KEY POINTS:
The New Zealanders made good use of the home advantage in the opening day of the world 420 championships off Takapuna with defending champions Carl Evans and Peter Burling and Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie gaining an early edge over their opposition.
The 116 teams were treated to
a picturesque day on the Hauraki Gulf with clear blue skies and cool 15-20 knot winds which increased to 30 knots in the afternoon.
The lumpy sea, which although a stunning backdrop as the two-handed dinghies skimmed across the water, meant by the end of race one that 232 sailors looked as if they had been dragged out of a washing machine before the spinning cycle had begun.
With 67 boats entered in the men's competition, a six-race qualification series will be sailed over the first two days to split the crews into gold and silver fleets.
The final series, which is scheduled to start on Saturday with Friday a lay day, will consist of 12 races. Competitors will carry over their qualifying placing (that is 1, 2, 3 etc) as a score.
For the 49 women's crews, their 12-race world championship regatta started from day one as one fleet. Two races are scheduled in the women's competition each day and after yesterday's two gut-busting hitouts, seven of the 14 Kiwi crews were in the top 10.
Leading the charge are Aleh and Powrie, who sailed flawlessly in the gruelling conditions to win both races. New Zealand's Shelley Hesson and Bianca Barbarich-Bacher secured a second and a sixth to finish the day in second spot ahead of the German combination of Imke Brockerhoff and Hannah Schwich Duisburger.
New Zealanders Leah Moncheur and Briar Dye-Hutchinson and Sarah and Emma Berry are fifth and sixth respectively, while Samantha Osborne and Jenna Hansen and Susannah Pyatt and Danielle Bowater are still in the hunt at seventh and eighth.
In the men's competition all eyes were on 16-year-olds Evans and Burling, who caught the yachting world by surprise when they won last year's world championships by a staggering 25 points over fellow Kiwis Simon Cooke and Scott Illingworth.
Yesterday three races were completed in men's qualifying series, with crews sailing in four fleets.
Evans and Burling sailed in the yellow fleet where they finished the day with two firsts and a second.
Fellow New Zealanders Mike Snow-Hansen and Joshua McCormack are second, five points behind Evans and Burling.
Racing continues today from midday off the Takapuna Boating Club.