Another great result for Josh Junior who was third Laser behind Groteluschen Simon and Phillipp Buhl - both from Germany.
Josh managed this with consistency, two bullets, and all but one of 9 races in the top 10.

Andy Maloney had two 2nds and a 4th, but other results in the teens left him 12th overall.

The Kiwi women Radial sailors were back at Takapuna training, electing to miss Kiel this year.

All results at http://race-results.kielerwoche.de

The 2011 Sail for Gold regatta in Weymouth was always going to a major ranking regatta for the NZ sailing team in the run up to the Olympic year. A chance to benchmark within the team and with the best sailors from other countries.

So a 2nd for Andrew Murdoch in the Laser was a fantastic outcome, reinforced by an 8th for Andy Maloney. Sam Meech 19th, Josh Junior 23rd, John Bullot 29th and Spencer Loxton 42nd.

Sara Winther kept her head to make the mdeal race and finish 9th overall.

Great NZL results in other classes

• Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie won the 470 womens (whoo hoo!)
• JP Tobin 2nd RSX mens, with Tom Ashley 9th
• Dan Slater 6th Finn
• Tim Dempsey and Jan Apel 8th SKUD18
• Hamish Pepper and Craig Monk 9th Star
• Paul Snow-Hansen and Jason Saunders 10th 470 mens
• Peter Burling and Blair Tuke 12th 49er

Reports and results at www.skandiasailforgoldregatta.co.uk and sail-world.com

Miranda Powrie's campaign is on track with a great result qualifying for the medal race at the Delta Lloyd regatta.
She tells the story best ...

A good article summarising Sara's career (so far) at SailWorld.com
http://www.sail-world.com/NZ/index.cfm?SEID=0&Nid=83427&SRCID=0&ntid=94&tickeruid=0&tickerCID=0

She's making it a habit.

Following on from gold in the Prince Sofia Regatta in March, Sara has won again in Heyres at the Semaine Olympique Francaise.
She had a 5 point lead over Frances Sarah Steyeart lead going into medal race, then started badly, only slowly clawing back during the race. But after a strong final downwind to the finish she surged past two boats on the last wave. Just enough to secure victory with two points.
In the same strong fleet Miranda Powrie was pleased with a 15th in her first year back in the class, making improvements in first beat tactics but losing ground downhill.
Mike Bullot was the best of the NZL men with a 8th overall and 6 of 11 races in the top five. Josh Juior was 12th, Andy Maloney 16th, Andrew Murdoch 23rd and Sam Meech 55th (and a 1st in his final race).

More details at

• sarawinther.com
• mirandapowrie.com
• The event site sof.ffvoile.net
• www.yachtingnz.org.nz

Whoo hoo!
After a slower start early in the regatta Sara Winther found her form in the middle races to win the Laser Radials at 42nd princess Sofia Regatta in Palma, Mallorca. A most impressive result against some big names including Evi Van Acker, Paige Riley and Marit Bouwmeester.

Sara's perspective at www.sarawinther.com

Sam Meech must be elated with a 4th in the mens Lasers. He had only Paul Goodison (GBR), Tom Slingsby (AUS) and Nick Thomson (GBR) in front of him. The strength of the NZ squad was on show again with Andrew Murdoch and Andy Maloney 6th and 7th and Mike Bullot 8th.

In other fleets Jo Aleh and Biacha Barbarich-Bacher had a stunning regatta to win gold a full 10 points (net) ahead of silver. And Dan Slater was 4th in the Finn.

Reports and full results at www.trofeoprincesasofia-mapfre.org

The South Island Laser Champs were held at Nelson Yacht Club on the 11 and 12 December . The races were held approx 2 miles off the  harbour entrance.  Saturday was very light and shifty but Sunday produced a 13 – 15 knot steady NW wind.

Alex Morris once again took line honours in the Laser full rig.  George Lane from Auckland won the Radial and Ben Whiteside beat Daniel Smith by one point to win the 4.7 fleet. Ben was presented with a new trophy donated by the Mellor family from NYC for the 1^st youth in the 4.7 class.

Read More for results ..

Sarah Powrie, our former NZLA secretary and till active committee member, received a service award from Yachting New Zealand. Sarah and her husband Sefton both received the recognition for 'exemplary and selfless service to yachting'. Something the NZLA has definitely benefited from for many years.

In recognition of his gold medal in the Laser at this years Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF Champs, Thomas Saunders from Tauranga Y&PBC won YNZ's Young Sailor of the year.

Other Laser sailors who received performance awards Andrew Murdoch, Sara Winther and Scott Leith.

More at:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/new-zealand/news/article.cfm?l_id=71&objectid=...
www.yachtingnz.org.nz