Congratulations to the NZL Radial team who made a great showing at the Aussie Nationals.

No great suprises but still nice to know. Following top 10 performances in Perth, Andrew Murdoch and Sara Winther have been officially selected as our NZL Laser sailors for the London Olympics. Congratulations to them, a huge amount of work already, a magnificent achievment, and much more to come.

The entire Olympic sailing team are;

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (49er), Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie (women’s 470), Andrew Murdoch (laser), Jon Paul Tobin (RS:X), Paul Snow Hansen and Jason Saunders (men’s 470), Stephanie Hazard, Jenna Hansen and Susannah Pyatt (women’s match racing) and Sara Winther (laser radial).

Quite an impressive lineup and a credit to the sailors and NZ Yachting coaching and development staff.

Hey Guys,
Have had a pretty amazing last few days!!! Almost feels like Christmas....
I managed to get on the podium again at this years World Championships in Perth receiving the bronze medal. It was a tough regatta and I managed to be in solid medal contention going into the medal race which was great.
Then just yesterday, I became one of the first athletes announced into the NZ Olympic Team to compete at the London 2012 Olympics! Although this will be my second time to the Games, it still felt just as good as the first time to be included in the team. It's one more step taken in climbing my Everest, taking Gold at next years Olympics and "Knocking the Bastard Off!"...as Hillary would say.
There is plenty of hard work still to continue though and I now have just over 7 months till showtime! I have been pushed hard for this spot by the other kiwi guys (Andy Maloney, Mike Bullot, Sam Meech, Josh Junior) which has been awesome and this will be a huge benefit as we continue to work together through to the Games. I feel my campaign is in a lot better shape this time around as I have gone about working on many of the lessons learnt from the last Olympics.
Big thanks have to go to my awesome fiancé Natalie for her support. Also regatta coaches Mark Howard & Hamish Wilcox plus the whole Yachting NZ crew & Hyundai NZ for there continued support.
Exciting times ahead!!!
Thanks so much everyone for your support and I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a great New Year!
Cheers,
Andrew

You can follow my campaign at

www.facebook.com/andrewmurdochsailing
www.andrewmurdoch.co.nz

Miranda give us an interesting insight into the world of elite Laser sailing ...

Our own Canterbury Master Radial Sailor Hamish Atkinson has won the 2010/2011 Mader Trust Canterbury dinghy sailor of the year, and gone on to win the major trophy of Mander Trust Canterbury Yachtie of the year.
Nice job Hamish - great to have a Laser sailor winning overall.

Andy Maloney won 5 of 9 races for a clear win at the 2011 Cork OCR regatta in Kingston Canada. He 8 net points clear of 2nd place Chris Dold (CAN) and 19 point ahead of Andys travelling partner Clay Dold (USA). He had no races outside the top 10 in the 47 boat fleet at the ISAF Grade 1 event. 

Full results

Andys trip continues on to San Francisco for some training before the Perth Worlds at the end of the year.

Keep up with Andy's activity & plans at andymaloneyracing.com

The 2011 Laser Masters Worlds has finished up in San Francisco with New Zealanders Scott Leith and Ed Tam first and second in the Apprentice Radials, and James Quinn and Mark Page also getting cubes.

The Masters were hosted by a very up market but friendly and well organised St Francis Yacht club on the city shoreline between the CBD and the Golden Gate Bridge. Naturally the backdrop was stunning. But while the sailors enjoyed the famous San Francisco sea breeze it was really all about the tide.

With a 9 and 2 on the penultimate day Andrew Murdoch lead into the final days medal race at the Olympic test event in Weymouth, just one point ahead of Australian Tom Slingsby. But the double points format meant a 7th in the medal race dropped Andrew to 4th behind Tom Slingsby,  Rutger van Scaardenburg and Paul Goodison.

A frustrating end for Andrew, but his performance across the regatta looks like it's just where he wants it a year out from the Olympics.

Sara Winther finished 22nd in the radial.

Sailing a Laser on the last day of the Laser 4.7 Worlds was a bit like hitting yourself on the head with a hammer ......it felt so good when you stopped!

Images at sail-world.com

Guten Tag
This Postcard comes by way of Munich as we head for the Splash Worlds in Czech.
 
The last day held lots of promise for the Kiwi Team, everything to sail for ....and everything to let slip away,