The NZL Sailing Teams busy month at six Olympic class world championships have come to a close overnight as Sara Winther placed 34th in the Laser Radial.
Sara had mixed results in what was a predominantly windy and shifty weather regatta where consistency was key. Over the 12 races, she had several races inside the top ten including two 2nd and a 3rd, but was unable to recover from two black flag penalties on the first day of final series which dropped her from 13th overall back into the 30s.
The fleet was shuffled overnight in the last two races where light winds and close racing brought ten yellow flag penalties for boats that were illegally rocking to gain advantage, including several lead boats. The Laser Radial World Championship was won by for the first time by Lithuanian Gintare Sheidt who took the title away from 2008 Bronze Medallist Lijia Xu of China.
Still, NZL's Sara Winther finished inside the top 25% of this regatta with over 130 boats racing, and will now look forward to a short break before heading to England for the Skandia Sail for Gold regatta at the Olympic sailing venue of Weymouth.
Laser Radial World Championship Final Standings
133 boats, 12 races
34th - Sara Winther
Full results and more information can be seen on the Laser Radial World Championship official website.
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. One day later, Peter Burling and Blair Tuke finished the 49er World Championships with a silver medal.
Also inside the top ten and within striking distance of medals at their world championships were womens 470 team Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie who finished fourth overall, and the Star crew of Hamish Pepper and Jim Turner who finished seventh. The Womens Match Racing crew of Stephanie Hazard, Jenna Hansen and Susannah Pyatt will not be racing their World Championship which starts 25 June 2012.
The London 2012 New Zealand Olympic Sailing Team includes: Mens 470 (Paul Snow Hansen and Jason Saunders), Womens 470 (Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie), Laser Radial (Sara Winther), Laser Standard (Andrew Murdoch), Womens Match Racing (Stephanie Hazard, Jenna Hansen, Susannah Pyatt), Mens RS:X (JP Tobin) and Mens 49er (Peter Burling and Blair Tuke). New Zealand has qualified a nations spot in the remaining three classes (Finn, Star and Womens RS:X) but a final selection decision has not yet been confirmed.
