Paralympics: Sharp, sailors in good position after day two

New Zealand and the other crews at the start line for the sailing regatta at the Rio Paralympics. Paul Mohan/Getty Images

New Zealand's Paralympic sailing crew raced just once on day two of the regatta in tricky conditions, but have put themselves in good position to make a push for a medal.

A sixth place finish sees them lying fourth overall on the leader-board with plenty of racing yet to come.

Northland's Chris Sharp, part of the crew with Andrew May and Richard Dodson, said conditions were tough to navigate.

"It was really, really interesting. The weather conditions were phenomenally hard to judge and we had a day of surviving really in the sense of we were lying in third place and looking pretty reasonable, but there was a 45 degree shift to the right where there was no wind shown and a group of boats that came back into our fleet and pushed us back, so we ended up sixth," he said.

"But it was very, very hard to pick that, in fact I don't know how they did. We saw nothing. I honestly don't know what made them go that way other than they were behind so they needed to do something and it worked for them."

Sharp said despite the weather issues, there is a good feeling in the camp.

"We are not really surprised that it is as hard as it is in the sense of having sailed here before we saw that no one comes out of this with a low score," he said.

"The winner is going to have a high score at the end of it, so we've got quite a way to go and we know that it's as if we've been spat out it's just a matter now of being very, very consistent and trying to keep our scores low every race we can."

"We're working hard at that and the team is working as a team for it, so we're happy."

Australia still leads the event with eight points after placing fifth in the latest race, while the Canadian crew has moved up to second overall after winning the race.

Outside of competition, Sharp said he is enjoying staying in the main Paralympic Village and mixing with the others on the New Zealand Paralympic Team.

"Absolutely brilliant," he said.

"Living in the village is an experience I've never had before - watching the New Zealanders medal consistently - every day there's new golds and new silvers coming along and it makes you very, very proud and very humble."

"It's a phenomenal place and the people there are just really, really cool. I have breakfast and dinner every day with gold medallists and they are the most lovely, charming and driven people that I've ever met."

"They are superb."