Yachting: Silver lining for Burling,Tuke

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke in action. Photo / APN

New Zealand sailors Peter Burling and Blair Tuke had to settle for silver in the 49er skiff class when a medal race duel went the way of Austrians Nico Delle Karth and Nikolaus Resch today at Sail Melbourne, the opening regatta in the Sailing World Cup series for 2010-11.

After a five-day qualifying series the New Zealanders entered the medal race with a narrow points margin over the Austrians, who are ranked No 1 in the world.

They needed to finish one place behind Delle Karth and Resch or better to secure the gold.

However, Burling and Tuke could do no better than ninth although there was instant consolation because that was good enough for them to secure the silver medal.

Burling and Tuke last week won their class at the Sail Sydney regatta.

Their New Zealand teammate Josh Junior finished third in today's medal race in the single-handed Laser class to end up fifth overall, as did Sara Winther in the women's Laser Radial fleet.

Michael Cate was third in the men's Laser Radial, two places ahead of compatriot Nicholas Croft.

- NZPA