Andrew Murdoch was the NZL Sailing Teams top performer on day three of the Semaine Olympique Francaise, winning both of his races again in very breezy conditions. The Race Committee started racing early due to a pessimistic weather forecast and priority was given to the fleets that needed to complete the qualification series. As such, the NZL Sailing Teams Finn did not get any racing in, the 49er had only one race, and the RS:X, Laser and Womens Match racing each had two. After Andrews two race wins today he was able to drop his worst score and is now in a four way tie for 2nd overall with Australias Tom Slingsby and Tom Burton, and Tonci Stipanovic of Croatia. Andy Maloney is just one point behind this pack after a fourth and second place finish today he sits sixth overall. Sam Meech was disqualified from the last race of today but still remains comfortably in seventh place where he was yesterday. Peter Burling and Blair Tuke in the high performance 49er skiff finished their one race in fifth and then the discard of their worst score saw them jump up the overall standings to seventh overall. The Womens RS:X fleet were able to compete both races and this saw Natalia Kosinska slide back from eighth overall to twelfth. The Womens Match Racing Crew helmed by Stephanie Hazard had another tough day in tiring conditions and lost both of their matches. At the end of the day, all classes sailing in groups were able to complete their qualification stages. Tomorrow will be the first day of finals where split fleets will race as gold/silver/bronze and the Women Match racing will conclude their round robins. The Semaine Olympique Francaise, or simply Hyres as it is commonly known, is one of the major regattas in the International Olympic Sailing Circuit and is the fourth of seven regattas in the 2011-12 ISAF Sailing World Cup series. Racing started in France on Sunday April 22nd, and runs for six days with medal races and prize-giving planned for Friday April 27th. New Zealands top crews in the Mens and Womens 470, Laser Radial and Star are not competing at this event. All of these crews will be racing at their class World Championships in May. Further updates on the NZL Sailing Team will be available via media releases and on the NZL Sailing TeamsFacebook Page, twitter @NZLSailingTeam and Website. Full results and Hyres regatta news is available on the regatta website. New Zealands Standings after Day 3 Laser (106 entries) 2nd- Andrew Murdoch- 8 pts 6th- Andy Maloney- 9 pts 7th Sam Meech- 14 pts 40th- Thomas Saunders- 61 pts 92nd- Michael Cate- 140 pts 49er (56 entries) 7th- Peter Burling and Blair Tuke- 17 pts 33rd- Josh Porebski / Marcus Hansen- 59 pts RS:X Women (40 entries) 12th Natalia Kosinska- 50 pts Finn (41 entreis) 3rd- Dan Slater- 18 pts 14th Matt Coutts- 75pts Womens Match Racing (17 entries) 2 wins, 7 loss. Stephanie Hazard, Jenna Hansen, Susannah Pyatt These sailors are supported by a coaching team of Jez Fanstone, Mark Howard, Phil Douglas and Caroline Brisebois
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