Tauranga 49er sailor Peter Burling and crew mate Blair Tuke are placed second in their class at the end of their first day of competition at the ISAF Sailing World Championships.

There were three races in the 49er skiff class on Monday at Perth in stormy conditions off Fremantle, and the NZL pair finished fifth, third and second.

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke racing at Perth.

Peter is happy with the result with points added from these races giving them a tie for the lead and a second placing overall.

'We're walking away with three keepers and that's the main thing – it was a good start, we're pretty happy.”

Peter says the conditions were unusual for the venue with the wind relatively stable.

'There were a few storms and systems going through, even thunder before our last race and it built quite quickly after that.
'It was not the normal southwest sea breeze today; it was more south or southeast.

'It was a new breeze for everyone – one we hadn't sailed in before.”
Also competing on Monday for the first time at the event, which features 1200 of the world's best sailors in all 10 Olympic classes, was the 470 class.

NZL sailors Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie had a strong start in this class.

The pair, usually known as ‘Team Jolly', finished their first two races in seventh and fourth place, which leaves them in fourth overall.
Also racing was the Men's RS:X windsurfer and the men's single handed Laser classes.
Tom Ashley and JP Tobin were racing in close quarters on the Men's RS:X course, the pair of them have only one point differing their overall standings of sixth (Tom) and eighth (JP).

Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships
New Zealand's current standings

49er- 67 Teams
2nd Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (5, 3, 2)
43rd Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski (34DNC, 13, 18)
62nd Chris Burgess and Rohan Swanson (26, 29, 34DNC)

470 Women- 48 Teams
4th Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie (7, 4)
39th Vicki Francis and Erica Dawson (32, 43)

Men's Laser- 147 Competitors
12th Josh Junior (7, 3)
19th Andrew Murdoch (6, 7)
21st Mike Bullot (12, 4)
29th Andrew Maloney (17, 5)
32nd Sam Meech (12, 11)
90th Tom Saunders (26, 35)

RS:X Men's- 89 Competitors
6th Tom Ashley (2, 7)
8th JP Tobin (6, 4)
58th Antonio Cozzolino (26, 32)
83rd Carl Evans(38, 47DNF)

Women's Match Racing
Stephanie Hazard, Jenna Hansen, Susannah Pyatt
8 Wins, 6 losses- second round robin repechage