New Zealand sailors Peter Burling and Blair Tuke have maintained their remarkable 20-regatta winning streak, taking out the South American 49er championships in Buenos Aires.
The victory comes just days before the winner of the World Sailor of the Year Awards will be announced in Shanghai, with Burling and Tuke among five finalists.
Lying third overall heading into the final day of the regatta, the possibility of Burling and Tuke continuing their winning streak was in doubt.
However three single digit races to open the day saw them start the medal race with the overall lead.
Going on to finish fifth in the medal race Burling and Tuke wrapped up the regatta 22 points clear to make it 21 victories in a row.
"We'd just unpacked a new boat and spent some time setting it up, one day on the water and then it was pretty much straight into the first race," said Burling.
Peter Burling and Blair Tuke. Photo: Photosport
"It is a different place to sail and a really challenging place to sail. The water is close to fresh water, and there's quite a lot of mud in it. It's really hard to read the puffs (of wind) - but really rewarding when you get it right."
"It was a really tricky event. We were sailing early in the day before the sea breeze came in. You can see on the score card that everyone got it wrong at some point, we were just fortunate that we only got one wrong in the gold fleet series."
"For us this regatta was about building and learning with the main event still to come. We're really happy with how we've been going this week, but we have some more work to do."
In the women's 49erFX event New Zealand's Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech finished fifth.
Racing for the 49er and 49erFX World Championships begins next Monday and runs for six days.
"It is a really challenging place to get it right all the time - so it's going to be tough venue to sail the World Championships," said Burling.
"We'll take tomorrow off and then we will be back on the water."
