Fickle winds off Marseille caused some frustration on Thursday (Friday NZ Time) for New Zealand’s sailors, especially for those whose events were reaching the business end.
Both medal races for the the men's 49er and women's 49erFX classes were postponed on Day 6 of the Paris Olympics due to light winds, while the men's and women's windsurfers managed to get on the water to complete their fleet races.
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The Kiwi boat of Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie go into Friday's rescheduled double-points medal race in third, just eight points out of gold medal position.
The men’s race was started twice on Thursday, but later abandoned each time when the wind died away in what was a long, hot day in a boiling sun for the 49ers.
Jo Aleh and Molly Meech will have to wait an extra 24 hours for their final race together after the 49erFX fleet did not even get out on the water.
After surging up to seventh to reach the double-points medal race, the Kiwi pair can only finish as high as fifth.
The men’s and women’s windsurfers managed to get on to the water and complete their round of 13 races, both with satisfactory results.
Josh Armit had finishes of third, third and 11th and finished in third place with 66 points, just behind Australian Grae Morris (60) and Israel’s Tom Reuveny (63).
Armit was level with Poland’s Pawel Tarnowski, but was placed third because he won one race. It was a tight regatta and the Netherlands and Italy were close behind.
The windsurfing format sees at the first place finisher (Morris) advance directly to the final. Reuveny and Amit advance to the semifinals, while boats ranked fourth to 10th race off in the quarterfinals.
In the women’s windsurfing, run under the same rules, New Zealand’s Veerle Ten Have had finishes of second, 16th and 13th and breathed a sigh of relief when told she had finished eighth.
“Those last two results were not good and I was worried I might drop out of the top-10 and miss the quarterfinals,” she said. “It was a relief to hear I was through.”
Dinghy racing also got underway on Thursday, featuring Kiwis Tom Saunders and Greta Pilkington.
In the men’s competition, Saunders recorded placings of 11th and 17th and sits 12th in a fleet of 43, while Pilkington, finished 21st out of 43 in the only women's race to be sailed.