49ers heading for Gold: Close at the top with one day to go
The British pair is on 61 points, Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen (AUS) are on 63 with the Toft Neilsen brothers (DEN) on 70. Two points behind them is the New Zealand pair, Peter Burling and Blair Tuke.
Friday started with Simon and Emil Toft Neilsen finishing first in race 10, with Mathieu Frei and Yann Rocherieux (FRA) placing second.
“It was a day divided in two sessions, the first one went actually alright in very difficult conditions,” Simon Toft Nielsen said. “Overall we're still pretty satisfied I think, still up there in the top ten, trying to push through into the medal race. We're gonna push as hard as we can.”
During race 11, Allan Noerregaard Christensen and Peter Lang (DEN) were out front for most of the time, and held on to finish first ahead of Charlie Enlund Ekberg and Kalle Torlen (SWE).
In the third Gold fleet race, world number two duo Nico Delle Karth and Nikolaus Resch (AUT) scored their first top three finish, taking first place from Peter Kruger Andersen and Nicolai Thorsell (DEN).
“It feels really good to finally get a win under our belt,” Resch said. “The sea breeze finally came in which was good because it was what we practised for and it was nice to sail in steady winds.”
The overall leaders, Pink and Peacock, placed 15th, after starting the race further to the right than the rest of the fleet.
“I did really want to stay with the fleet in a clear lane but we kind of got bounced from it,” Peacock said. “After that we thought the best way to get a clear lane was to split from the fleet and stay away from trouble, but not knowing that maybe shifts had a bigger input.”
While race 12 was sailed in a sea breeze on the Owens course, the first two races Friday were on the Centre course with shifty, offshore easterlies, not to the liking of the world number one pair, Outteridge and Jensen.
“This is the most random racing we've had all season,” said Outteridge. “It was quite disappointing and frustrating. At the beginning it wasn't looking so great, but we plugged away and played with the shifts and ended eighth.
“If we can get into the medal race a few points ahead of the next team we can get it for sure. It's going to be all on tomorrow.”
The 49ers Gold fleet has three races scheduled for Saturday (17 December) before the top ten go into Sunday’s Medal Race.