KEY POINTS:
When Jo Aleh pulled back the curtains yesterday morning and saw the wind was howling, she couldn't help but smile.
By the afternoon her smile had widened - she and her teammate had won the 420 World Championships.
Kiwi yachties relish the breeze and 20-year-old Aleh and her
420 teammate Olivia Powrie, 19, yesterday showed why. Competing in 15 to 20 knot winds and big seas off Takapuna, the pair finished first and second in their two races.
Having already accomplished a healthy lead in the championships, their results yesterday were enough to earn them the world title with two races to spare.
Not a bad effort, considering they teamed up only in September.
Aleh and Powrie are both Laser Radial sailors. Aleh is a member of Yachting New Zealand's Olympic squad and is almost certain to represent New Zealand in the Lasers at next year's Olympics.
With the 420 world championships being staged in New Zealand, the pair, long-time friends, decided to join forces. They started training in September, finished second in the New Zealand trials in December before obliterating 48 other crews to win the world title.
"We hoped winning would be possible but not with two races to spare and by this sort of margin,' Aleh said.
"There has been quite a lot of wind and we really enjoy the breeze."
In the 10 races they sailed, their worst result was a ninth.
In a fleet of 47 boats they finished with three firsts, three seconds, two thirds and a fourth.
While the pair clearly clicked on the water, Aleh said they put a lot of time into their boat off the water.
"We do both work very hard, we are used to sailing Laser Radials which are harder work than a 420."
Aleh will now return to the Laser Radial. She is heading to Miami for a regatta in a week's time. "I just want to get back into the Laser Radial and see what it is like again," Aleh said.
"It is a bit tricky jumping classes, but it just takes a few days to get used to it so it's okay."
Aleh's main event this year is the world championships in July, which is the first chance sailors get to qualify their country a spot in the class in next year's Olympics. The championships are being held in Portugal, where the wind also tends to blow.
Powrie is heading to university this year and is not sure what her sailing future holds.
After her success in the 420s she wasn't ruling out the possibility of moving into the Olympic 470 class.
While Aleh and Powrie have claimed the gold medal, two Kiwi crews are battling it out for the silver. Sitting in second place 22 points behind Aleh and Powrie are Kiwis Sarah Bilkey and Rosie Sargisson and Shelley Hesson and Bianca Barbarich-Bacher. Singapore's Sarah Tam and Tze Ting Lim are in fourth, 10 points adrift. Racing resumes at midday today if conditions allow. Strong winds are forecast.
TITLE BLITZ
* Last ten placings: 1,2,3,3,2,1,4,9,1,2