Tauranga sailors are playing their part in the leading New Zealand teams on day two of the 2015 Rio Test Event in Brazil, with racing in all ten Olympic events being contested this week.

Tauranga sailor Jason Saunders, along with Gemma Jones, have the early lead in the Nacra 17 multi-hull class after the pair began the regatta in good form, taking second place in both races.

Jason Saunders and Gemma Jones have the lead in the Nacra 17. Photo: Supplied.

'We sailed really well in the first two races,” says Jason.

'We had two great starts and sailed the shifts well. It was tough out there with the sea breeze but we managed to sail the conditions really well.

'We had a little problem after the start and I fell off the trapeze and into the water, so we were a bit behind from there and it was pretty hard to catch up.”

49erFX crew, with Tauranga sailor Molly Meech alongside Alexandra Maloney, had a similarly successful day with two excellent results from their three races to hold second overall.

The NZ pair opened strongly, notching up third place in the opening race, then a win in race two.

'It was a great way to start the day and leading into the third race we had some confidence going into it,” says Molly.

'That win in race two was actually a bit unexpected. We were in third or fourth going round the mark in the last downwind and we played a few shifts right and we managed to take it at the end which was nice.”

In the 49er, Tauranga sailor Peter Burling and Blair Tuke are in third place overall.

A mid-afternoon start for the 49ers meant they were the only class not to complete a full schedule of racing, and managed two before the light faded and they came ashore.

Burling and Tuke placed second in the opener before finishing sixth in race two.