Reigning world champions Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie have left themselves with a lot of work to do to retain their crown in the women's 470 class after making a slow start to the ISAF world championships in Spain.
The Kiwi pair are lying in eighth after recording a seventhand fifth in their opening two races in Santander. The women's 470 fleet were one of the few to get through both their scheduled races yesterday, with only one race sailed in the 470 men, along with the Lasers and Radials due to a lack of breeze on the race courses.
Andy Maloney produced the best performance of the day for the New Zealand team, claiming the win in the only race of the day in the Laser fleet. The top third of the Laser competitors at the end of the first two days of sailing were split off into the gold fleet, with all four Kiwi representatives making the cut.
They will now jostle for a spot in the medal race on the final day.
With only 24 nations represented within the 49-boat Laser gold fleet and 23 Olympic spots available, New Zealand is among the nations that have now secured national qualification for Rio 2016 in the men's single-handed class.
Auckland boardsailor Natalia Kosinska broke into the top 10 in the women's RS:X with a fourth and a third. In the men's event, Jon-Paul Tobin improved his position to 16th.
