Sailing: Locals return to form

Northland's top 49er sailors at the European Championships have bounced back after a less than ideal start to their campaigns in Denmark.

Leading the charge for the Northlanders was Onerahi's Marcus Hansen, and partner Josh Porebski, with two wins and two seconds on their way to leapfrogging the field to sit top by six points.

Hansen and Porebski at this stage have the upper hand on Olympic silver medallists Blair Tuke, a fellow Northlander, and Peter Burling with four days of racing to come.

The 20-year-old Hansen, who is the skipper onboard, acknowledged that there was a long way to go before they could celebrate their achievements on Wednesday night.

"[What we need to do is] to be consistent. It's a long regatta," Hansen said. "So, just keep getting good results on the board and keep doing what we're doing."

Porebski added that it was a great day for the Kiwi crews in Denmark, with Burling and Tuke turning around their campaign after a shocker of a first day.

"It was a really competitive day," Porebski said. "The Kiwi teams won every race in our fleet so we were battling with them and, in a couple of races, we were battling with lots of people so it was really good racing and heaps of fun."

Burling and Tuke started the day in 35th but the Olympic silver medallists jumped significantly in their first major regatta together since last year's Olympics to fifth overall after two wins, a sixth and a ninth. Meanwhile, on the women's skiff course, the 49erFX fleet, which includes Northland's Alex Maloney and race partner Molly Meech, got in three races on day two.

Maloney and Meech came away with a second in the first race, 10th in the second, and a third in the final to sit fifth overall on equal points to the Brazilian crew in fourth.

At the end of day two, the local Danish crew of have opened up a 12 point lead on the fleet, sailing away with two wins and a second.

Meanwhile, in France, Kiwi boardsailor Natalia Kosinska held on to second at the RS:X European Championships with two fourths and a sixth.