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Logan Dunning Beck and Oscar Gunn have beaten compatriots Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie to 49er gold, with Kiwis also claiming silver and bronze on a dramatic final day at the Princess Sofia Regatta.
No medal race offered more drama than that in the 49er fleet – where the leaderboard fluctuated throughout the event.
Starting the double-points race in second place, Dunning Beck and Gunn again combined shrewd tactics and impressive boat speed to cross the line in second and leapfrog overnight leaders McHardie and McKenzie.
Dunning Beck and Gunn had to fight their way back from 22nd overall after the first day to the top of the podium.
“It was a tough first day, but we just kept at it and managed to climb back up the rankings to have a shot at the gold when we went into the medal race – so it was really good to get the win,” said Gunn of their triumph that comes exactly a year after a 16th place at the same event signalled the start of a disappointing European season for the pair in 2022.
Logan Dunning Beck and Oscar Gunn claimed gold after a dramatic medal race also featuring Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie. Photos / Sailing Energy
McHardie and McKenzie slipped into the bronze-medal position after finishing the race in ninth.
“We’re gutted with how we ended up today - we came into it with the hopes of getting gold but, unfortunately, it wasn’t quite our day,” McKenzie said.
“We are super happy for Logan and Oscar to take out the win and pretty stoked to have two Kiwis on the podium. So, overall, we’re gutted from today but happy with how the week's gone.”
Australians Tom Burton and Max Paul took silver – ensuring an all-Australasian podium.
“It’s probably a coincidence that the Kiwis and Aussies have done well here because we haven’t done much training with them in recent years,” Dunning Beck said.
“But it’s good to see, and it reminds me of the days when [former Australian 49er sailors] Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen, and Peter Burling and Blair Tuke were fighting it out at the top of the 49er fleet. It’s nice to think we could get back to that again.”
The final act in the ILCA 7 competition also delivered a mix of elation and heartbreak for the Kiwis – with George Gautrey stunning the rest of the fleet by winning the medal race to claim silver and Tom Saunders dropping out of contention after a false start.
A left-field strategy – quite literally – paid off, Gautrey explained.
“I thought it was a bit of a left-hand track, so I just wanted to get into the race and be the leftmost boat,” he said.
“You go into these things with the perfect strategy laid out in your head and today I got the start I needed, and it all came together at the right time.”
George Gautrey moments after winning the ILCA 7 medal race - and securing the silver medal. Photos / Sailing Energy
Former world champion Saunders, who lined up for the race in the silver-medal position, picked up an OCS for being over at the start line prematurely. Forced to circle back and re-start, Saunders managed to catch up with the back of the fleet but could only finish eighth for an overall fifth place – a single point off the bronze.
While disappointed for his teammate, Gautrey – who started the race nine points outside of medal territory - said Saunders’ misfortune helped his cause.
“At that stage, I knew … that winning the race would be my best chance of moving up. Some of the other guys did some betting for me and got a few of the boys to the back of the fleet where I needed them to be.”
While it’s one of the biggest results of his career, 25-year-old Gautrey knows there is plenty of room for improvement.
“Things don't always go your way, so you have to take it when it does. The result was good but this week highlighted for me that I've still got some areas to tidy up in my game,” he said.
“It’s been a pretty rough couple of years for me and this is a bit of a validation of the work I've been doing over the past couple of months and of the faith Yachting New Zealand and others have put in me, that I can still get decent results.”
Veerle ten Have added a bronze medal to New Zealand's tally at the Princess Sofia Regatta. Photos / Sailing Energy
Veerle ten Have bagged New Zealand’s second bronze of the regatta – finishing behind Britain’s Emma Wilson and Lucie Belbeoch from France in the women’s iQFOIL (windfoil) three-board gold-medal race.
Fellow Kiwi boarder Josh Armit was a whisker away from the same colour in the men’s competition but had to settle for fourth after missing a spot in the gold-medal race to Sam Sills, Sebastian Koerdel and Tom Reuveny.
“Naturally I’m a bit disappointed not being able to get a medal but at least it was great to get some more experience in medal series racing,” Armit said.
Final results and standings from the Princess Sofia Regatta in Palma de Mallorca, Spain:
49er fleet (99 boats):
1st: Logan Dunning Beck/Oscar Gunn (NZ) 5 12 4 7 3 11 1 1 3 12 (14) 4 4 - 67 points
2nd: Tom Burton/Max Paul (Aus) (34) 8 7 5 6 12 3 3 5 3 11 1 12 - 76 pts
3rd: Isaac McHardie/William McKenzie (NZ) 2 5 5 7 8 1 6 7 (10) 6 6 8 18 - 79 pts
35th: Sam Morgan/Pat Morgan (NZ) 7 12 (34) 14 12 19 3 13 20 12 26 4 - 142 pts
38th: Scott McKenzie/Blake McGlashan (NZ) 23 15 13 22 11 5 7 15 10 10 23 (38) – 154 pts
71st: Campbell Stanton/Will Shapland (NZ) 17 8 26 23 26 26 16 (28) 6 16 23 10 - 197 pts
72nd: Mattias Coutts/Henry Haslett (NZ) 18 19 30 26 25 21 21 17 (38) 12 1 8 - 198 pts
49er FX (60 boats):
1st: Martine Soffiatti Grael/Kahena Kunze (Bra) 6 9 5 (12) 2 5 1 8 5 10 1 7 2 – 61 pts
2nd: Odile van Aanholt/Annette Duetz (Ned) 11 6 2 3 1 2 9 4 16 15 (23) 3 4 - 76 pts
3rd: Maria Sol Branz/Cecilia Carranza Saroli (19) 15 1 17 7 5 2 2 4 4 7 6 6 - 76 pts
17th: Jo Aleh/Molly Meech (NZ) 5 1 20 19 14 14 16 1 (20) 14 5 18 - 127 pts
26th: Alex Maloney/Olivia Hobbs (NZ) 10 (18) 8 15 18 13 4 1 2 4 14 6 - 95 pts
47th: Courtney Reynolds-Smith/Brianna Reynolds-Smith (NZ) 13 6 21 24 20 21 10 24 5 (29) 29 24 - 197 pts
ILCA 6 (107 boats):
1st: Marit Bouwmeester (Ned) 3 1 3 14 5 1 2 16 3 (22) 12 - 60 pts
2nd: Zoe Thomson (Aus) 6 2 1 3 17 (39) 21 20 7 6 4 – 87 pts
3rd: Maxime Jonker (Ned) 7 6 12 8 10 7 3 (41) 16 15 6 - 90 pts
49th: Olivia Christie (NZ) 32 13 18 25 12 51 (53) 44 43 29 - 267 pts
ILCA 7 (184 boats):
1st: Michael Beckett (GBR) 2 2 7 2 (14) 1 1 3 2 10 14 – 44 pts
2nd: George Gautrey (NZ) (25) 1 2 12 9 10 5 10 7 14 2 - 72 pts
3rd: Tonci Stipanovic (Cro) 1 2 (34) 4 4 12 17 2 23 4 4 – 73 pts
5th: Tom Saunders (NZ) 3 5 2 3 6 9 (BFD 63) 8 15 7 16 - 74 pts
84th: Luke Cashmore (NZ) 19 27 18 47 27 25 (49) 42 7 23 - 235 pts
86th: Caleb Armit (NZ) 39 20 31 41 24 (45) 20 6 44 14 - 239 pts
112th: Luke Deegan (NZ) 26 25 37 26 28 44 (47) 46 40 34 - 306 pts
Nacra 17 mixed (52 boats):
1st: John Gimson/Anna Burnet (GBR) 6 1 3 3 2 4 1 5 1 3 10 (10) 4 - 43 pts
2nd: Vittorio Bissaro/Maelle Frascari Diotallevi (Ita) 3 3 1 1 1 6 6 4 (9) 2 1 3 16 - 47 pts
3rd: Gianluigi Ugolini/Maria Giubilei (Ita) 4 2 2 3 7 (27) 3 1 18 6 3 2 10 – 61 pts
15th: Micah Wilkinson/Erica Dawson (NZ) 1 13 12 5 9 10 19 (19) 12 15 11 5 - 112 pts
470 mixed (72 boats):
1st: Keiju Okada/ Miho Yoshioka (Jpn) 9 7 1 3 3 1 7 4 (16) 3 18 – 56 pts
2nd: Luise Wanser/Philipp Autenrieth (Ger) 4 3 2 9 8 6 18 7 4 (20) 2 - 63 pts
3rd: Jordi Xammar Hernandez/Nora Brugman Cabot (Esp) - (12) 1 8 10 4 5 1 9 9 9 10 – 66 pts
55th: Brittany Wornall/Sam Street (NZ) 26 (31) 28 25 19 13 22 23 17 16 - 189 pts
iQFOIL men (136 boards):
1st: Samuel Sills (GBR) (9) 3 2 5 3 3 1 1 (25) 1 4 7 1 (17) 1 1 – 32 pts
2nd: Sebastian Koerdel (Ger) 1 3 1 3 2 1 (4) 1 (47) 3 1 (27) 2 14 5 2 - 37 pts
3rd: Tom Reuveny (Fra) 11 (47) 5 2 2 12 2 5 (9) 7 3 (20) 9 8 4 3 – 70 pts
4th: Josh Armit (NZ) 1 1 3 (18) 11 6 9 21 15 1 9 (23) (26) 4 2 4 – 83 pts
28th: Thomas Crook (NZ) 27 (47) 19 13 10 24 26 27 1 (31) (36) 12 17 20 16 - 212 pts
50th: Patrick Haybittle (NZ) – 19 9 (40) 17 30 19 31 43 45 33 (52) (58) 45 31 18 - 340 pts
71st: Eli Liefting (NZ) 9 27 34 27 (42) 41 30 (47) 9 3 - 180 pts
136th: Antonio Cozzolino (NZ) - 47 DNC 47 DNC (69 DNC) 69 DNC 69 DNC 69 DNC 69 DNC 47 DNC (69 DNC) 69 DNC - 486 pts
iQFOIL women (98 boards):
1st: Emma Wilson (GBR) (9) 3 1 1 4 1 4 1 (5) (31) 5 27 3 2 1 1 1 - 54 pts
2nd: Lucie Belbeoch (Fra) 13 9 5 5 (18) 12 5 4 (16) 11 1 (13) 5 8 6 7 2 – 91 pts
3rd: Veerle ten Have (NZ) 7 5 (39) 3 10 4 (24) 10 6 1 13 (21) 1 20 2 2 3 - 84 pts
Formula kite women (53 boards):
1st: Lauriane Nolot (Fra) 5 1 (28) 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 2 3 2 (29) (13) 1 1 - 24 pts
2nd: Ellie Aldridge (GBR) 3 (4) 1 2 3 2 2 2 3 2 4 (6) 1 (5) 4 2 2 - 33 pts
3rd: Poema Newland (Fra) 1 2 2 3 5 2 5 (6) 5 (12) 3 4 (7) 1 1 5 3 – 42 pts
23rd: Justina Kitchen (NZ) 12 (15) 7 9 7 6 15 7 17 14 17 22 17 (29) 18 (29) - 168 pts
Formula kite men (115 boards):
1st: Maximilian Maeder (Sgp) 1 (30) 2 2 1 (3) 1 1 (14) 1 1 1 1 3 1 2 1 - 19 pts
2nd: Connor Bainbridge (GBR) 1 2 (30) 1 1 2 2 2 3 2 (12) 4 (7) 6 2 3 2 – 33 pts
3rd: Axel Mazella (Fra) 2 1 (3) 1 1 1 1 1 1 (7) 4 5 2 6 (19) 6 4 3 - 38 pts
75th: Lochy Naismith (NZ) 11 (23) (30) 14 16 14 13 18 (30) 21 23 17 13 10 13 18 - 201 pts
Full results here.
