Issue date
Peter Burling and Blair Tuke have returned a perfect scorecard on day one of Rio 2016 and take the early lead in the 49er event.
Alex Maloney and Molly Meech also got underway today with two solid keeper results in the 49erFX event which makes its debut here in Rio. Molly’s brother Sam Meech holds onto 6th place in the Laser.
Things didn’t go as well for both kiwi 470 crews, with Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie relinquishing their lead.
Light winds meant postponements across all fleets, and some scheduled races were not completed.
49er
Peter Burling and Blair Tuke have opened their Rio 2016 Olympic campaign with two race wins to lead the 49er class after day one for the skiffs.
The New Zealand Olympic Team co-captains looked composed and confident pouncing on a late error from Denmark in race one to take the gun in the first race.
In race two they came through on the second downwind run choosing the faster track to the bottom mark and clearing out on the chasing pack for a convincing 40-second victory.
Two wins places them firmly at the top of the board on two points on a day when some other prominent sailors, including the Australians and the British, struggled.
Light winds today meant the fleet was kept ashore until after 2pm, but Blair Tuke said he didn’t mind the delay, “We’ve been watching all the other classes race now for a few days so we were really keen to get into it this morning, and we had to wait just a little bit longer but that was okay.”
“Finally, when the sou’wester came it was nice, it was shifty on the close-in course near the beach, but we managed to get a couple of low scores so we’re really happy with the day.”
Burling agreed, saying, “We’re really happy to get a couple of low scores on the board and not walk away with anything big and just to get into the series, you know, we’ve been waiting a long time to get racing, and we’ve been really enjoying ourselves out there and I think that showed today.”
Family and friends of the pair were on the beach. “It was good to have Pete’s parents there and my whole family – all dressed up and giving us yahoos and stuff it was really cool and we definitely enjoyed the extra bit of support from the kiwis on the beach.”
Behind Burling and Tuke on the leader board are Jorge Lima and Jose Costa of Portugal on eight points, while Erik Heil and Thomas Ploessel are just one further adrift. The 49er fleet continues racing tomorrow.
49erFX
Predictions for the women’s skiff class have been that competition will be extremely tight, and after two races, they certainly are.
Alex Maloney and Molly Meech sailed two good races on Olympic debut, returning a 6th in race one and a 5th in race two lying 6th on the leader board, but tied on points with Ireland in 5th, and only two points off the early leaders Erin Rafuse and Dannie Boyd of Canada.
Molly Meech said, “It was really cool to get out there and start racing today – it was just really fun to get going.”
“We had a pretty consistent day, on each beat we were gaining a boat so that was quite nice and getting a feel for it – I think we shook a few of the nerves off a bit today.”
“It’ll be cool to get back out tomorrow.”
Women’s 470
After a long wait ashore the women’s 470 fleet managed one late race on day three of competition.
Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie have slipped out of the lead and back to 6th position disappointed with a 12th place in today’s race however, good results in the days to come could see them improve again.
They hold 18 points and are just behind the French and the USA crews who both have 17 points, with Japan and France just ahead and both on 15 points. The British Sailing Team’s Hannah Mills and Saskia Clarke take the overall lead on 12 points.
Men’s 470
Things didn’t go well for Paul Snow-Hansen and Dan Willcox in the Men’s 470 class today. They also sailed just one race late today finishing near the back of the pack in 23rd and coming ashore in the fading light. They are now lying 13th overall.
Laser
Returning to competition after a rest day Sam Meech and the Laser fleet was sailing on the outer course in the large rolling swells making for challenging racing.
Meech placed 13th in his first (race seven of the regatta) and then improved with a 6th in the second race of the day which sees him holding 6th overall in the largest of the Olympic sailing events.
He will also sail again tomorrow.
Elsewhere
Two New Zealand crews – Josh Junior (Finn) and Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders (Nacra) were on a scheduled rest day today. They will both be back in action again tomorrow.
NZL Sailing Team current standings
1st Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (49er) (1, 1)
4th Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders (Nacra 17) (9, 15, 7, 5, 4, 2)
6th Alex Maloney and Molly Meech (49erFX) (6, 5)
6th Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie (Women’s 470) (21DSQ, 1, 4, 1, 12)
6th Sam Meech (Laser) (19, 3, 5, 6, 14, 17, 13, 6)
13th Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox (Men’s 470) (2, 10, 20, 15, 23)
15th Josh Junior (Finn) (18, 24UFD, 14, 14, 5, 3)
Full results are available on the Rio 2016 website: https://www.rio2016.com/en/schedule-and-results
On tomorrow’s schedule;
Alex Maloney and Molly Meech – 49erFX – Races 3, 4, 5 & 6
Peter Burling and Blair Tuke – 49er – Races 3, 4, 5 & 6
Sam Meech – Laser – Races 9 & 10
Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders – Nacra 17 – 7, 8 & 9
Josh Junior – Finn – Races 7 & 8
Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie – W470 – Reserve day
Paul Snow-Hansen and Dan Willcox – M470 – Reserve day
NZL Sailing Team Rio 2016 Media Guide here http://www.yachtingnz.org.nz/racing/olympic/2016-olympic-sailing-team
In total, 380 sailors from 66 nations will race in 274 boats across ten Olympic Events across seven racing areas in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
For more information:
Jodie Bakewell-White
Email: jodie@yachtingnz.org.nz
Rio tel: 21973483812
