Mattias Coutts and Oscar Gunn have shot into second overall at the 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 European Championships in Eckernförde, Germany, winning two of four races on day two to sit just five points behind British leaders James Grummett and Rhos Hawes in the 90-plus boat fleet.
It is a striking result for a pairing who have been sailing together for little more than a year and narrowly missed the podium at Kiel Week just a fortnight ago.
After surviving 34-knot gusts on day one, the fleet found more manageable conditions on day two, with 12 to 20 knots on courses set further offshore due to anchoring constraints and a military exclusion zone inside the bay. Coutts and Gunn came in focused on keeping scores clean and avoiding early blowouts. They did exactly that, then went one better by winning two races outright.
"The conditions were a bit lighter than yesterday and the courses were a lot further out," Gunn said. "We had some more consistent breeze and some more chop. We made some improvements since yesterday; we were happy with our speed, and we had good boat handling. It was a really good day."
"We're probably one of the newer partnerships in this fleet, and if we just keep improving at every event, we'll see good progress forward," Gunn said. "To improve on our worlds result and carry on the good success we had in Kiel, we're looking forward to a good result here, and I think we're capable of it."
Coutts is keeping his focus simple heading into the final qualifying day. "The goal for tomorrow is to keep our consistency," he said. "It's a new day, and the regatta is still so [young], and we'll just keep pushing."
Defending European champions and reigning world champions Seb Menzies and George Lee Rush added further weight to the Kiwi challenge, climbing 17 places to fifth after rounding out their day with a race win. The pair claimed the European title in Greece last year before adding the world crown in France in May, and are once again firmly in medal contention.
Elsewhere in the 49er fleet, Auckland siblings Sean and Rowan Kensington had their best result of the regatta with a fourth place in the opening race of the day. They sit 40th overall in their first international campaign together, while Francesco Kayrouz and Hamish McLaren are 43rd.
In the 49erFX, Nicola and Rebecca Hume recorded a second top-10 finish of the regatta to sit 31st overall as the women's fleet completed its qualifying series.
Micah Wilkinson and Kate Stewart remain in the hunt in the Nacra 17 at 11th overall. An opening-race DNF threatened to derail their day, but they responded with finishes of ninth and 12th to stay within striking distance of the top 10, who will advance to the medal series.
The final qualifying day runs overnight New Zealand time, with the top 25 boats in the 49er and 49erFX moving through to Gold Fleet racing.
