Two Kiwi boats second at Gamagori World Cup

It was moving day for the New Zealanders at the World Cup regatta in Gamagori yesterday, with two boats lying second and seven of the eight inside the top 10.

Kiwis won all three races in the Laser class, with Andrew McKenzie winning the first and Sam Meech the next two, and Paul Snow-Hansen and Dan Willcox also picked up a bullet in the men's 470 to climb into second overall.

Meech is also second, only three points behind world champion Pavlos Kontides with two days of the regatta remaining. He was disqualified from the first race yesterday for being over the start line but hit back with two wins.

"It was a really nice finish to the day," Meech said. "I was obviously pushing the starts a bit but made a few good decisions in the other races.

"I will have to sail really well tomorrow to be in a good position heading into the medal race on Sunday. There's talk of a typhoon coming which could make things interesting but I guess we just have to wait and see on that one."

Typhoon Lan isn't expected to hit Japan until late on Sunday evening after the regatta finishes but it should see stronger breezes than the sailors have had to contend with over the first four days.

Many have struggled with the light conditions, not least of those in the highly-competitive Laser fleet where many classy sailors have banked some big scores among some good ones.

McKenzie, who was third in the recent European championships, is among that group. He easily won the first race of the day but also finished 30th in the last race and is now eighth overall, one place ahead of fellow Kiwi Tom Saunders.

"Its been a really challenging week so far," he said. "I was really happy to get a race win today but its been hard to find any consistency - along with much of the fleet.

"There are three races scheduled for tomorrow so its going to be about getting off the start line cleanly and scoring keepers. Being such a high-scoring event means the medals still arent out of reach."

The Kiwis are well poised in the 49er, with Logan Dunning Beck and Oscar Gunn (61 points) fifth, Josh Porebski and Trent Rippey (61) sixth and Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie (65) seventh.

The British crews of Dylan Fletcher-Scott and Stuart Bithell (33 points) and James Peters and Fynn Sterritt (38), who were first and second at this year's world championships, continue to set the pace.

Snow-Hansen and Willcox made up ground in the men's 470, climbing three spots to be second overall. They are 10 points behind multiple world champions Mathew Belcher and Will Ryan and were first, 15th and fourth in yesterday's three races.

Susannah Pyatt is 32nd in the women's Laser Radial.

Results and standings after day four of the World Cup regatta in Gamagori, Japan, yesterday:

Laser (50 boats)

1st: Pavlos Kontides (CYP) (7) 4 3 2 (51 DSQ) 14 2 - 32 points

2nd: Sam Meech (NZL) 4 13 15 1 (51 BFD) 1 1 - 35 pts

3rd: Lorenzo Brando Chiavarini (GBR) 3 8 5 6 16 (20) 16 - 54 pts

8th: Andrew McKenzie (NZL) 23 (32) 16 4 1 6 30 - 80 pts

9th: Tom Saunders (NZL) 13 39 2 30 20 12 9 - 86 pts

Laser Radial (35 boats)

1st: Vasileia Karachaliou (GRE) 4 4 1 9 (14) 8 5 - 31 pts

2nd: Josefin Olsson (SWE) (30) 3 9 18 1 1 1 - 33 pts

3rd: Emma Plasschaert (BEL) (16) 1 4 6 12 6 12 - 41 pts

32nd: Susannah Pyatt (NZL) 14 32 32 30 32 18 (33) - 157 pts

49er (20 boats)

1st: Dylan Fletcher-Scott / Stuart Bithell (GBR) 4 1 8 5 1 1 (12) 1 12 - 33 pts

2nd: James Peters / Fynn Sterritt (GBR) 2 5 1 9 8 (17) 3 9 1 - 38 pts

3rd: Lukasz Przybytek / Pawel Kolodzinski (POL) (13) 3 6 8 4 6 2 4 10 - 43 pts

5th: Logan Dunning Beck / Oscar Gunn (NZL) 6 (21 UFD) 9 1 3 8 11 12 11 - 61 pts

6th: Josh Porebski / Trent Rippey (NZL) 10 4 13 2 14 10 4 (16) 4 - 61 pts

7th: Isaac McHardie / William McKenzie (NZL) 1 6 10 15 6 4 13 10 (18) - 65 pts

Men's 470 (24 boats)

1st: Mathew Belcher / William Ryan (AUS) 3 2 (11) 3 11 2 - 21 pts

2nd: Paul Snow-Hansen / Dan Willcox (NZL) 2 (22) 9 1 15 4 - 31 pts

3rd: Tetsuya Isozaki / Akira Takayanagi (JPN) 1 7 2 12 (16) 10 - 32 pts

- This story has been automatically published using a media release from Yachting New Zealand