Tough start for Aust 49er sailors

Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen want to beat New Zealand for an Olympic sailing gold medal but they won't do it like that.

The Kiwis won both 49er races on Friday, but the Australian pair finished 13th and eighth.

"We haven't lost the event but we definitely haven't set the world on fire," Outteridge said in Rio.

Conditions were shifty and the pair got caught in the pack.

"We were pinned and weren't able to tack where we wanted to tack a few times," Outteridge said.

"We were in the pack, fighting for it ... just never able to get back up into that lead group."

New Zealanders Peter Burling and Blair Tuke went in as gold medal favourites and confirmed that status with wins in the first two 49er races.

In the men's 470, Mat Belcher and Will Ryan continued their good form with a second place in the only race run on Friday.

They sit second overall, just two points behind first-placed Croatia.

Laser sailor Tom Burton is third and has closed the gap to first-placed Croatian Tonci Stipanovic to just five points.

He finished seventh and second on Friday while Stipanovic had to settle for 28th and ninth.

"I still need a good day tomorrow (before the gold medal race)," Burton said.

Ashley Stoddart posted a 24th and an 11th in the Laser Radial to sit 13th overall, while Carrie Smith and Jaime Ryan finished seventh to sit 11th overall in the women's 470.