Hyundai Worlds: Kiwi 49ers chasing medals on the final day of world championships

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke - 49er Worlds, - Day 5 - Auckland , December 3-8, © Richard Gladwell / Sail-World.com

It's taken all week for Peter Burling and Blair Tuke to get there but they find themselves exactly where they want to be heading into the final day of the Hyundai 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 world championships in Auckland.

The four-time world champions jumped to the top of the leaderboard on the penultimate day after some terrific high-pressure sailing, turning a nine-point deficit into a 12-point lead going over Erik Heil and Thomas Ploessel who might have suffered from a bout of stage fright.

The Germans weren't the only teams to falter on what is commonly known as moving day and there's another 24 points back to Great Britain's Dylan Fletcher-Scott and Stuart Bithell in third.

Burling and Tuke, like they have done at regular intervals all week, pulled off some good comebacks to finish 10th and fifth in the first two races and then put an exclamation mark on their day by winning the last race, overtaking a handful of boats on the final run as they locked into some good pressure.

It was their fourth race win of the week but a mark of their regatta has been their consistency, with their worst result (and discard) an 11th sustained when they capsized jostling for the lead on the opening day.

Everybody else in the gold fleet has a discard of at least 20, meaning there could still be plenty of movement with two more gold fleet races to be sailed before tomorrow afternoon's top 10, double points medal race.

"We were in some tough spots today, especially in that first race," Tuke said. "Some of the boats around us were quite deep and we managed to get a 10th which was respectable. Every inch matters.

"We will have a look at the points and have a better understanding of what we need to do tomorrow. It looks like some good breeze tomorrow so it should be a pretty epic day."

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke - 49er Worlds, - Day 5 - Auckland , December 3-8, - photo © Richard Gladwell / Sail-World.com

They're not the only New Zealand combination gunning for a medal in the 49er after Logan Dunning Beck and Oscar Gunn posted three good scores today - second, eighth and seventh - to sit only six points off third.

The third Kiwi crew of Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie also continued their climb up the standings and have an outside chance of a medal from their position in ninth.

"It was a lot better than yesterday," Dunning Beck said. "We managed to close it all up and give ourselves a shot at a medal.

"Yesterday we struggled at times. We went home and had a bit of a reassessment. It was pretty simple stuff, really, but we managed to change one or two things today and it really worked out and we felt pretty comfortable out there, just ripping along and getting good starts. When you do the basics well, the shifts go your way."

Alex Maloney and Molly Meech's frustrating week continued as they finished 11th, 13th and fifth today to lie seventh overall and the Olympic silver medallists will need everything to fall their way if they are to collect a medal.

An intriguing battle looms at the front, with Annemiek Bekkering and Annette Duetz of the Netherlands level with Brazil's Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze, and Norway's Helene Naess and Marie Ronningen only six points behind.

It's similarly close in the Nacra 17, with seven points between the leading three crews. Liv Mackay and Jason Saunders are the best of the trio of Kiwi teams in gold fleet in 15th.

Most New Zealand interest will be in the 49er tomorrow and for Burling and Tuke it is familiar territory.

"It's definitely nice to have been here before and seen how it all unfolds before but it's also the first time we have done one of these things at home," Burling said. "It's subtly different."

"It's going to be a very exciting day," Tuke added. "We're stoked to be racing here and to have a shot at a world title on your home waters is pretty cool."

Results and standings after day 5 of the Hyundai 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 world championships at the Royal Akarana Yacht Club:

49er (88 boats)

1st: Peter Burling / Blair Tuke (NZL) 1 (11) 3 3 1 8 1 3 7 11 3 7 10 5 1 - 64 points 2nd: Erik Heil / Thomas Ploessel (GER) 2 1 5 (27) 3 6 1 2 7 4 1 8 12 15 10 - 76 pts 3rd: Dylan Fletcher-Scott / Stuart Bithell (GBR) 9 2 2 (23) 1 10 5 6 10 3 4 21 5 19 3 - 100 pts

5th: Logan Dunning Beck / Oscar Gunn (NZL) (21) 3 14 1 8 1 10 4 5 16 15 12 2 8 7 - 106 pts 9th: Isaac McHardie / William McKenzie (NZL) 11 5 7 6 14 12 11 8 14 9 10 5 6 11 (20) - 128 pts

Silver Fleet

39th: Markus Somerville / Jack Simpson (NZL) 18 27 12 20 11 3 (31 UFD) 1 4 31 UFD 26 11 8 13 8 - 191 pts 47th: Jackson Keon / Scott McKenzie (NZL) 8 (25) 18 12 15 20 5 21 13 14 15 25 9 20 23 - 217 pts 57th: Sam Bacon / Henry Gautrey (NZL) 15 19 1 17 22 14 (31 RET) 5 29 28 28 18 28 28 30 - 282 pts

Bronze Fleet

68th: Tom Fyfe / James Wilson (NZL) (31 DNF) 27 27 19 27 21 7 28 22 11 22 11 5 8 4 - 238 pts 71st: Campbell Stanton / William Shapland (NZL) 20 22 25 24 23 21 (26) 24 17 6 18 24 8 15 5 - 224 pts 74th: Sam Morgan / Pat Morgan (NZL) 21 25 24 (31 UFD) 21 27 21 21 27 19 19 26 17 11 13 8 - 279 pts 76th: Lewis Anderson / Reece Caulfield (NZL) 25 23 10 25 24 (31 DNF) 15 24 23 17 15 31 DNF 7 22 23 - 283 pts 84th: Ben Paterson / Sean Paterson (31 DNC) 31 DNC 28 28 25 27 20 26 25 28 24 18 22 24 22 - 347 pts 88th: Craig Keenan / Gavin Ninnes (NZL) 28 31 DNC 26 31 DNF 31 DNC 17 27 27 28 29 27 20 29 19 25 - 363 pts

49er FX (61 boats)

1st: Annemiek Bekkering / Annette Duetz (NED) 17 7 11 1 (28) 3 2 1 2 1 6 3 9 13 - 76 pts 2nd: Martine Grael Kahena Kunze (BRA) 3 9 6 5 1 2 1 5 6 (22) 2 7 15 14 - 76 pts 3rd: Helene Naess / Marie Ronningen (NOR) 10 10 (19) 11 2 1 2 1 10 16 3 2 2 12 - 82 pts

7th: Alex Maloney / Molly Meech (NZL) 14 2 3 9 4 (21) 10 9 20 9 4 11 13 5 - 113 pts

Silver Fleet

51st: Crystal Sun / Olivia Hobbs (NZL) 19 27 9 13 25 27 29 (30) 29 17 30 17 11 28 - 280 pts

Nacra 17 (52 boats)

1st: Vittorio Bissaro / Maelle Frascari (ITA) 1 4 5 8 2 6 2 1 3 10 10 (20) 13 1 - 66 pts 2nd: Jason Waterhouse / Lisa Darmanin (AUS) 6 13 9 3 4 1 4 4 4 1 (14) 13 8 2 - 72 pts 3rd: Lin Cenholt / CP Lubeck (DEN) 2 1 7 2 7 10 6 (17) 9 5 4 8 5 7 - 73 pts

16th: Liv Mackay / Jason Saunders (NZL) 9 (27 UFD) 3 13 1 3 1 15 10 13 20 12 21 10 - 131 pts 17th: Micah Wilkinson / Erica Dawson (NZL) 6 10 12 6 12 17 3 5 19 23 1 11 (26) 20 - 145 pts 20th: Gemma Jones / Josh Porebski (NZL) 4 9 9 12 (27 UFD) 11 15 7 20 9 22 10 10 21 - 159 pts

Silver Fleet

36th: Helena Sanderson / Henry Haslett (NZL) 13 18 16 18 18 2 (23) 16 5 9 21 21 16 - 173 pts 52nd: Aaron Duncan / Julia Francis (NZL) (26) 23 25 25 24 26 26 25 25 26 23 26 26 - 300 pts

For full results (All classes) click here.