Strong start for 49er teams at Sailing World Cup final

Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie took out the first two races in the 49er class.

The three New Zealand 49 crews all sit in the top five after the first day of racing for the Sailing World Cup Final in Melbourne.

Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie took out the first two races, while they discard their 11th from the third race to lead the fleet. Just a few places behind them is Josh Porebski and Trent Rippey in third, with Nick Egnot-Johnson and Jack Rogers finishing their first day in fifth.

"The fleet had seven to ten knots of breeze, with fairly unstable pressure and shifts anywhere from the South to the South-East which made racing tricky. It definitely wasn't a one-way track today, and there have been lots of good learnings with some solid race management," comments NZL 49er coach Jim Maloney.

Maloney said the team has had a nice build up to the event in Melbourne, and is enjoying the racing following their training in Auckland.

Nacra 17 pair Olivia Mackay and Micah Wilkinson also had a good start in the 10-strong fleet with their string of results including two thirds and a second, leaving them in third place overall.

It was a mixed bag of results for kiwi sailors across the other classes, with three full days of racing yet to come before the medal race for the 49er's, Nacra 17's, and Formula Kites, and four days of racing for the Laser, Laser Radial, Finn and 470 fleets.

Racing continues today.

2016 Sailing World Cup Final - Melbourne:

49er Men
1st Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie (1,1,11)
3rd Josh Porebski and Trent Rippey (2,5,4)
5th Nick Egnot-Johnson and Jack Rogers (3,11,3)

470 Men
9th Sam Barnett and Zak Merton (9,8)
12th Markus Somerville and Taylor Balogh (11, 13)

Finn
14th Gary Lokum (15,12)

Laser
9th Andrew McKenzie (6,16)
20th Matthew Kempers (17, 20)
Laser Radial
10th Susannah Pyatt (10,11)

Formula Kite
7th Sam Bullock (4,4,5,1,4,3)

Nacra 17
3rd Olivia Mackay and Micah Wilkinson (3,3,2)