French duo Charles Dorange and Tim Mourniac took the early lead in the Nacra 15 competition at the Youth Sailing World Championships in Auckland ©World Sailing

French duo Charles Dorange and Tim Mourniac took the early lead in the Nacra 15 competition at the Youth Sailing World Championships in Auckland as the class made its first-ever appearance at the event.

Dorange and Mourniac negotiated tricky wind conditions to end the opening day at the event off the Hauraki Gulf in pole position.

Home sailors Jackson Feon and Tom Fyfe finished in second while Belgians Henri Demesmaeker and Isaura Maenhaut currently lying in third place.

Dorange believes the new Nacra 15 format allows for a better pathway to the Olympic Nacra 17 class and was full of praise for the event after the first day of racing.

“It was great," he said.

"And for us we are first in the class at the moment so we are very happy.

“The Nacra 15 is more speedy because of the dagger boards and I much prefer it.

“I think it's better for the Olympic pathway to have the Nacra 15 so you can progress to the [Nacra] 17.”

Alexander Gronblom and Martin Mikkola of Finland are the leaders in the boy’s 29er class after they finished third and fifth either side of a race victory.

John Colley and Simon Hoffman of Australia are second, narrowly in front of French pair Gwendal Nael and Lilian Mercier.

The Nacra 15 fleet provided one of the highlights on the opening day ©World Sailing
The Nacra 15 fleet provided one of the highlights on the opening day ©World Sailing

Great Britain's Hannah Bristow and Emily Covell enjoyed a superb opening to their bid for the girls 29er title as they claimed two wins and a second from their three races.

Finnish duo Sirre Kronlof and Veera Hokka, the defending champions, could not match the performance from the British team as they sit second, while Australia's Natasha Bryant and Annie Wilmot are currently in the final podium position.

Wiley Rogers and Jack Parkin of the United States won the day’s first 420 contest but then struggled, recording a sixth and a seventh as they ended third.

The fleet is led by Argentina's Fausto Peralta and Martin Arroyo Verdi, with Italy’s Edoardo Ferraro and Francesco Orlando hot on their heels.

Poland's Julia Szmit and Hanna Dzik got their pursuit of a successful title defence in the girl’s 420 class off to a promising start as they head the leaderboard, although they are tied on six points with two teams - Kathryn Hall and Ashton Borcherding of the United States and Italy’s Alexandra Stalder and Silvia Speri.

Mack van den Eerenbeemt of South Africa, who has previously competed at the Youth Olympic Games, holds top spot in the boy's RS:X but is closely followed by Israel's Yoav Omer.

Sil Hoekstra of The Netherlands is third.

Action in Auckland continues tomorrow