Sailing: Light winds plague World Cup Series regatta

Alex Maloney and Molly Meech were the only Kiwis to sail on day 2 of the World Cup Series regatta in Genoa. Photo: Sailing Energy / World Sailing.

It was a day of delays and deferrals as light winds plagued the second day of racing at the Hempel World Series regatta in Genoa.

Alex Maloney and Molly Meech were the only New Zealanders to complete a race, finishing 13th in the blue fleet of the 49erFX, but the score has not yet counted because the yellow fleet were unable to get a race in.

There was racing in the Lasers but New Zealand's top Laser sailors opted to skip the Genoa event, preferring to train at home before joining the European circuit at the end of the month in Hyeres.

Otherwise, it was a day of cards and chat on shore as the majority of the nearly 700 sailors in Genoa waited for the breeze to fill in.

There was barely enough when the 49erFX fleet hit the water but Denmark's Ida Marie Baad Nielsen and Marie Thusgaard Olsen prospered to take victory in the only race of the day.

Maloney and Meech started the regatta well, posting a third in the first race yesterday.

"Unfortunately, we finished off the day with a bad result yesterday," Meech said of their 15th in the second race.

"Today we just didn't get off the start line at the right end and found it really hard to get back through the fleet in a race that was sailed in pretty much 3-5 knots.

"It has been pretty light here so far. Hopefully there's a lot more racing to come but the forecast is looking pretty soft for the rest of the week. Hopefully we will get out there and just nail a few of these light-air races."

Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie did that yesterday and finished the day second in the 65-strong 49er fleet.

Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders also won a race in the Nacra 17 yesterday but were disqualified in their other race for being over the start line (they unsuccessfully protested the decision).

Race management will attempt to catch up when (or if) racing gets under way tonight (NZ time).

Results and standings after day 2 of the Hempel World Cup Series regatta in Genoa overnight (NZ time):

Nacra 17 (45 boats)
1st=: Ben Saxton / Nicola Boniface (GBR) 1 - 1 point
1st=: Lorenzo Bressani / Cecilia Zorzi (ITA) 1 9 - 1 pt
3rd= Rasmus Rosengren / Ida Svensson (SWE) 2 12 - 2 pts
3rd=: Ravi Parent / Caroline Atwood (USA) 2 - 2 pts
40th=: Gemma Jones / Jason Saunders (NZL) 24 UFD 1 - 24 pts

49er (65 boats)
1st: Tim Fischer / Fabian Graf (GER) 1 1 - 2 pts
2nd: Isaac McHardie / William McKenzie (NZL) 1 2 - 3 pts
3rd: David Gilmour / Lachy Gilmour (AUS) 2 7 - 9 pts
14th: Josh Porebski / Trent Rippey (NZL) 19 4 - 23 pts
31st: Peter Burling / Blair Tuke (NZL) 14 15 - 29 pts
59th: Logan Dunning Beck / Oscar Gunn (NZL) 34 UFD 23 - 57 pts

49erFX (50 boats)
1st: Julia Gross / Hanna Klinga (SWE) 3 1 - 4 pts
2nd: Martine Grael / Kahena Kunze (BRA) 2 6 - 8 pts
3rd: Victoria Jurczok / Anika Lorenz (GER) 4 4 - 8 pts
14th: Alex Maloney / Molly Meech 3 15 13 - 18 pts