Tauranga 49er sailor Peter Burling is the bronze medal winner with mate Blair Tuke at the Weymouth and Portland 2011 International Regatta

They finished the event in style with a win in their final race; one of four top four finishes in the nine events Kiwi sailors contested on the final day of the regatta at the weekend.

Peter Burling.

'Peter and Blair have sailed well right through the regatta and it was really nice to see them take the medal race win and then stand on the podium,” says team director and 49er coach Jez Fanstone.

'It is a great result for them, but in typical fashion they want to do even better.”

They were the youngest combined pair in Weymouth, which included representatives from the top 24 nations in the world in the men's Olympic double-handed skiff, with New Zealand's helm, Burling, the second youngest sailor in the fleet.
The pair has benefitted from an alliance with the Australians with whom they trained and competed against earlier this year for Sail Sydney and Sail Melbourne Regattas.

Another highlight this season was a bronze medal at the ISAF Sailing World Cup Regatta in the Netherlands in May.

The bronze medal is a considerable achievement for the young pair who got together following the 2008 Olympic cycle in which Peter represented New Zealand in Qingdao, China, in the Men's 470 class sailing with Carl Evans. Blair's talent was honed in the Splash class with a Splash and a 29er world title among other achievements in his CV.
The battle in Weymouth for 49er gold was an epic one going the way of Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen of Australia, who had to finish two places ahead of the Spaniards, who have two Olympic medals in their drawer, in the last race.

After 16 races, the two top placed boats were on equal points the gold awarded to the Aussies as they were the better finisher in the medal race.

Among other lead finishers in the Kiwi team at Weymouth were Hamish Pepper and Craig Monk finishing sixth overall in the Star class.

Also, Dan Slater finished seventh overall in the Finn class improving his standing by one with a solid medal race where he crossed the line second.

'Overall, I'm pretty happy with how the team has performed here in Weymouth – it's been about gaining knowledge and experience,” says team director Jez.

'While it's disappointing in some ways not to convert the fourth place finishes into podium finishes, it demonstrates that we are really close, and it will really put the fire in the bellies of those guys.
'Review of our performance here in Weymouth will come over the next few weeks and we'll be looking to learn the lessons on where we can improve further.”

Weymouth and Portland 2011 International Regatta
New Zealand's final results

Bronze - Peter Burling and Blair Tuke: 49er (11, 16, 3, 3, 1, 3, 9, 5, 3, 3, 2, 4, 1, 6, 21 medal race: 1)
4th - Andrew Murdoch: Laser (4, 5, 2, 3, 11, 4, 8, 12, 9, 2, medal race: 7)
4th - Jon-Paul Tobin: RS:X Men (6, 6, 9, 16, 5, 11, 2, 4, 21, 1, medal race:1)
4th - Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie: 470 Women (21, 11, 2, 26 BFD, 3, 3, 17, 4, 1, 7, medal race: 1)
6th - Hamish Pepper and Craig Monk: Star (5, 2, 15, 7, 10, 22DNS, 5, 7, 6, 3, medal race: 5 )
7th - Dan Slater: Finn (13, 18, 5, 2, 28OCS, 4, 7, 9, 6, 12, medal race: 2)
10th - Natalia Kosinska: RS:X Women (12, 10, 4, 7, 7, 11, 12, 14, 19, 8, medal race: 9)
15th - Paul Snow-Hansen and Jason Saunders: 470 Men (17, 16, 4, 13, 15, 33OCS, 4, 16, 11,33DSQ)
22nd - Sara Winther: Radial (11, 26, 26, 21, 15, 25, 18, 8, 10, 50DNF)