Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders, the fourth place Nacra 17 team from Rio 2016, have split up just one year from the 2020 games. Each sailor has formed a new partnership and in total three new Nacra 17 crews have emerged with less than one year to go until the games – each could be contenders.
Jones and Saunders finished fourth in Rio, just outside the medals in an incredibly close finish in Rio 2016. Three years into the transition to foiling the duo decided to split from each other siting lack of progress against their goals. With only a year until the next games, the split comes relatively late compared to most double handed sailing reorganizations, which might trouble kiwi sailing fans.
With New Zealand already qualified as a nation for the 2020 games, some of the short term pressure is abated, so the teams have 12 months to fight up to the international level and be selected from within the New Zealand squad.
Earlier this year the New Zealand second team of Olivia Mackay and Micah Wilkinson ended their campaign. Despite their Red Bull Foiling Generation win in years past, the young duo couldn’t make their campaign for Tokyo work. There seemed to be on a successful path, even being the team that technically qualified New Zealand for Tokyo as they finished one position ahead of Jones and Saunders in Aarhus.
Gemma Jones now teams up with Josh Porebski, the former nacra17 World Championship bronze medalist, who simultaneously ends his nacra17 campaign despite quite a bit of success in 2019. With the return of Burling and Tuke (NZL) to the top of the nacra17 table, the opportunity to sail with Jones was an appealing one for Porebski.
Jason Saunders will continue to crew but now for Olivia Mackay and are the Kiwi team with the most combined experience in the Nacra 17, and both are in the same spots on the boat they have been racing in for years.
Featuring this week at the 2019 Test Event is the third team of Erica Dawson and Micah Wilkinson. Erica is a talented young sailor who formerly raced the nacra17FX. She had been helming in past years, but now will be crewing for Micah, who himself switches from crewing for Olivia to helming.
These three teams each have outstanding pedigree, and despite the last minute nature of the changes it will be a fascinating experiment to see how quickly these teams can forge effective new partnerships. The Nacra 17 is a boat that demands instinctive yet coordinated work between the skipper and crew, especially to keep the boat in balance on the downwind legs. However, it is also in a new configuration this quad so all teams are remain on a steep learning curve meaning the there is much remainin opportuntiy to improve performance.
Whether these new teams can be ready to perform at the elite level by the games and while hosting the 2019 World Championship in home waters will be required viewing for sailing fans.
The Ready Steady Tokyo test event begins on Saturday, August 17th from Tokyo. Keep up with the action via the class page.
