On the second to last day of full racing at their 2012 World Championships, the NZL Sailing Teams Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie confirmed their rank going into tomorrows final two gold fleet races, and Dan Slater took three steps up the Finn Gold Cup leaderboard. Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie had a 7th and 9th place finish in their two races today in Barcelona, dropping them back to third overall, but points are close for the top five and anything is possible for the last two full races before the medal race on Saturday night (NZT). The first and second placed teams (GBR and NED) are tied in overall points six ahead of the Kiwi duo, and fourth (FRA) is only one point behind. This London 2012 Olympic bound pair will be looking to match or beat their performance of the last two world championships where together they claimed Silver, and Bronze. Paul Snow Hansen and Jason Saunders slid down a couple places in the mens 470 division to 24th, and will also have two races on Friday night (NZT). Racing at the Finn Gold Cup was described as the toughest, roughest conditions that most of the fleet would have sailed in years and although Dan Slater handled the conditions well, his improvement wasnt quite enough to make it into tomorrows double point medal race. He progressed three places up to 16th overall, and will have one last race tomorrow afternoon. New Zealander Matt Coutts also took a huge jump up in the overall standings with todays three races, from 36th overall to now 22nd. He had a clear lead at the top mark of the second race but ended up with a 9th in that one, and followed it up with a 6th. Matts Uncle, Rob Coutts, has held his position in 59th in the 94 boat strong fleet. Sara Winther too had big breezes at the Laser Radial World Championships in Germany, and improved her standings from 16th overall to 13th in the fleet of 133 boats. She did well in todays two races with a 3rd and 9th place finish, and as such, has made the gold fleet for the final six races of her event. May 18th current standings 470 Womens World Championship 54 boats, after 10 races 3rd - Jo Aleh & Olivia (Polly) Powrie 470 Mens World Championship 95 boats, after 10 races 24th - Paul Snow Hansen & Jason Saunders Finn Gold Cup (World Championship) 94 boats, 9 races 16th Dan Slater 22nd Matt Coutts 59th Rob Coutts Laser Radial World Championship 133 boats, 6 races 13th - Sara Winther The RS:X World Championships were sailed in March, and JP Tobin came away with a Bronze medal, setting the bar high for the team to follow. Andy Maloney grabbed up a bronze medal at the Laser World Championships which finished on May 10th. One day later, Peter Burling and Blair Tuke finished the 49er World Championships with a silver medal. WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS INFO 2012 Finn World Championships Venue: Falmouth, England Racing Starts: May 13th Final Races: May 18th Representing New Zealand: Dan Slater, Matt Coutts, Rob Coutts Regatta Website: www.falmouthfinnfestival.com 2012 470 World Championships Venue: Barcelona, Spain Racing Starts: May 13th Final Races: May 19th Representing New Zealand: Jo Aleh/ Olivia (Polly) Powrie, Paul Snow Hansen/Jason Saunders Regatta Website: http://worlds.470.org 2012 Radial World Championships Venue: Boltenhagen, Germany Racing Starts: May 15th Final Races: May 20th Representing New Zealand: Sara Winther Regatta Website: www.laserworldchampionship.com/ London 1908 Olympic Summer Games
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