Sailing: Work to do for Maloney and Meech

Alex Maloney and Molly Meech are playing catch-up after day one. Photo / Sailing Energy

Alex Maloney and Molly Meech have plenty of work to do to get back in the mix at the World Cup finals in Santander after copping a penalty before racing even started but Josh Porebski and Trent Rippey are well positioned in the 49er fleet.

Maloney and Meech's boat, known colloquially as Lola, was deemed to be underweight when measured the day before racing began.

"We are very much surprised as we haven't taken any corrector weights off since her last measurement and she is four years old," Maloney said before racing began overnight (NZT). "So we have added the additional required weight and unfortunately will have 50 percent added to our scores on day 1.

"We take full responsibility for our mistake of not checking our boat's weight and will rise to the occasion."

The Olympic silver medallists, however, were 13th in the 15-boat 49erFX fleet after day one with 24 points, 20 points behind the leaders Victoria Travascio and Maria Branz from Argentina. There was a logjam at the head of the fleet with the top five crews separated by only three points.

The World Cup final is Maloney and Meech's first major regatta since last year's Rio Olympics and they will follow it up with another event at Kiel Week in Germany later this month.

Porebski and Rippey thought they had banked three good scores on the opening day of racing in the 49er fleet sailed in 10-13 knots but were deemed to have been over the start line in the third race. They are still fifth, only three points off the lead after the discard rule kicked in but they can't really afford another high scoring race for the rest of the regatta.

"The first two races we started well and we managed to come away with a third and a fifth, which we were pretty happy with," Rippey said. "Going into the last race, we ended up with a cracker start only to come in and find we were caught over [the start line] at the last second.

"We listened to the race committee's tapes and right on the gun we were called. It's a bit of a shame but that's racing and we are looking forward to another day tomorrow."

Porebski and Rippey are the top New Zealand 49er crew on current form in the absence of Olympic champions Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, who are racing with Emirates Team New Zealand at the America's Cup.

"It's good to get two keeper scores on our scorecard, with an obvious drop which is not ideal. We will keep plugging away over the next few days. Tomorrow looks like a pretty good sea breeze day and a bit warmer so should be good racing."

The two Kiwi skiffs are the only New Zealand crews competing in Santander, which is an invitation-only regatta. Racing continues overnight for the skiff fleets with three more races scheduled.

New Zealand results and standings from the World Cup final in Santander, Spain, overnight (NZT):

49er (16 boats)
5th: Josh Porebski and Trent Rippey 3 5 (17) - 8 points

49erFX (15 boats)
13th: Alex Maloney and Molly Meech (14.5) DPI 12.5 DPI 11.5 - 24 points