Issue date
It was a day of incremental improvements for all three New Zealand sailors racing in the gold fleet at the 2013 Laser World Championships drawing to a close at Musannah, Oman.
Photo by Oman Sail
With one day remaining Sam Meech has moved up one position into 9th, Andy Maloney up two places to 14th while Thomas Saunders has climbed one place into 19th.
Across the board sailors recorded mixed results on what was another very shifty, challenging day for all 126 competing for the open world title in Oman, and the kiwis deserve credit for making gains on a day where many suffered harshly.
Two races were sailed on what was day six of the seven day regatta. Meech, from the Tauranga Yacht & Powerboat Club, opened the day with a solid 10th but then went on to place 39th and discard that race from his points total. Meech has 86 points with a nine point gap to close to better his position while two sailors are in hot pursuit both on 87 points.
Andy Maloney (Murrays Bay Sailing Club) was the most consistent kiwi sailor today placing 18th and 10th in his two races seeing him climb from 16th up to 14th overall with a total of 101 points.
Thomas Saunders (Tauranga Yacht & Powerboat Club) is now lying 19th with 128 points after placing 47th and then 8th in today’s racing.
The final day of the 2013 Laser World Championships is being billed as an almighty showdown after overall leader Robert Scheidt of Brazil relinquished almost all of his leading margin on the penultimate day. Just one point separates Scheidt and Pavlos Kontides of Cyprus, with Croatia’s Tonci Stipanovic in 3rd.
The first race of the final day of the Laser Worlds will start at 11.00am GST with 15.00 set as the cut off time for the last start. To follow racing, go to www.omanlaserworlds2013.com for live blogging from the race course. Results will be posted immediately after racing has concluded for the day.
2013 Laser World Championships, Muscat, Oman
New Zealand’s standings after day six (total fleet 126)
9th Sam Meech (16, 26, 7, 15, 17, 1, 2, 8, 10, 10, 39)
14th Andy Maloney (7, 7, 8, 19, 5, 23, 22, 5, 33, 18, 10)
19th Thomas Saunders (15, 4, 11, 2, 22, 21, 44, 6, 39, 47, 8)
102nd Michael Cate
105th George Lane
Links
Regatta website: http://omanlaserworlds2013.com/eng/index.php
NZL Sailing Team on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NZLSailingTeam
Yachting New Zealand website: http://www.yachtingnz.org.nz/
NZL Sailing Team sailor profiles: http://www.yachtingnz.org.nz/racing/nzl-sailing-team/team-profiles
For more information:
Jodie Bakewell-White
YNZ Communications Manager
Tel. 021 709 065
Email. jodie@yachtingnz.org.nz
