Northland sailors advance

Northland sailors at the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Palma continue to move their way up the leader boards as they reach the business end of the event.

Kerikeri sailor Andy Maloney carried forward his strong early regatta form to sit fourth overall after finishes of 10th, 5th and 3rd.

"We did three final series races today in a nice 12-20 knot breeze, once again with decent waves to surf on the downwinds," Maloney said.

"I managed to get a few consistent top-10 results to stay in the hunt going into the last two days of racing.

"It was nice to get into the finals series and race against all the top guys in one fleet. [I'm] looking forward to tomorrow."

In the 49er FX Women's skiff, Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech are now lying sixth after the opening day of finals where they returned two 5ths and an 8th in racing. Maloney and Meech have 12 points, with the four crews ahead of them all locked up on 11 - which guarantees a close battle on the water today.

Kerikeri's Andrew Murdoch opened the finals stages with solid performances in the Finn class with finishes of 5th, 2nd and 13th.

Murdoch's finishes mean a big jump up the standings, moving from 15th overall to 8th - to leave him in good shape for a start in the medal race at his first international regatta in the new class.

New Zealand's other Finn sailor, Josh Junior, also produced some strong performances with finishes of 14th, 5th and 4th. Junior now has 17 points and is well within hunting range of those placed above him.

Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox in the men's 470 is the other New Zealand Sailing team crew looking good for a spot in their medal races scheduled for tonight in Palma.