After a near perfect day on the water, Tauranga sailor Peter Burling and Blair Tuke have opened up a solid lead in the 49er skiff class in the ISAF Sailing World Cup at Hyeres in France.

Adding two bullets and a 2nd place on day two of the five-day regatta, the Kiwis are out in front by 21 points, with Denmark's Jonas Warrer and Anders Thomsen in second spot.

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke have opened a good lead in Hyeres. Photo: Sailing Energy.

In the Women's 470, Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie have made major gains on the leader-board. Lying 11th going into today, Jo and Polly have climbed up the ladder with two solid single-digit race results – a 6th and a 5th.

All three teams at the top of the leader-board, including the Kiwis, Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark (GBR) and Anne Haeger and Briana Provancha (USA) are lying equal on points.

Team-mates Marcus Hansen and Josh Porebski have slipped to 18th.

Tauranga sailor Molly Meech and Alexandra Maloney improved their overall position in the women's 49er FX, climbing to 7th overall with a 14th, a 4th and a 9th in yesterday's three races.

'After a slow start we connected a few more pieces of the puzzle,” says Alexandra. 'We are determined to make each race more complete in the coming few days.”

The Brazilian and Slovenian crews in 4th and 5th aren't far adrift and the scene is set for another exciting battle over the coming two days of racing which lead up to Sunday's medal race.

Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox are lying 10th in the Men's 470 class, while changing fortunes on the Finn course have seen Andrew Murdoch slip to 13th on the leader-board.

In contrast, Josh Junior had a better day and climbed up the ranks to 17th overall after placing 7th and 10th.

New Zealand's Laser sailors struggled for consistency and only Andy Maloney remains in the top ten of the 40-boat fleet. Sam Meech sits 13th, with Mike Bullot in 21st and Thomas Saunders in 25th at the end of day two. Sara Winther is lying 24th in the Laser Radial.

Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders are now in 16th overall in the mixed Nacra 17 multihull, while Natalia Kosinska has moved from 21st up to lie 17th at the end of day two in the Women's RS:X.

Racing continues in Hyeres tomorrow with another two days remaining before the top ten medal races scheduled for Sunday.

*The ISAF Sailing World Cup is a world-class annual series for Olympic sailing. It is open to the sailing events chosen for the 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition. Its centre piece is the ISAF Sailing World Cup Final in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates in late October.