Sara Winther leads after penultimate day

Six New Zealand competitors have qualified amongst the top ten in their fleet, for the unforgiving and all-important medal race at French Olympic Sailing Week in Hyeres. This includes Sara Winther, who has reclaimed a seven point lead in the Laser Radial class.

Sailing in 11-12 knots of breeze, Sara Winther took a victory in the final race overnight, and is now seven points ahead of Sara Steyaert of France, and needing one of her consistently high performances in the double-points to ensure a podium win.

Also in medal contention is Tom Ashley, who, after a win and a seventh yesterday, is in fourth, just eight points from first, and also seeking a good result to make up ground and finish on the podium.

Of yesterday’s racing he says, “I got a great start, and then sailed across the middle of the course in a great lane to lead at the top mark. From there it just got better- I ended up winning the race by a good margin.”

“The breeze died a bit for the second race and by the time we started it was very shifty and unstable. I got a really good start and headed right, then crossed back to the middle to avoid too much separation from the fleet. In the end both sides came good and I was a bit stuck in the middle. I went around the top mark in about 15th, but passed a few on the second lap to finish 7th.”

Mike Bullot has qualified for the Medal Race in the Laser fleet, in tenth position on 93 points, but outside of medal contention. Three New Zealanders are in the top twenty in this fleet of 155.

Ben Ainslie, sailing for GBR, has secured a definite victory in the Finn class, for which Dan Slater has also qualified for the medal race, in ninth position, after two line honours victories in races 3 and 4.

The young Men’s 470 duo, Paul Snow-Hansen and Jason Saunders, are a very creditable ninth going into their first ever European medal race, but on points are also outside of medal contention.

Standings after Day 5:

Men’s RS:X (90 entries)
Tom Ashley (NZL Sailing Team)-4th (34 points)
Jon-Paul Tobin (NZL Sailing Team) -10th (73 points)
Antonio Cozzolino-20th (126 points)

Women’s RS:X (75 entries)
Natalia Kosinska-21st (134 points)
Justina Sellers-39th (113 points)
Stefanie Williams-42nd (136 points)
Jazmine Lynch-51st (181 points)
Georgia Schofield-66th (234 points)

Laser (155 entries)
Mike Bullot (NZL Sailing Team)-10th (93 points)
Josh Junior (NZL Sailing Team) -12th (101 points)
Andy Maloney (NZL Sailing Team) -16th (121 points)
Andrew Murdoch (NZL Sailing Team)-23rd (139 points)
Sam Meech (NZL Sailing Team) -55th (124 points) (3rd in Silver fleet)

Laser Radial (98 entries)
Sara Winther (NZL Sailing Team) -1st (50 points)
Miranda Powrie-15th (129 points)
Rachel Basevi-44th (238 points)

Finn (81 entries)
Dan Slater (NZL Sailing Team)-9th (100 points)
Matt Coutts-31st (170 points)

Men’s 470 (106 entries)
Paul Snow-Hansen and Jason Saunders (NZL Sailing Team) -9th (94 points)

Women’s Match Racing
Stephanie Hazard, Jenna Hansen and Susannah Pyatt (NZL Sailing Team)-Didn't qualify for the semi finals