NZL Sailing Team: Seven Kiwis in contention after Day 3 at SWC Enoshima
by Yachting NZ/Sail-World.com/nz 13 Sep 2018 21:34 BST
14 September 2018
Sam Meech (NZL) - Laser - Day 3 Sailing World Cup, Enoshima - August 13, 2018 © Jesus Renedo / Sailing Energy / World Sailing
Despite a funky breeze at the Sailing World Cup Enoshima, the NZL Sailing Team held its position in five of the Olympic class fleets.
Two of the crews are in second place overall in their fleets.
One of those is 49er crew Logan Dunning-Beck and Oscar Gunn who are becoming more accustomed to being among the contenders at major regattas and are in the hunt for a medal after Day 3 at the World Cup in Enoshima.
The pair have been sailing in the 49er together for little more than a year and have already picked up medals at last year's Olympic Sailing Week in Enoshima and the Hyeres World Cup. They also finished an encouraging seventh at last month's sailing world championships in Aarhus, qualifying the boat for New Zealand for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and are only four points off the lead in Enoshima with one more day of racing before the top 10 medal race.
They coped well with the light conditions today, posting a fifth and a third on top of the 22nd when they had issues with their trapeze, but there were plenty of crews who struggled.
"It was a super shifty day out on the water," Gunn said. "There were pretty light winds and the fleet was really close. If you lost a few metres, you ended up losing 10 boats. There were some big scores happening out there from some good guys."
That included 2017 49er world champions Dylan Fletcher-Scott and Stuart Bithell of Great Britain, who started the day in second but plummeted to 11th with three deep scores.
A handful of other New Zealand boats are in contention in Enoshima. Sam Meech is second and Tom Saunders fifth in the Laser, Josh Junior is fifth and Andy Maloney seventh in the Finn, Alex Maloney and Molly Meech are fourth in the 49erFX and Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders are sixth in the Nacra 17.
One of the highlights of the day was a race win for Maloney and the Finn is still wide open, with only eight points between first and Junior in fifth.
Only one race was possible in the 49erFX and it was an unhappy one for Maloney and Meech, with the pair finishing 24th, but they are still right in the hunt.
There was also only one race in the Laser fleet as race officials struggled to put the marks down and then the wind died. Meech was sixth in that race to jump up into second but doesn't feel like he's on his best form.
"I was in tricky positions at times but managed to wriggle my way out of them and finish up with a decent result," he said.
"I'm struggling a little bit in the regatta so far but I think there are going to be lots of opportunities as the week goes on. Everyone is going to get bad races. If I can try to knock off some more good ones, there will be chances to pull up overall. Fingers crossed the rest of the week goes well."
Dunning Beck and Gunn are also hoping for a good result but they're not alone in trying to master the Olympic venue.
"If you can win anywhere, it's a good thing, but here particularly over other locations," Dunning Beck said. "If you have got a handle on it, you will be feeling pretty happy with yourself because it's a hard place to sail."
Results and standings after the third day of the World Cup regatta in Enoshima, Japan, Day 3:
Laser (59 boats)
1st: Elliot Hanson (GBR) 11 6 (14) 1 3 - 21 points
2nd: Sam Meech (NZL) 4 (35) 17 2 6 - 29 pts
3rd: Nick Thompson (GBR) 10 14 (33) 5 2 - 31 pts
5th: Tom Saunders (NZL) 15 (18) 8 3 8 - 34 pts
18th: George Gautrey (NZL) 5 36 11 (60 BFD) 16 - 68 pts
Laser Radial (53 boats)
1st: Alison Young (GBR) 4 (17) 2 4 - 10 pts
2nd: Marit Bouwmeester (NED) 2 (23) 4 5 - 11 pts
3rd: Josefin Olsson (SWE) (15) 1 10 2 - 13 pts
19th: Olivia Christie (NZL) 25 4 21 (45) - 50 pts
Nacra 17 (25 boats)
1st: Ruggero Tita / Caterina Marianna Banti (ITA) 1 1 1 1 1 (12) 4 6 12 - 27 pts
2nd: Jason Waterhouse / Lisa Darmanin (AUS) 6 5 3 5 3 2 (8) 1 7 - 32 pts
3rd: Vittorio Bissaro / Maelle Frascari (ITA) (11) 2 2 2 7 3 9 5 8 - 38 pts
6th: Gemma Jones / Jason Saunders (NZL) 2 3 10 3 (26 DSQ) 10 12 3 5 - 48 pts
Finn (21 boats)
1st: Giles Scott (GBR) 6 1 2 6 (10) 2 - 17 pts
2nd: Nicholas Heiner (NED) 5.4 DPI 6.4 DPI 1 (8) 4 4 - 20.8 pts
3rd: Jorge Zarif (BRA) 5 9 3 1 5 (12) - 23 pts
5th: Josh Junior (NZL) 2 6 8 3 6 (10) - 25 pts
7th: Andy Maloney (NZL) (14) 8 12 7 9 1 - 37 pts
49er (27 boats)
1st: James Peters / Fynn Sterritt (GBR) 4 3 5 1 7 8 (17) 9 15 - 52 pts
2nd: Lukasz Przybytek / Pawel Kolodzinski (POL) 2 8 3 17 5 (23) 4 5 8 - 52 pts
3rd: Logan Dunning Beck / Oscar Gunn (NZL) 3 5 8 6 9 17 5 (22) 3 - 56 pts
13th: Josh Porebski / Trent Rippey (NZL) 19 22 2 10 13 5 9 (25) 14 - 94 pts
18th: Isaac McHardie / William McKenzie (NZL) 21 6 20 14 (24) 9 10 8 13 - 101 pts
49erFX (24 boats)
1st: Martine Soffiatti Grael / Kahena Kunze (BRA) 1 5 2 1 1 (13) 1 - 11 pts
2nd: Charlotte Dobson / Saskia Tidey (GBR) 3 6 4 4 5 (18) 15 - 37 pts
3rd: Ida Marie Baad Nielsen / Marie Thusgaard Olsen (DEN) 6 1 3 19 9 (20) 2 - 40 pts
4th: Alex Maloney / Molly Meech (NZL) 19 3 1 2 4 12 (24) - 41 pts
Men's 470 (32 boats)
1st: Keiju Okada / Jumpei Hokazono (JPN) 5 2 1 2 (12) 2 - 12 pts
2nd: Mathew Belcher / William Ryan (AUS) 3 (15) 5 1 11 5 - 25 pts
3rd: Daichi Takayama / Kimihiko Imamura (JPN) 7 9 6 5 2 (13) - 29 pts
24th: Paul Snow-Hansen / Daniel Willcox (NZL) 19 (32) 14 18 26 19 - 96 pts
Women's 470 (23 boats)
1st: Benedetta di Salle / Alessandra Dubbini (ITA) 5 2 7 (13) 5 2 - 21 pts
2nd: Afrodite Kyranakou / Anneloes van Veen (NED) 2 5 6 2 6 (8) - 21 pts
3rd: Agnieszka Skrzypulec / Jolanta Ogar (POL) 3 10 1 8 4 (24 UFD) - 26 pts
22nd: Courtney Reynolds-Smith / Brianna Reynolds-Smith (NZL) 21 20 20 (23) - 61 pts
Men's RS:X (40 boards)
1st: Kiran Badloe (NED) 3 2 8 2 4 11 (17) 4 - 33 pts
2nd: Mattia Camboni (ITA) 1 2 1 (34) 10 7 18 1 - 40 pts
3rd: Mateo Sanz Lanz (SUI) 9 (20) 12 1 7 4 1 - 43 pts
Women's RS:X (30 boards)
1st: Peina Chen (CHN) 1 3 10 3 8 4 1 (13) - 30 pts
2nd: Bryony Shaw (GBR) 5 4 3 8 (31 BFD) 5 3 5 - 33 pts
3rd: Lilian de Geus (NED) (21) 1 1 10 15 1 8 3 - 39 pts
Full results click here