Yachting: Kiwis bring home gold and silver

Jo Aleh and Bianca Barbarich-Bacher compete in the 470. Photo / Supplied

The New Zealand sailing team have had a successful outing at the first major Olympic class European Regatta of 2011, collecting two golds and a silver at the ISAF Sailing World Cup Regatta in Spain.

The women's 470 pair of Jo Aleh and Bianca Barbarich-Bacher, and Laser Radial campaigner Sara Winther secured gold medals , while Tom Ashley came away with silver in the Men's RS:X event.

Winther held a handy five-point lead heading in to yesterday's medal race, but still needed to pull out a big performance to keep her rivals at bay on the final day.

After leading for much of the race, she was run down on the line by Belgium's Evi van Acker. But her second place finish was enough to secure the gold medal. Aleh and Barbarich-Bacher had an even healthier lead going into the medal race with an eight point margin at the top of the women's 470 fleet. The Kiwis crossed the line in fourth to secure the gold medal by a convincing 10-point margin.

Aleh and Barbarich-Bacher only paired for this regatta after Aleh's usual crew Polly Powrie was injured. Powrie is expected back in the boat in a few weeks. The three women sail out of Auckland clubs.

Ashley's silver medal was a result of a strong comeback after a poor start in which he recorded 35th and 12th placings in his first two races. Bitterly disappointed with his results on the opening day he vowed to come back, and was true to his word, standing on the podium for the silver medal five days later.

"Overall I'm really happy to have come away from this event with such a good result," said Ashley, for whom this event was a return to top level international competition.

Beyond the medals the New Zealand team also picked up two fourth places as well - Dan Slater in the Finn, and Sam Meech in the Laser. For Meech, who was a Youth Worlds gold medallist two years ago, this result will count as a career highlight to date. This is his first top five at a major European event competing at senior level in the hotly contested Laser event.

Three more Kiwis took part in the Laser medal race - Andrew Murdoch, who finished sixth, Mike Bullot just behind in seventh and Andy Maloney wrapping up the regatta in ninth position.

The next major event on the Olympic-class calendar is the fourth of seven regattas which make up the ISAF Sailing World Cup series. An even larger contingent of Kiwis is expected to be at this next regatta which runs from 21-29 April in Hyeres, France.

CUP PLACINGS

ISAF World Cup Regatta, Spain

New Zealand's final results:

* Men's RS:X (66 entries)
2nd Tom Ashley
20th Antonio Cozzolino

* Laser Radial (78 entries)
1st Sara Winther

* Women's 470 (49 entries)
1st Jo Aleh and Bianca Barbarich-Bacher

* Men's 470 (84 entries)
18th Paul Snow-Hansen and Jason Saunders

* Finn (83 entries)
4th Dan Slater
35th Matt Coutts

* Women's RS:X (33 entries)
31st Stephanie Williams

* Laser (127 entries)
4th Sam Meech
6th Andrew Murdoch
7th Mike Bullot
9th Andy Maloney
55th Josh Junior

* Women's Match Racing
5th Koru Match: Stephanie Hazard, Jenna Hansen and Susannah Pyatt