Sail for Gold winning streak for both NZL 470s

Sail for Gold winning streak for both NZL 470s
The NZL Sailing Teams 470s are showing their best at the Olympic dress rehearsal regatta, Skandia Sail for Gold in Weymouth. Mens team Paul Snow Hansen and Jason Saunders won both of their races again on day three and share the overall lead, while Womens Team Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie won one race, moving them up to second overall. Paul and Jason have won four of the six races at this event so far, sailing in a mixed bag of weather conditions which is testing of their all around ability. They are now tied on equal points with three times World Champions Mat Belcher and Malcolm Paige of Australia. Results have been shuffled in most fleets now that six races have been completed and competitors were able to drop their worst score. For the remaining two days of series racing, competitors will be grouped into gold or silver fleets based on their rankings in the event so far. The final double point medal races for the top ten competitors will take place on Saturday night (NZT). Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie improved their overall standing from fourth to second with an eighth and first place finish in todays two races. Andy Maloney in the laser fleet also picked up a few places with two more fourth place finishes he sits in 9th overall. All three of the NZL Sailing Team Laser sailors are inside the top 20. The NZL Sailing Team 49ers sit next to each other in overall rankings, Peter Burling and Blair Tuke in 12th and Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski in 13th. Regatta Leaders Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen are 30 points ahead of the NZ boats, but with six more series races left for this fleet, there is still plenty opportunity to get near the front of the pack. Other Olympic representatives are also on track to make their medal races, JP Tobin sits in 9th of the Men's RS:X fleet, and Hamish Pepper with Jim Turner are 11th in the Star class. Stephanie Hazard, Jenna Hansen and Susannah Pyatt have turned around their slow start to the regatta, wrapping up the first round robin with three more wins, and they are now in the repechage round for competitors placed 7th-13th and have won three of their four races. Two more races remain for them in this round before the quarter finals. The weather forecast tomorrow is for winds up to and over 20kn in the afternoon, and it is looking to continue as a very windy regatta for the remaining days. Racing will start early tomorrow to facilitate more racing before the wind picks up too much. SAIL FOR GOLD JUNE 7TH STANDINGS 470 (mens) 1st Paul Snow Hansen and Jason Saunders (9, 4, 1, 1, 1, 1) 470 (womens) 2nd Jo Aleh and Olivia (Polly) Powrie (5,15, 3, 8,8,1) 49er 12th Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (3, 10, 14, 10, 7, 8, 2, 7, 4) 13th Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski (7, 6, 1, 7, 9, 10, 8, 10, 6) Laser 9th Andy Maloney (15, 8, 17, 4, 4, 4) 12th Andrew Murdoch (15, 2, 10, 5, 20, 8) 19th Sam Meech (11, 17, 20, 8, 7,12) Laser Radial 41st Sara Winther (19, 26, BFD, 19, 10, 12) RS:X (mens) 9th JP Tobin (19, 6,14, 9, 9, 3) RS:X (womens) 15th Natalia Kosinska (9, 10, 14, 17, 25, 44) 26th Steffanie Williams (25, 31, 21, 16) Star 11th Hamish Pepper and Jim Turner (8, 7,12, 11, 11, 8) Womens Match Racing Repechage round, 3 Win 1 Loss. Stephanie Hazard, Jenna Hansen, Susannah Pyatt