Young Kiwi sailors Ellie Copeland and Erica Dawson overcame "crazy" conditions to move further up the table at the ISAF Youth World championships in Ireland today.

At the halfway point of the regatta, Copeland and Dawson are now sixth overall in the women's 420 class. After a win in the opening race, the pair added a third and fifth yesterday in shifty, wild conditions.

Racing was initially delayed on day three, but the fleet of future Olympians eventually got out on the Dun Laoghaire course to battle through testing westerlies, torrential rain and reduced visibility.

"We're really happy to have consistent scores" Dawson said afterwards. "We finished the first race and both said that it was mentally exhausting. That really summed up the conditions today; our results were not easy to come by."

Two other New Zealand crews are still in the top 10. Gemma Jones and Tomer Simhony are fifth in the SL16 catamaran, and Alex Munro and Trent Rippey are eighth in the 29er fleet.

Laser Radial sailor Andrew McKenzie continues to recover from a disappointing first day and is now up to 22^nd overall.

Tomorrow is a lay-day in the regatta.   

Day 3 Standings

5^th: Gemma Jones and Tomer Simhony- SL16 Multihull (12, 4, 5, 5, 1, 6, 10)

6^th:Ellie Copeland and Erica Dawson- Female 420 (1, 21, 10, 5, 11, 3, 5)

8^th: Alex Munro and Trent Rippey: 29er skiff (17, 9, 8, 5, 4, 11, 6)

22^nd: Andrew McKenzie- Laser Radial (59 BFD, 50, 18, 14, 14, 29, 12)

27^th: Jayvee Buchanan and Matthew Morrison- Male 420 (13, 10, 28, 23, 20, 28, 26)

- © Fairfax NZ News