Issue date
The NZL Sailing Team has secured two gold medals at 2015 Princess Sofia Regatta with victory, and successful title defences, for Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie in the Women’s 470, and in the 49er for Peter Burling and Blair Tuke.
Aleh and Powrie will also be awarded the regatta’s top Trophy by Her Majesty Queen Sofia for the best team during the week.
The 2012 Olympic gold medallists went into today’s medal race with a seven point lead over the French in 2nd with the British close behind, just two further adrift. But this order remained unchanged after today’s race.
Jo Aleh explains that it wasn’t an easy win today; “It was a race of many parts, it all looked a little bad a few times, but we kept at it, after rounding the first mark in 7th with the French in 2nd, we had a bit of work to do.”
“We got back into the race on the first downwind and rounded the last top mark in 4th, with the overall title still just safe. Then the downwind went a little crazy and it was boats coming out of everywhere! We just held our nerve and just snuck in front of the pack to cross the finish line in 3rd after a few good gybes to take out the regatta by three points. Tight!”
She continues, “Happy with our week here, nice to get back into racing, it's been great hanging out with the rest of the NZL Sailing Team, and looking forward to the rest of this trip!”
In the 49er skiff Peter Burling and Blair Tuke’s win was characteristically dominant finishing 18 points clear of the fleet. With this Princess Sofia Regatta gold in the bag the pair have further extended their winning streak to 17 major wins in a row.
In today’s race there was an outside chance that German crew of Erik Heil and Thomas Plossell could claim the top spot and as a result the kiwis went into today’s medal race with the focus of ensuring that didn’t happen.
“Fun little match race today to finish off the week,” says Burling, “stoked to take the win in Palma.”
The second kiwi crew in the 49er medal race – Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski – crossed the line in 2nd place to conclude the regatta in 5th overall.
In the Finn medal race Josh Junior also finished in 2nd place which edged him into 7th overall as his final result from the week in Palma de Mallorca.
Meanwhile Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech placed 5th in the 49erFX medal race and finish the regatta in 9th.
Next on the Olympic sailing circuit is ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyeres and the majority of the NZL Sailing Team crews in Palma will travel on to France to prepare for the regatta which kicks off on 22 April.
2015 Princess Sofia Regatta
New Zealand’s Final Results
1st Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie – Women’s 470
1st Peter Burling and Blair Tuke - 49er
5th Josh Porebski and Marcus Hansen – 49er
7th Josh Junior – Finn
9th Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech – 49erFX
12th Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders – Nacra 17
14th Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox – Men’s 470
12th Michael Bullot – Laser
18th Thomas Saunders – Laser
25th Sara Winther – Laser Radial
43rd Susannah Pyatt – Laser Radial
55th Andrew McKenzie (Aon Fast Track) – Laser
58th Antonio Cozzolino – Men’s RS:X
For more information contact…
Jodie Bakewell-White
Tel. 021 709 065
Email. jodie@yachtingnz.org.nz
High resolution images are available free for editorial use. Please email jodie@yachtingnz.org.nz
