Yachting: Sailors at pointy end of respective fleets

Jon-Paul Tobin. Photo / Getty Images

New Zealand sailors are making themselves heard at the Sail for Gold regatta in England, with four of them holding top four positions as the competition hits the halfway mark.

With three days remaining, boardsailor Jon-Paul Tobin jointly leads the men's RS:X fleet, 470 women Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie are third, Dan Slater fourth in the Finn and Andrew Murdoch fourth in the Laser class.

Today's races were conducted in average winds of 25 knots, described by those off the Weymouth coast as "fresh to frightening".

Tobin secured fifth and second placings in races won by Briton Nick Dempsey, who joined the New Zealander atop the fleet.

Olympic champion Tom Ashley slipped to 11th place with sixth and seventh placings.

Aleh and Powrie improved their regatta haul to 31 points, just two behind an Israeli crew in second place.

Slater dropped a spot into fourth position after posting 10th and fifth placings overnight while Murdoch returned ninth and second results to improve to fourth place overall.

- NZPA