Jo Aleh and Bianca Barbarich-Bacher (NZL) in the Women's 470. Image copyright Jesus Renedo/Princesa Sofia/MAPFRE.
by Jodie Bakewell-White
Sailors in Palma de Mallorca, Spain for the ISAF World Cup Regatta waited ashore until early afternoon for wind on day four with two races per fleet then completed.
Overall it was a good day for the NZL Sailing Team many improving their overall position with five of the kiwis now up into the top five, and our match racers (pictured) into the quarter finals with two days to sail.
Jo Aleh and Bianca Barbarich-Bacher took a race win and then a 19th overnight and inch up the board into second place in the Women’s 470 with only Israel out in front by a narrow two points. The Japanese duo who sailed brilliantly over the first half of the series has faltered slipping back to third.
Questions put to Jo Aleh:
Points are tight in the Women’s double-hander though and the final two days of the event will be all important for sailors and exciting for spectators.
Tom Ashley has also improved his position, moving into third place after day four of racing. He had this to say at the end of the day:
“Another solid day. In the first race I timed my acceleration slightly late at the start and came very close to getting rolled by the fleet, but managed to work my way out after a minute or so. That effort left me feeling pretty smashed for the rest of the race but I survived to finish third.”
“ In the second race I got a great start and headed to the left of the course, but just came back a little bit early and missed a big gust on the very left corner. Went around the top mark in sixth and finished fourth.”
“I'm now in 3rd overall. Not bad considering my disastrous first day. However, I'm a fair way off the lead, and something spectacular would have to happen tomorrow to give me any chance of winning. I am pretty happy with the way I'm sailing considering this is my first warm-up event and I'm still two months from my peak.”
Sara Winther rocketed into the top six on day three climbing even further on day four and now lies in fourth place in the Women’s Laser Radial event. Winther is three points behind USA’s Paige Railey in third after a total eight races sailed.
Also sitting in fourth place in their respective fleets are Dan Slater in the Finn, moving up from sixth, and Sam Meech impresses in the Laser leapfrogging up to fourth after lying tenth at the day’s outset.
Andrew Murdoch and Andy Maloney are also in the top ten of the 127-strong Laser fleet in sixth and eighth respectively.
Stephanie Hazard, Jenna Hansen and Susannah Pyatt have secured a quarter finals berth in the Elliott 6 metre Women’s Match Racing. Four wins and a loss in the repecharge sees them scrape in as eighth qualifier and the team are excited about the opportunity to progress further.
Racing resumes late evening Friday (New Zealand time) with live updates and race news available from the regatta website. Another two days remain; the regatta finishes in Spain on Saturday April 9th.
New Zealand’s current standings after day four
Men’s RS:X (66 entries)
3rd Tom Ashley
21st Antonio Cozzolino
Laser Radial (78 entries)
4th Sara Winther
Women’s 470 (49 entries)
2nd Jo Aleh and Bianca Barbarich-Bacher
Men’s 470 (84 entries)
14th Paul Snow-Hansen and Jason Saunders
Finn (83 entries)
4th Dan Slater
36th Matt Coutts
Women’s RS:X (33 entries)
30th Stephanie Williams
Laser (127 entries)
4th Sam Meech
6th Andrew Murdoch
8th Andy Maloney
13th Mike Bullot
60th Josh Junior
Women’s Match Racing
Koru Match: Stephanie Hazard, Jenna Hansen and Susannah Pyatt (Repechage round robin: 4 wins/1 loss)
Coaches Mark Howard, Mark Orams, Nathan Handley, Hamish Wilcox and Dave Robertson are supporting the New Zealand sailors at Trofeo SAR Princess Sofia MAPFRE Regatta.
NZL Sailing Team
Trofeo Princesa Sofia MAPFRE
