tonci Stipanovic (CRO) had led overnight but struggled in the Medal Race, taking a seventh to complete the podium.
Pavlos Kontides (CYP) had work to do to push into the podium spots and could only sail his own game and rely on the results. He took the Medal Race victory but ended up three points shy of Stipanovic.
49erFX
Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze (BRA) took a stylish gold in the 49erFX by taking the Medal Race victory.
The Brazilians, World #1 and 2014 ISAF Rolex World Sailors of the Year, trailed overnight leaders Alex Maloney and Molly Meech (NZL) heading into the Medal Race. They concentrated all their efforts on themselves, sailing their own race from the front.
Not worrying about the pack behind them they took the bullet by 39 seconds and had an anxious wait after they took the bullet. Victory was confirmed when Maloney and Meech crossed the line in ninth.
On the day Kunze said, "We could have finished anywhere from first to fourth today depending on the positions of the Medal Race. We thought we had to put about four or five boats between us and the Kiwis and we weren't sure at the end if we had done it and we were just waiting for them to finish before we realised.
"Both us and the Kiwis had a good and pretty consistent week. We are really happy."
Maloney and Meech picked up silver and Maloney was left frustrated after racing, "We just didn't get the shift right today and we couldn't stay with our competitors which was a bit of a mistake and we just let the Brazilians get away from us.
"It was a pretty nice week sailing in Weymouth, we got some pretty good races in but we had a disappointing Medal Race and we can learn lot from it."
Spain's Tamara Echegoyen and Berta Betanzos (ESP) completed the podium.
49er
Starting the day with an 18 point cushion, New Zealand's Peter Burling and Blair Tuke had a number of options of how they could tactically approach the Medal Race.
The Kiwi's decided that staying close to their nearest rivals was the best way to go as Burling explained, "We had a little bit to do, but we had a little bit of a points gap on second so the game plan was to try and stay close to them, and we managed to put together a relatively solid result."
Their chosen tactics worked, and their closest rivals were fellow countrymen and training partners Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski who finished a place behind in seventh.
Burling was 'stoked' with the result and the gold medal, but was even happier that they had their mates standing next to them on the podium.
Taking the bullet and sealing bronze were Great Britain's John Pink and Stuart Bithell.
Next up for the competitors is ISAF Sailing World Cup Qingdao which takes place from 14-20 September 2015.
www.sailing.org/worldcup/results/index.php
Adventures of a Sailor Girl: Winners of World Cup Weymouth Interviews
Jason Waterhouse & Lisa Darmanin - Nacra 17 AUS
Marit Bouwmeester - Laser Radial NED
Stuart McNay & David Hughes - 470M USA
Australian Sailing shines once again at Olympic venue winning one Gold, two Silver and one Bronze medal (from Cora Zillich, Australian Sailing)
The Australian Sailing Team had a successful return to the 2012 London Olympic Games winning one Gold, two Silver and one Bronze medal at the ISAF Sailing World Cup Weymouth and Portland (10-14 June), which concluded on Sunday (14 June)
The four medals concluded a strong regatta for Australian Sailing on the road to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games after nine boats had qualified for seven of the top-ten Medal Races.
The day started off light from a northern direction with the Nacra 17 fleet getting the first racing in. Following a short postponement whilst the wind shifted the race action got going again and culminated in some tense Medal Race action.
Australian Sailing Team's Jason Waterhouse (NSW) and Lisa Darmanin (NSW) took home the Gold Medal in the Nacra 17 and added another win for Australia in this new mixed-gender multi-hull boat class, which will premier on the Rio 2016 Olympic program. It is the second World Cup win for cousins Waterhouse and Darmanin, after a gold medal at the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Melbourne in December and a bronze medal at the ISAF Sailing World Championships in September last year.
Australian Sailing teammates and Olympic silver medallists Darren Bundock (NSW) and Nina Curtis (NSW) made it two medals for Australia in this boat class by winning Bronze.
World Champions Mat Belcher (QLD) and Will Ryan (QLD) won the silver medal in the Men's 470 behind the USA, capping off a long week of racing.
In a nail-biting medal race, Australian Sailing Team's youngest sailor, 19-year old Matthew Wearn (WA), added another silver in the Laser, beating teammate and World #1 Tom Burton (NSW), who finished the regatta in sixth.
London 2012 Olympic gold medallists Nathan Outteridge (NSW) and Iain Jensen (NSW) also finished the regatta in sixth after they lost valuable points on the second day of the regatta which saw them drop down the ranks with enough points to make the medal race, but not enough to make it into the medal ranks.
Australian Finn sailor Jake Lilley (QLD) finished of a strong regatta with a second place in the medal race to conclude the event in overall sixth. Windsurfer Jo Sterling added an overall fifth and Laser Radial sailor Ashley Stoddart (QLD) a ninth place to the Australian results list in Sunday's medal races.
Already on Saturday (13 June) Australian Sailing's Paralympians Colin Harrison (WA), Jonathan Harris (NSW) and Russell Boaden (WA) won the Gold Medal in the Sonar event. See media release here: http://www.australiansailing.org/gold-medal-for-australian-sailing-sonar-team-nine-australian-sailing-boats-in-olympic-medal-races/
A total of nine Australian Sailing teams had qualified for Sunday's top-ten medal races in seven out of the nine Olympic classes with Australian participation at the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Weymouth and Portland (10-14 June).
Nacra 17
First up on the day, the Nacra 17 had to contend with some light breeze on a changing racecourse.
Australian Sailing Team's youngsters and 2014 World Championship bronze medallists Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin went into the medal race in the lead after a strong, consistent week of racing. Following in fourth and tied on points with third were Olympic silver medallists Darren Bundock and Nina Curtis. Twelve points separated the two Australian boats with anything still possible in the double points medal race.
With a dying breeze, it was a game of patience where calm heads were required. Keeping their cool were overnight leaders Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin. The cousins kept things tight and a third after sailing recovering from the tail of the fleet at the first mark was enough for gold.
After yesterday's racing in a strong breeze, today was a bit of an anti-climax because it was such light wind. But when we crossed the finish line I looked at Jason and couldn't quite believe that we just did it. It was a bit of a relief as it was such a stressful race. It was tricky out there, but we kept our cool and sailed a really good downwind. Finishing third in the medal race got us to gold so we are really happy," a beaming Lisa Darmanin said after racing.
"It was really hectic out there and I mean it in the nicest way possible. It wasn't even that windy, but my heart was racing," Jason Waterhouse confirmed the pressure. "Either way it was a great race, Lisa did a great job and I'm super proud of my cousin and we're looking forward to the next event already. We'll race at the Nacra 17 World Champs in July next and hope we can have another good result there."
And in reference to two Australian teams finishing on the podium he added: "It's great to have two Aussie medals in our class and I guess this reflects a bit the 2012 Olympics spirit as we've another strong team here."
Australia's second crew of Olympic silver medallists Darren Bundock and Nina Curtis were in top form in the medal race and came through in second. This was enough to promote them up into bronze medal position after Thomas Zajac and Tanja Frank (AUT), who occupied the final podium spot overnight, were penalised for being over the line at the start with 22 points added to their tally. But it was not enough to move into silver, as Nina Curtis had hoped for:
"We went into today with all the points really close. Jason (Waterhouse) had a pretty solid lead. He was always going to be hard for us to beat, plus the points between silver to bronze and a few boats behind us were all really close."
"While we're happy to take away the bronze medal, when we crossed the finish line, we actually thought we pulled off the silver medal. Unfortunately, the boat between us and another one were OSC, so that was a little bit disappointing. Nevertheless, we are really happy with how this regatta went for us and to be on the podium at the Sailing World Cup is always a good thing."
And helmsman Darren Bundock added about the event as a whole: "It was a good event with a variety of conditions and it was promising for us that we showed we're going a lot better now when it's strong and windy. That was a weakness for us last year and now it's becoming one of our strengths. The great thing is that we're still going quite quickly in the light as well. So overall we're very pleased with how we're going. We're off to Denmark next for the Nacra 17 World Championships and the next part of our Olympic selection. Obviously it's getting very close and Jason and Lisa are doing very well, but we'll keep them honest and push them all the way."
Men's Two Person Dinghy – 470M
In the Men's 470, World Champions Mat Belcher and Will Ryan went into the medal race in the silver medal position with a comfortable lead to third but also with a seven points gap to the leading Americans and it all came down to Sunday's medal race performance.
In a dying breeze it took two attempts to get the medal race in and with the U.S. crew of Stuart McNay and David Hughes putting in another strong performance winning the Medal Race they took home the overall win.
Mat Belcher and Will Ryan finished eighth in the Medal Race to take silver.
"We tried to get the first race through which was pretty light. They made a good decision, actually, to cancel it and do the re-race in a nice South Westerly of about 7-8 knots, which were nice conditions, but all in all made for a difficult day of racing," Mat Belcher said after racing.
Despite this being the third second place for the pair at a World Cup after Miami and Hyères, the Olympic gold medallist was confident about their Rio campaign:
"We're very competitive and we want to win every event, or at least perform at our top in every event. And to come away with second is always a bit hard. It's been three seconds now, against different guys at the past three World Cups. But it's still a long road to Rio and we are happy, really happy with where we are in the campaign."
"The major championships are coming up, with the Europeans up next in a couple of weeks. We have Worlds later on, the Pre-Olympics in August and then obviously next year, the Games. With all that in mind, we're happy where we are and obviously doing the things we need to and improving the best we can."
Men's One Person Dinghy – Laser
It was a tense finale in the Laser and anything was possible with a number of competitors mathematically in with a chance of taking the medals.
Going into the final medal race only one point separated Australian Laser sailor Matt Wearn from leading German Phillip Buhl. World #1 Tom Burton also qualified for the medal race after finishing in eighth place after the fleet racing.
It was a nail-bitting final race with changing positions and Matt Wearn's overall result going up and down in between gold and silver. But in the end it was Germany's Phillipp Buhl who clinched gold in the nerve-racking race.
He finished the Medal Race in third but had Tom Burton to thank for him taking gold after he finished in between Buhl and Matt Wearn. Wearn needed to stay one place behind the German on the final run to the finish but Buhl managed to pass Burton near the end of the leg, meaning that Wearn missed Gold by a single point.
But there was no disappointment for Matt Wearn, who sailed a strong regatta and was very happy with the silver.
"It was a tight battle all the way around, losing positions and gaining positions everywhere. It was just the race to the bottom gate on the last downwind that really made the difference. Unfortunately Buhl just had a little bit more legs on me on the downwind but at the end of the day I'm pretty stoked to come away with a second, which is a good step."
And asked about the fact that fellow teammate Tom Burton's strong performance cost him gold he realistically said:
"I was pretty well aware of what the points situation was. But obviously, TB (Tom Burton) was not going to slow down just for me to win a regatta, he's a good sailor and obviously would always go for the best result in a race. He's a good bloke, he's happy for me and I'm happy for him when he does well. Buhl just sailed a good downwind and TB did all he could to do his best, no harm done."
And Tom Burton added: "On the last run, I did have a glance back and saw Matt behind me and Philip obviously past me. Of course I knew the points, but what can I do, I'm not going to stop, its not a team game and that would look really bad. Its bad luck for him but he sailed a good week anyway and second is nothing to shy away from."
And with regards to his own week of sailing he added: "It was quite a tough week and some aspects of my sailing were quite good and other aspects were quite basic and rookie level, so it was a little disappointing. I expected to get better each day, but more so than I did. I will need a bit of a boost going into the worlds in a few weeks and there are a few things to work on and much to improve on."
Men's Skiff – 49er
In the 49er, Olympic medallists Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen lost their chance to win a medal on the second day of the regatta, which saw the pair drop from second to 15th. A lost day of racing on Friday (12 June) did not help their need for points to climb back up the results ladder. Solid results on the last day of fleet racing catapulted them back up into overall sixth and into the final medal race, but based on points the pair knew a medal would be out of reach.
In the medal race they finished third and thus sixth overall.
"We were pretty happy with our overall results after the fleet racing, but obviously it wasn't enough to get us into medal contention. All the damage was done a couple days ago," Nathan Outteridge said.
"It's been a tough week for us here in Weymouth with some ups and downs, but all in all we sailed quite well. We just had that one bad day in the middle, which cost us a lot of points. We had an up and down medal race, but finished the race in third and were happy with that. Next up for us is Portugal for the Europeans and then we'll be on to Rio for the test event after that."
Men's One Person Dinghy (Heavyweight) – Finn
Australian Sailing Squad's Jake Lilley had a solid week and qualifying for the medal race was a big success for the young Finn sailor.
He was ranked ninth going into the medal race and based on the overall point score, an overall sixth was the best that he could reach. And that's exactly what he did. A strong performance and second place in the medal race put him into sixth overall
"I did as much as I could to move up the leader board as far as possible. I had quite a good race and started well, like a bull out of a gate. I went up the first beat and had some good speed to lead at the top mark and bottom mark. Then the Frenchman got to the side of me and sailed around me upwind, but I stayed in front of the boys I needed to stay in front of and finished the race in second to move up to sixth, so, I'm pretty stoked with that."
Women's One Person Dinghy – Laser Radial & Women's Windsurfer – RS:X
Joanna Sterling had a good week of racing in the Women's windsurfer and consistent results put her into overall fifth.
"I think finishing seventh in the medal race was a great finish to a good week of racing. My results have been pretty consistent and I have really been enjoying the conditions and the regatta. Europeans are up next for me."
Fellow Queensland Ashley Stoddart also had a strong regatta in her second international medal race of the 2015 season and finished the event in ninth.
"Weymouth went really well, I was pretty happy with how I was sailing, and the results came in the end, I was fighting from the beginning and my worst place was a 13th so I was pretty happy with some consistent and good results," Ashley said. "I made the medal race in Medemblik at the Delta Lloyd regatta and also here in Weymouth. That's two top tens in a row, which is a good step ahead of the Europeans in Aarhus, in Denmark mid July."
Individual class championships, including the Laser World Championships in Canada (29 June – 8 July) and the Nacra World Championships in Denmark (3 – 12 July) will be up next for the Australian Sailing Team, before selected athletes will come together again for the Rio test event from 15-22 August.
Six medals for the NZL Sailing Team at 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup Weymouth (from Jodie Bakewell-White, Yachting New Zealand)
In what has been one of the NZL Sailing Team most successful international regattas the team has won six medals at 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup Weymouth including one gold, four silver and one bronze.
Gold and silver in the 49er for New Zealand with Peter Burling and Blair Tuke further extending their unbeaten run in the class and team-mates Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski sharing the podium for silver.
Both New Zealand's womens' double-handers crews have won silver medals, Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie beaten on count-back only by long-time rivals Saskia Clark and Hannah Mills (GBR). Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech take silver in 49erFX also overthrown in the final race, by class favourites.
Featuring strongly all week in the Finn standings New Zealand has collected silver and bronze in the class, which will come to New Zealand in November this year to battle out their World Championship title.
49er and 49erFX
Despite a poor start at this regatta, Peter Burling and Blair Tuke were back in front in the men's 49er class and went into today's medal race with an 18 point buffer over team-mates Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski.
All went according to plan for Burling and Tuke and after a 6th place on the water today they collected the gold, extending their amazing unbeaten run to 17 straight victories at the major events in the class.
"Our first win in Weymouth," says a delighted Burling.
On their approach to today's race Burling said, "We had a little bit to do, but we had a little bit of a points gap on second so the game plan was to try and stay close to them, and we managed to put together a relatively solid result."
Hansen and Porebski were 7th in today's medal race and comfortably secure the silver medal making it 1-2 for New Zealand on the 49er podium. Encouragingly, this is their best result for 2015 to date.
Taking the lead into today's medal race Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech were out performed today by reigning world champions in the women's 49erFX class, Martine Soffiatti Grael and Kahena Kunze. The Brazilian's struck out an early lead in today's medal race and never relinquished it finishing well ahead of the pack.
Maloney and Meech crossed in 9th and have to settle for silver this time.
"We just didn't get the shift right today and we couldn't stay with our competitors which was a bit of a mistake and we just let the Brazilians get away from us," said Maloney after racing.
"It was a pretty nice week sailing in Weymouth, we got some pretty good races in but we had a disappointing Medal Race and we can learn lot from it."
The 49er and 49erFX fleets will sail their 2015 European Championship next month in Portugal, building towards August's Aquece Rio International Regatta (Olympic Test Event) and then the 2015 49er World Championship being staged in Buenos Aires, Argentina in November.
470 Women's and Men's
Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie have enjoyed being back in Weymouth where three years ago they won Olympic gold, and this time they came oh so close again finishing this regatta on equal points with victors Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark (GBR).
The kiwis were 5th in today's medal race, while the Brits were 4th and drawing equal on points the gold goes to Mills and Clark because they placed higher in today's race.
Aleh and Powrie congratulate them on a great final race; "It was an interesting day on the water, the British girls Hannah and Saskia pulled off a very well executed race and we didn't quite match them this time. So they won this round and we ended up 2nd overall,' says Jo Aleh.
"It's been a good week of sailing, some great learnings as always. We're ready to tidy up a few more areas of our racing ready for the next regatta which is European Champs in a few weeks."
Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox sailed well across the first half of the series, but were knocked by some average results on day four and went into the Men's 470 medal race lying 10th. Finishing 5th on the water today didn't change their position and they end the regatta in 10th overall.
Finn
Josh Junior put up a good fight for gold in the Finn medal race, the young Wellingtonian giving it everything he could to take victory off the on-form Giles Scott from Great Britain.
Knowing that Junior was in with a reasonable chance needing only to finish two places ahead of him in today's race Scott and Junior ended up towards the back of the fleet and while the kiwi crossed ahead in 9th Scott was right behind him 10th and secured the gold medal.
Junior recently won silver at the Finn European Championships in Split, Croatia and admits that both he and Murdoch have made gains in the class;
Junior says, "I think we are now getting the gear right and are starting to go really fast. Doc [Murdoch] has been a great sailor for many years and I've sailed pretty well and we are both starting to move towards the front, so hopefully that continues and we can do this more regularly."
Andrew Murdoch sailed home with a 6th in today's medal race coming close to team-mate Junior on points, but not close enough to take silver from him. Murdoch, from Northland's Kerikeri Cruising Club takes the bronze for his first Finn medal at an ISAF Sailing World Cup Regatta.
This November the Finn class will sail the Finn World Cup (their 2015 World Championship) here in New Zealand with Takapuna Boating Club set to host the world's best in the Olympic heavy-weight dinghy later this year. The kiwis will be hoping to put on a good show on home waters.
Laser and Radial
Two New Zealand sailors were in today's Laser medal race; Andy Maloney ended the regatta well with a 2nd place today which sees him end the regatta in 7th place overall.
"After a week of ups and downs, I'm pretty happy to finish on a high with second place in the medal race. It was an extremely tight race which moved me up to finish 7th overall. Not the goal but some real positives to take from the week," reports Maloney.
Meanwhile Sam Meech, who broke into the top ten with great results on day four, has concluded the regatta in 8th after placing 8th in the medal race.
Thomas Saunders ends the regatta in 12th with Michael Bullot close behing in 13th.
In the Laser Radial, Sara Winther ends the regatta in 17th place; Susannah Pyatt in 31st.
Nacra 17
Olivia Mackay and Micah Wilkinson conclude their first ISAF Sailing World Cup regatta in 26th place.