Racing is underway at the European Championships for the Olympic 49er and 49erFX skiffs in Helsinki and the Olympic Nacra 17 multihull in La Grande Motte.

Tauranga sailor Peter Burling and Blair Tuke sailed three races on the opening day in Helsinki in 7-12 knot conditions on the courses for the men's racing.

Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech in the 49erFX fleet. Photo: Esko Kilpi.

The Olympic silver medallists and reigning world champions opened the regatta with a race win, and then placed 12^th and 4^th in the subsequent races. They are 6th overall in the standings at this early stage and are content with the start they've made.

'Solid day one for us here at the European Champs,” says Blair Tuke.

'Couple of missed opportunities but all in all a nice start to a long week.”

Points are predictably close through the leaders at this early stage in the six day regatta and the New Zealanders can be grateful they're not one of a number of crews suffering boat damage after coming in contact with a rock, or the bottom, off Helsinki.

NZL Sailing Team-mates Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski have also made a solid start in the 49er where 83 boats are split into three fleets for the opening stages. The Kiwi young guns are in 13th at the end of the opening day racing home with a 4th, 12th and 8th place finishes.

In the 49erFX fleet of 51, Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech lie 17th after four races today. Their results from yesterday were 8th, 11th, 6th and 9th, and they are keen to improve on that.

'Tough first day for us, as we forced ourselves to play catch up in all four races,” comment Maloney and Meech.

'We are happy there are plenty more races over the next five days to improve on today's performance.”

2014 49er and 49erFX European Championships, Helsinki, Finland

What: Olympic skiff classes (Men's and Women's)

When: Tuesday July 8 - Sunday July 13

New Zealand's Current standings after day one 49er: (83 boats) 6th Peter Burling and Blair Tuke 17 points (1, 12, 4) 13th Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski 24 points (4, 11, 8) 39th Logan Dunning-Beck and Jack Simpson 40 points (15, 16, 9) 58^th Ben Goodwin and Sam Bullock 53 points (15, 13, 25)

49erFX: (51 boats) 17th Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech 23 points (8, 11, 6, 9) 27^th Erica Dawson and Ellie Copeland 33 points (11, 9, 13, 23) NZL Sailing Team Coachs: Jez Fanstone and Hamish Willcox

Nacra 17

Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders are New Zealand's only crew at the 2014 Nacra 17 European Champs which kicked off in France today after day one on Monday was cancelled due to light winds.

Jones and Saunders won the first race for the grey fleet and were then pleased to back that up with a pair of solid, counting results in the form of an 11th and an 8th.

'We had three keepers which is good from a first day like that,” said Jones

'It was very shifty, very up and down and when we first went out it was very windy. The first and second races were a bit lighter. We feel like we had good speed and were racing quite well but just have to get on the right side of the wind-shifts.”

2014 Nacra 17 European Championships, La Grande Motte, France

What: Olympic mixed multihull

When: Monday July 7th - Saturday July 12th

New Zealand's Current Standings 8th Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders 20 points (1, 11, 8) NZL Sailing Team Coach: Will Howden

Racing resumes tomorrow for the 49er, 49erFX and the Nacra 17 with the Men's and Women's 470 sailors commencing racing in Athens.

2014 Men's and Women's 470 European Championships, Athens, Greece

What: Olympic double-handed dinghy classes (Men's and women's)

When: Racing starts Wednesday July 10th and runs until Tuesday July 15th

New Zealand's entries Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie NZL Sailing Team Coach: Nathan Handley Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox NZL Sailing Team Coach: Pete Evans