KEY POINTS:
The winds off Takapuna Beach didn't do Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie any favours yesterday but they still remain way out in front in the 420 world championships.
Eight of 12 races have now been completed in the women's championship.
Aleh and Powrie, who are both Laser Radial
sailors, hadn't finished out of the top three until yesterday when they came fourth in the first race and ninth in the second.
In the first race the fleet started off in 10-13 knot breezes but the wind dropped away as the afternoon progressed. In the second race the breeze was so light that only 14 of the 46 boats crossed the line within the given time limit.
"A lot of people had worse days so we are just happy to come away with two reasonable results," Aleh said.
"In the first race we had a pretty shocking start and sort of worked our way back. We were about 10th at the first top mark and just sailed our way through the fleet to finish fourth so we were pretty happy with that. The wind was all over the place.
"In the second race, the whole of the race was pretty crap, there was not much wind at all. The last few legs of the race the wind just died more and more. We were one of the last to finish," she said.
Aleh and Powrie lead the regatta with 16 points.
Fellow Kiwis Sarah Bilkey and Rosie Sargisson remain in second place with 49 points while Shelly Hesson and Bianca Barbarich-Bacher are third, also on 49 points.
In the men's competition defending champions New Zealanders Carl Evans and Peter Burling still lead.
The 16-year-olds are ahead by 12 points from fellow Kiwis Simon Cooke and Scott Illingworth while Rowan Swanson and Bruce Kennedy, also from New Zealand, are third a further 12 points back.
But like Aleh and Powrie, Evans and Burling didn't have it all their way in yesterday's fickle breeze finishing the day with two thirds and a fifth.
* It wasn't a great day for the Italian team, who arrived at the venue to find their container had been broken into and 13 bags of gear stolen, some of which contained passports and other travel documents. The team rustled up enough gear to compete yesterday. However, they would like to see the missing items returned, especially the travel documents.
