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Josh Poresbki and Trent Rippey have made a good start to the year. Photo: Sailing Energy / World Sailing.
Consistency is very important in sailing and it’s something Josh Porebski and Trent Rippey are starting to establish.
The pair struggled to put complete regattas together in the 49er fleet last year but look to have turned things around in the last five months. It started with silver at December’s Sail Sydney, continued with gold at February’s Oceanbridge NZL Sailing Regatta and earlier this month they backed it up with fourth at the Princess Sofia regatta in Palma in a fleet of 90 boats.
Porebski also snared silver at the JJ Giltinan 18-foot world championships when sailing with Jack Simpson and Dave Hazard.
Porebski and Rippey, who have been sailing together in the 49er for a couple of years, will be looking to continue their run at the World Cup regatta in Hyeres which starts on Tuesday night (NZ time).
“Things feel like they are clicking now,” Porebski said. “We are working well together and have been doing a lot of sailing, a lot of racing. We have been working really well and sorting out some of the things we didn’t do very well last year.
“I think a lot of it has to do with confidence. We have had another year together in the boat and every regatta you get a bit more confident and figure out things that have been wrong in the past.
“We always wanted to be in the top five or challenging for the podium at the end of the week. That was our goal from the first regatta we did together, but we are getting closer now. I don’t think expectations change, but the results have been changing, which is good.”
They’re not the only New Zealand crew looking to finish on the podium this week.
A total of 21 Kiwi sailors in 14 boats are competing, including the trio who won medals in Palma: Sam Meech (silver Laser), Alex Maloney and Molly Meech (silver 49erFX) and Andy Maloney (bronze Finn).
It represented a good start to the European season, especially as New Zealand sailors won the third-most number of medals of any nation in Palma and three other crews finished in the top 10.
Hyeres will be a little different. Fleet sizes will be considerably smaller – there are 68 Lasers in Hyeres compared with 183 a fortnight ago - but it is a concentration of the world’s best and they’re all looking to find some form ahead of August's sailing world championships in Aarhus.
The world championships is the main focus of the year for Porebski and Rippey, along with the rest of the New Zealand sailors, and the event also doubles as the first opportunity to qualify boats for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Only one crew can go to Tokyo and the 49er is a congested scene with Logan Dunning Beck and Oscar Gunn and Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie also tracking well. There’s also a couple of handy sailors by the names of Peter Burling and Blair Tuke in the background who could decide they want to defend their Olympic title.
Porebski and Rippey are well aware of the situation but the only thing they can do is prove their worth through results and that’s what they are aiming to do in Hyeres this week.
New Zealand sailors competing at the World Cup regatta in Hyeres starting on Tuesday night (NZ time):
49er: Josh Porebski / Trent Rippey, Logan Dunning Beck / Oscar Gunn
49erFX: Alex Maloney / Molly Meech
Laser: Sam Meech, Tom Saunders, Andrew McKenzie
Laser Radial: Olivia Christie, Susannah Pyatt
Finn: Andy Maloney, Josh Junior
Men's 470: Paul Snow-Hansen / Dan Willcox
Women's 470: Courtney Reynolds-Smith / Brianna Reynolds-Smith
Nacra 17: Gemma Jones / Jason Saunders, Liv Mackay / Micah Wilkinson
