Kiwi Cup Day 4 - Gold fleet finals underway

9:29 PM Sat 31 Jan 2009 GMT

'Fleet reaching - Kiwi Cup' David Staley Click Here to view large photo

The Gold Fleet sailors today commenced their two days of finals to decide the Access Liberty and IFDS Single-Person World Championships.

A south-westerly of 12-15 knots held for most of the day, enabling the race committee to complete the scheduled four races. The tidal stream increased from one to two knots during the program.

Heat one was shaping up to be the expected battle between the two top ranked competitors coming out of separate qualification fleets. Experienced 2.4mR sailor from Christchurch, Andrew May, started the final series two points ahead of current Liberty World Champion, Joshua-McKenzie-Brown from Auckland. The pair kept together off the start line and were first and second around the first mark, but McKenzie-Brown dropped down into the fleet on the second beat thanks to a plastic bag wrapped around his keel. But May was to have his day spoilt too. Tim Dempsey (NZL) sailed the right of the course out of the tide, managing to build a comfortable lead and led home May and Chris Cook (AUS). McKenzie Brown finished an unwelcome 13th.

In heat 2, May and McKenzie-Brown went head to head once more, occasionally match racing, at other times breaking away to find better wind or tide. Barry Coates (AUS), who finished 4th on the first heat, looked intent on spoiling both their days, but in the end had to be satisfied with a 3rd placing watching May beat McKenzie-Brown to the line.

McKenzie-Brown was on the pace in race 3 and May was struggling down in the fleet. The Australian pair of Barry Coates and Chris Cook were closing in, but the local managed to fend off their challenges. May finished a disappointing ninth.

In the final race, McKenzie-Brown dominated and was followed over the finish line by Barry Coates (AUS), Tim Dempsey and Andrew May (NZL). McKenzie-Brown now has a one point margin over May going into the final day of racing tomorrow. Coates is another seven points adrift.

Sailability Auckland is hosting the inaugural Glenn Family Foundation Kiwi Cup this week with racing being conducted by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. The IFDS Disabled Sailing World Championship, 2009, Single Person Keelboat (Non-Technical) is being held concurrently with an Access Liberty Open World Championship and Access Liberty Servo World Championship.

Coates and McKenzie-Brown - Kiwi Cup - David Staley Click Here to view large photo

GLENN FAMILY FOUNDATION KIWI CUP

Access Liberty 2009 World Championship
Access Liberty 2009 Servo World Championship
IFDS 2009 Disabled Sailing World Championship, Single-Person (Non Technical)

PROVISIONAL RESULTS - January 30, 2009
Gold Fleet

NAT SAIL No. SAILOR Q1 Q2 Q3 F1 F2 F3 F4 TOTAL DROP NETT TIES PLACE
NZL 002 Joshua McKenzie-Brown 1 1 3 13 2 1 1 22 13 9 1
NZL 1061 Andrew May 1 1 1 2 1 9 4 19 9 10 2
AUS 1015 Barry Coates 4 2 3 4 3 3 2 21 4 17 3
NZL 1702 Tim Dempsey 2 4 7 1 4 5 3 26 7 19 4
AUS 1128 Chris Cook 3 4 2 3 8 2 8 30 8 22 5
AUS 931 Murray Mitchelhill 3 2 4 6 15 6 7 43 15 28 T 6
AUS 1159 Duncan MacGregor 4 5 5 5 7 4 5 35 7 28 T 7
NZL 1725 Annabel Tye 2 3 4 7 6 10 10 42 10 32 8
AUS 1199 Ron Mellor 6 3 2 16 5 15 13 60 16 44 9
NZL 17281 Pascal Sigrist 8 5 6 9 10 7 11 56 11 45 10
NZL 1088 David Allerton 9 8 5 18 9 11 6 66 18 48 11
NZL 1609 John Toole 7 8 6 8 12 8 12 61 12 49 12
AUS 1158 Genevieve Wickham 5 7 1 11 11 17 15 67 17 50 13
NZL 1701 Lindsay McGregor 9 6 8 12 16 12 9 72 16 56 14
NZL 1610 John Buchanan 5 9 9 10 13 14 14 74 14 60 15
CAN 1175 David Cook 6 12 10 14 14 13 16 85 16 69 16
NZL 1612 Brendan Tourelle 7 7 8 17 17 18 17 91 18 73 17
NZL 1201 Alice Leslie 15 6 7 15 18 16 18 95 18 77 18