Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, NZ's London 2012 bound 49er Sailors, have achieved a second consecutive silver medal at the 49er World Championships.

Overnight in Zadar, Croatia, two final series races were sailed and then the double point medal race for the top ten competitors in the gold fleet. Nathan Outteridge and Ian Jensen of Australia won this event for the fourth time.

“We started today with nine points to catch up on them, but we tried a few things in the first race that didn’t quite work out”, said Peter after racing.  

“We lost a couple more points so they had a big enough lead so we couldn’t get to him.” Peter continued.  “For the rest of the day we just had to focus on holding the French back to secure the silver.”

The 19 years old kiwi duo Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski also had a fantastic result, not only making it into the medal race for the first time at a 49er World Championships, but also taking the race victory in this higher intensity double point race. 

Marcus and Josh finished 6th overall, after obviously putting in heaps of training between this regatta and the 2011 World Championships where they came 32nd.

“It was a blinder for them” Peter said, “and great practice for us”.

As like most of the regatta, the final day was sailed in relatively light winds with an average of a 7-9 knot sea breeze.

Peter (21 years old) and Blair (22 years old) now come home for a short rest before the ISAF Sailing World Cup regatta Skandia Sail for Gold at the Olympic Venue (4-9 June) and then it’s all focus on the games themselves which starts for them on 30 July.

London 2012 will be Peter Burling’s second trip to the Olympic Games, as he went in 2008 at the age of 17 with Carl Evans in the men’s 470 and finished 11th.  Last time, Peter was New Zealand’s youngest Olympic sailor ever, and he is again this year the youngest on the team.

The Olympic class 470 World Championships and Finn Gold Cup start tonight (NZT) with the 470’s in Spain and the Finns at Falmouth from the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club. The Laser Radial World Championships start on May 15th.

May 13th Final standings
49er World Championships
2nd - Peter Burling and Blair Tuke
6th - Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski

The RS:X World Championships were sailed in March, and JP Tobin came away with a Bronze medal, setting the bar high for the team to follow. Andy Maloney grabbed up a bronze medal at the Laser World Championships which finished on May 10th.

Photo Above: Peter Burling and Blair Tuke wore the symbolic blue racing bib during the final series as they remained in second on the final three days of racing.  photo by Nikola Šiško

Daily updates for all events including results will be posted via the NZL Sailing Team’s Facebook Page and Twitter accounts. Further press releases will be issued from Yachting New Zealand.


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World Championship Schedule

2012 49er World Championships
Venue: Zadar, Croatia
Racing Starts: May 7th
Final Races: May 12th
Representing New Zealand: Peter Burling/Blair Tuke, Marcus Hansen/Josh Porebski
Regatta Website: www.49erworlds.org

2012 Finn World Championships
Venue: Falmouth, England
Racing Starts: May 13th
Final Races: May 18th
Representing New Zealand: Dan Slater, Matt Coutts, Rob Coutts
Regatta Website: www.falmouthfinnfestival.com

2012 470 World Championships
Venue: Barcelona, Spain
Racing Starts: May 13th
Final Races: May 19th
Representing New Zealand: Jo Aleh/ Olivia (Polly) Powrie, Paul Snow Hansen/Jason Saunders
Regatta Website: http://worlds.470.org

2012 Radial World Championships
Venue: Boltenhagen, Germany
Racing Starts: May 15th
Final Races: May 20th
Representing New Zealand: Sara Winther
Regatta Website: www.laserworldchampionship.com/


For more information contact:
Kristine Lederis
Yachting New Zealand
+64 21 871 301
Kristine@yachtingnz.org.nz