NZL Sailing Team - 470 Men away to a solid start on Day 1

by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com NZL on 11 Aug 2016 Both New Zealand 470 sailing crews have opened their Rio 2016 campaign with good results on a day that provided challenging and wide-ranging conditions. That was until a protest hearing (see separate story) which resulted in the defending Olympic Champions, Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie being disquaified from Race 1, where they had earned a valuable sixth place.

The 2012 Gold medalists scored an impressive win in the second race of the day.

Even more impressive was the statistic that of 14 rounding marks on the notorious Guanbara Bay course Aleh and Powrie led around all but two of them. That is surely the the most dominant statistic seen in the three days of this Olympic Regatta.

Elsewhere, like many of the top sailors competing here in Rio today, the kiwis found the day demanding.

Women’s 470:

Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie took a race win and have second overall in the Women’s 470 after two races on day one for the double-handed dinghy classes.

Leading for much of race one the kiwi pair were bumped to sixth in the late stages of the race, but rebounded to take a win in race two.

Aleh said they enjoyed the challenges that Rio threw at them today; “We like that sort of tricky racing, it should have been a better day really first race we had a bit of a stuff up but it was nice to finish off with a good race and know that we can put it all together.”

“We’re happy with the day, but we’ve still got a long way to go.”

Powrie added, “We didn’t follow through with our race plan as such, and we’re happy to right the wrongs in the second one.”

Only the Japanese crew had a better day than Aleh and Powrie and are two points out in front, while Slovenia is lying third at the end of day one. They race again tomorrow with another two races scheduled to start at 1pm in Rio.

Men’s 470:

Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox also made a solid start in the Men’s 470 event opening the regatta with a second place.

In race two they placed 10th and among a group of four nations all holding 12 points effectively lying third equal while Croatia leads and Australia is second.

“Today was pretty tough conditions out there so to come away with two solid races is a good benchmark to start from so we’re really happy with the day and look forward to the week to come,” said Dan Willcox after coming ashore.

Paul Snow-Hansen described the day, “You had to have your eyes out the boat, there were crazy rain showers coming through the course. A few snakes and ladders, so we took a bit of a hit now and then, but also gained so we’ll take that for the first day.”

Laser:

The next best placed of the NZL Sailing Team is Laser sailor Sam Meech who has seventh place after three days of racing.

Lying third going into today the first-time Olympian said he was disappointed with his performance. He placed 14th and 17th in his two races and now has a rest day scheduled.

Meech said, “Yesterday was really good I felt like I got good starts and executed my plan, but today was disappointing. It was the kind of conditions where I felt like I could go really well and I just didn’t get it right.”

Still well inside the top ten a closer look at the leader board shows that Meech is closely bunched close on points with the sailors just ahead of him, and with another four qualifying races to go there is plenty of opportunity to regain ground.

Nacra 17:

The first day of Olympic racing in the Nacra 17 mixed multihull was scheduled on the spectator friendly Pao course. Notoriously patchy, due to being situated in the lee of Sugarloaf in the south westerly conditions, today was extremely tough for sailors and the race committee.

The New Zealand crew of Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders came through race one with a ninth place, then placed 15th in race two, which sees them lying 13th overall.

Three races were scheduled but only two were possible today. The Nacra fleet will be back racing tomorrow.

Finn:

Josh Junior was unable to gain much ground up the Finn leader board on day of competition in the heavy-weight single-handed men’s class.

Two 14ths from two races today have Junior placed 20th overall, and he will be looking to turn things around when he returns to the bay tomorrow for two more races.

NZL Sailing Team current standings

2ndJo Aleh and Polly Powrie (Women’s 470) (6, 1)- Since revised to 10th overall
3rdPaul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox (Men’s 470) (2, 10)
7thSam Meech (Laser) (19, 3, 5, 6, 14, 17)
13thGemma Jones and Jason Saunders (Nacra 17) (9, 15)
20thJosh Junior (Finn) (18, 24UFD, 14, 14)

Full results are available on the Rio 2016 website: https://www.rio2016.com/en/schedule-and-results

On tomorrow’s schedule:

Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie – W470 – Races 3 & 4
Paul Snow-Hansen and Dan Willcox – M470 – Races 3 & 4
Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders – Nacra 17 – Races 3, 4 & 5
Josh Junior – Finn – Races 5 & 6