Simon Cooke and Peter Nicholas began the world 470 yachting championships in superb form by winning the first race of the regatta being sailed at Cagliari, at the southern end of Sardinia, Italy.
The championship has fleets of 109 men and 60 women.
Cooke and Nicholas are looking at improving on theirsixth finish at last year's world championships in Slovenia.
In the women's fleet Shelley Hesson and Linda Dickson are 10th overall after finishing third in the second race of their regatta.
The light mistral breeze saw the first men's race of the day sailed in an offshore 8-10 knot breeze. The second race was started in 5-7 knots, with Cooke and Nicholas in second place at the first mark when the race was abandoned due to the sea breeze filling in from the opposite direction.
The race was restarted later with Cooke and Nicolas finishing sixth to lie fifth overall.
Of the other New Zealand crews Andrew Brown and Jamie Hunt are 24th after placings of sixth and 14th while Stephen Keen and Philip Keen are 44th after finishing 24th and 11th.
The 109 men's crews have been split into three fleets and the women into two fleets.
After six races the top third of the men's teams will sail against each other for the final eight races to decide the world champion title.
Unlike previous years, the early races will be counted as part of what will be a 14-race series to decide the world champion. The women's competition has a similar format.
