Yachting: Burling and Tuke hold comfortable lead

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke in action during the sailing world championships in Santander, Spain. Photo / Getty Images

Kiwi sailors Peter Burling and Blair Tuke have established a comfortable lead over their competitors in the 49er fleet after just two days of racing at the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Hyeres, France.

The two-time world champions opened up a 21-point lead at the top of the leaderboard overnight after a near-perfect day on the water, recording two wins and a second place on day two of the five day regatta. Their New Zealand team mates, Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski, did not have such a smooth day on the water slipping to 18th after finishing well down the fleet in all three of their races.

In the women's 49erFX Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech improved their overall position, climbing to seventh, although the pair were still disappointed with their level of consistency having recorded a 14th, fourth and ninth placing on day two.

"After a slow start we connected a few more pieces of the puzzle on day two into Hyeres Sailing World Cup. We are determined to make each race more complete in the coming few days," said Maloney.

The women's 470 pairing of Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie also made strong progress on day two. Lying in 11th place after the first day, the Kiwi pair climbed into third with two solid single digit race results overnight - a sixth and a fifth. Aleh and Powrie are well in touch with the leaders, sharing the same number of points as the two teams ranked above them - Great Britain's Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark, and Anne Haeger and Briana Provancha of the US. The Brazilian and Slovenian crews in fourth and fifth aren't far adrift and the scene is set for another exciting battle over the coming two days of racing which lead up to Sunday's medal race.

Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox are lying 10th in the men's 470 class.

Changing fortunes on the Finn course overnight saw Andrew Murdoch slip to 13th on the leaderboard after a costly DNF in the first race. In contrast, Josh Junior had a better day and climbed up the ranks to 17th overall after placing seventh and 10th.

New Zealand's Laser sailors are struggling for consistency early on in the regatta with only Andy Maloney remaining in the top ten of the 40 boat fleet. He is in 10th, Sam Meech 13th, Mike Bullot 21st and Thomas Saunders 25th at the end of day two. Sara Winther is lying 24th in the Laser Radial.

In the Nacra 17 Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders are 16th overall in the mixed multihull, while in the women's RS:X Natalia Kosinska has moved from 21st up to lie 17th at the end of day two finishing the day on a high note with a third place.

Racing continues in Hyeres tomorrow with another two days of racing remaining before the top ten medal races scheduled for Sunday.

NZL Sailing Team current standings:
2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyeres
49er
1 Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (2, 9, 3, 1, 1, 2)
18 Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski (9, 12, 19, 29, 16, 35)
49erFX
7 Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech - (12, 16, 18, 14, 4, 9)
470
3 Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie - women's fleet (3, 25, 6, 5)
10 Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox - men's fleet (24, 7, 18, 5)
Finn
13 Andrew Murdoch - (5, 5, DNF, 28)
17 Josh Junior - (33, 27, 7, 10)
Laser
10 Andy Maloney - (12, 9, 18, 7)
18 Sam Meech - (11, 2, 23, 39)
21 Mike Bullot - (21, 18, 12, 22)
25 Thomas Saunders - (16, 30, 14, 30)
Laser Radial
24 Sara Winther - (26, 11, 19, 32)
Women's RS:X
17 Natalia Kosinska - (27, 13, 28, 11, 3)
Nacra 17
16 Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders - (5, 18, 29, 10, 14,14)