Peter Burling and Blair Tuke have taken the lead at the 49er European Championships on day four of the regatta on now in Porto, Portugal.

The 49ers transitioned into gold fleet finals and Burling and Tuke have once again risen to the top of the leader board, opening up a solid points margin over the chasing pack to boot.

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke in action. Photo: Jesus Renedo/Sailing Energy.

A 2^nd, 7^th and a race win from today puts the seemingly unstoppable kiwis 15 points ahead of the fleet.

'Good to get back into gold fleet racing today, there was 7-12 knots of sea breeze with a large underlying swell,” says Peter.

'We build on our qualifying series with three solid races, and that puts us into a strong position going into the final two days.”

New Zealand has two crews placed in the top ten of the 49erFX fleet going into the final day of racing for the women.

Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech started with a race win, then went on to add two more solid results with a 6^th and a 7^th to improve their overall placing up to 6^th.

After today, just seven points separate Maloney and Meech from 3^rd place.

Meanwhile the young crew of Erica Dawson and Ellie Copeland have broken into the top ten with a 5^th, 2^nd and 14^th in today's three gold fleet races.

Saturday sees the women complete their championship with three Gold Fleet races in the morning and a Medal Race finale on the River Douro in the afternoon.

For the men it's the penultimate day of Gold Fleet racing.

The forecast is for medium airs, and you can watch all the action on the live TV broadcast (at 49er.org) which is scheduled for the start of racing on Saturday at 10.00am local time in Portugal or 9:00pm New Zealand time.

2015 49er & FX European Championships current standings

49er

1^st Peter Burling and Blair Tuke 29^th (4^th Silver Fleet) Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski

49erFX 6^th Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech 9^th Erica Dawson and Ellie Copeland