Three New Zealand sailors have punched their way into the gold fleet at the ILCA 7 Men's World Championship in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland, after a second day of racing that reshuffled the fleet dramatically. Tom Saunders leads the Kiwi charge into the elimination series.
Saunders followed his race win on Day 1 with a ninth and a sixth overnight (NZ time), enough to lift him three places to 16th overall and comfortably clear of the gold-fleet cut-off.
George Gautrey was the next Kiwi through, climbing 10 spots to 21st after posting a fourth and an eighth. He now sits firmly among the leading pack as the regatta moves into its elimination series.
Caleb Armit made the biggest jump of the day. A third and a fifth saw him more than halve his overall ranking, rocketing from 78th after Day 1 to 39th and into the eliminations.
George Pilkington finished the qualifying series in 92nd, with Zach Tibbe close behind in 104th. Both will continue racing in the silver fleet.
Conditions on the water started lively, around 11 knots with some swell running, before easing to 7-9 knots for the second of the day's two races.
At the top of the leaderboard, Ireland's Finn Lynch has held onto the overall lead on nine points. Germany's Ole Schweckendiek sits second on 12, with Hungary's Jonatán Vadnai third on 14.
Racing resumes tonight with the first two races of the elimination series, sailors now split across gold, silver and bronze fleets. The first warning signal sounds at 11pm NZ time.
