Stellar start in Star and Laser at Sail for Gold

Star duo Hamish Pepper and Craig Monk, and Laser sailor Andrew Murdoch have had a dream start at 2010 Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta in Weymouth, England where racing got underway overnight for New Zealand’s Olympic class sailors.

It was all about the weather on day one. In last night’s team briefing Hamish Willcox stated that today would be a day to look out for anything and everything and he couldn’t have been more accurate.

All classes reported unstable, shifty conditions on the water leading to a mixed set of results for most competitors on the water.

With a frontal system approaching from the west overnight tomorrow may bring more of what this young team have been training in over the last fortnight.

Jez Fanstone commented “It’s great to finally be out on the water racing after two weeks of training. The team had a mixed bag of results today, with many showing great promise. We are preparing for a windy day tomorrow.”

New Zealand’s Star representatives, Pepper and Monk, scored two bullets on the opening day of the six day series to claim the early lead in the 36-strong fleet featuring the world’s top sailors in the prestigious class. French sailors Guillaume Florent and Pascal Rambeau are in second place on five points with a 2nd and a 3rd in racing overnight.

The kiwi pair has been campaigning together in the Star for just over a year and won the silver medal at the 2009 Star World Championships exactly one year ago in Varberg, Sweden. They are coached by Andrew Palfrey.

28 year old Andrew Murdoch from the Kerikeri Cruising Club tops the leader board in the 180 strong Laser fleet after day one in Weymouth. Starting the regatta with a race win, Murdoch followed it up with a second place in race two and takes the early lead in the hotly contested single-handed men’s Laser fleet.

Murdoch, with three points, is just ahead of Marc De Haas of the Netherlands and reigning Olympic champion Paul Goodison (GBR) both on six points.

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke have made a good start in the 49er class where they are up against 57 other teams. Despite the shifty conditions on day one, they placed 3rd, 3rd and 4th in the three quick fire races sailed in the skiff class which has been split into two fleets for qualifying rounds.

These two young men, who represent the Tauranga Yacht & Powerboat Club and the Kerikeri Cruising Club respectively, have had an excellent season in the 49er, their best result so far a silver medal at Delta Lloyd Regatta in the Netherlands earlier this year. With no Olympic representatives for New Zealand in this class since Sydney 2000, Burling and Tuke are an exciting prospect for the nation as the countdown to London 2012 continues.

The other kiwi to feature in the top ten standings is Dan Slater lying eighth in the Finn who started the series with a 2nd place in the opening race.

Elsewhere in the team there were some promising individual race results for other New Zealand sailors who, like many top sailors, struggled for consistency in the shifty conditions. In the Laser event Josh Junior had a 2nd place in race one, and Sam Meech a 5th place. Sara Winther was 5th across the line in the second race in her Laser Radial qualifying fleet, and Jon-Paul Tobin started the series with a 6th place in his first race.

Complete results and overall standings are unavailable for the New Zealand sailors in some classes (Men’s RS:X, Men’s 470) at the time of writing as the regatta results team work late into the evening to iron out administration teething problems on day one of the regatta which has attracted an enormous entry list of close to 1000 sailors.

Daily reports on the New Zealand team performance will be issued during the regatta and you can now follow the NZL Sailing Team via their Facebook page.


2010 Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta
New Zealand’s Current Standings after day one (as available)

Star (36 boats)
1st Hamish Pepper and Craig Monk (1, 1)

Laser (180 boats)
1st Andrew Murdoch (1, 2)
27th Mike Bullot (13, 12)
47th Sam Meech (5, 34)
55th Josh Junior (2, 39)
61st James Sandall (10, 32)
79th Andy Maloney (43, 9)
114th George Lane (34, 37)
172nd Spencer Loxton (DSQ, 52)

Laser Radial
27th Sara Winther (5, 22)
58th Rachel Basevi (33, 24)
63rd Miranda Powrie (33, 31)

470 Men
Geoff Woolley and Daniel Willcox (15, 10)
Paul Snow-Hansen and Jason Saunders (18, 8)
Francisco Lardies and Finn Drummond (20, 18)

470 Women (46 boats)
14th Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie (20, 12)

49er (58 boats)
4th Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (3, 3, 4)

Finn (50 boats)
8th Dan Slater (2, 17)

RS:X Men
Jon-Paul Tobin (6)
Tom Ashley (19)

RS:X Women (50 sailors)
26th Natalia Kosinska (25, 30)
36th Stephanie Williams (40, 27)
40th Alice Monk (41, 34)

Women’s Match Racing (24 teams)
Stephanie Hazard, Jenna Hansen and Susannah Pyatt (Group C Round Robin: 0 wins/3 losses)

Coaching Team
Graeme Sutherland
Jez Fanstone
Mark Howard
Andrew Palfrey
David Robertson
Rod Slater
Hamish Willcox