Issue date
Sam Meech has secured his first EUROSAF Champions Sailing Cup victory winning gold in the Laser class at the 2013 Sail for Gold Regatta which has just wrapped up in Weymouth, England.
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New Zealand featured twice in the top four of the Laser fleet with Andy Maloney finishing just outside the podium places in 4th.
After opening the five day series with two race wins Meech has continued to dominate never relinquishing the lead in the 33-strong fleet.
“I’m really happy, it’s been a really long trip over here, and it’s awesome to end on a high,” says Meech. “I just had really good form, and I really like Weymouth, I’ve had good results here in the past, so I’ve really enjoyed the week.”
Going into today’s medal race the NZL Sailing Team campaigner looked good for gold with a monster 19 point leading margin, but he needed to get around the course and stay out of trouble to seal the deal. Placing 7th in the ten boat medal race secured him the overall win.
“I was pretty confident, I had a really good lead so all I had to do was finish the race so I just made sure I wasn’t over the start line and got on with it.”
22 year old Meech is a young talent originating from the Hamilton Yacht Club before the Meech family moved and Sam sailed at the Tauranga Yacht & Powerboat. He made his mark early by medalling twice for New Zealand at the ISAF Youth World Championships with bronze in 2008(Denmark) and then gold in 2009 (Brazil).
For Andy Maloney this adds another excellent result to an already stellar season in which he has won gold at ISAF World Cup Palma, Gold at Eurosaf Champions Sailing Cup Garda and Bronze at Eurosaf Champions Sailing Cup Holland (Delta Lloyd Regatta).
At the 470 European Championships Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie continue to battle it out at the top of the leader-board with French pair Lecointre and Geron and Austrian’s Vadlau and Ogar.
Today the 41 strong women’s fleet were back on the water for another two races in which the kiwis placed 8th and 2nd which sees them retain 3rd overall as they go into the penultimate day of racing.
Both the French and Austrian’s share 24 points while Aleh and Powrie are now just two points adrift.
“Day four was at least a little better than yesterday. We had a mixed day, with a terrible first leg to the first race where we rounded the top mark in the 20's,” says Jo Aleh, “but we got back up to finish in 8th.”
“The next race was finally a better sailed effort, we had a great start and just did the simple things right to round the top mark in 2nd place. We had a great battle with the Austrians, passing them on the next leg, but then they got us back on the final downwind leg to the finish.”
“Last day of fleet racing tomorrow, and similar conditions are forecast. So we are looking forward to getting out there again and trying to actually put two good races together. At least Gonzo [the boat] appears to be behaving now!”
Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox sailed their best race of the series so far last night with a 4th place, and overall are in 9th position.
There are two more days of racing in Italy with the podium places to be decided on Saturday.
Final Results 2013 Sail for Gold Regatta, Weymouth, England
1st Sam Meech
4th Andy Maloney
New Zealand’s Standings 470 European Championship, Formia, Italy
Women (41 boats)
3rd Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie (0, 0, 3, 6, 12, 7)
Men (69 boats)
9th Paul Snow-Hansen and Daniel Willcox (15, 13, 9)
54th James Turner and Carl Evans
Sail for Gold Regatta Links
Regatta website featuring news, images, highlights and results.
How too access broadcast footage (including post-race interview with Sam Meech)
Sail for Gold daily video highlights
Sail for Gold on Facebook including images
470 Regatta Links
Regatta website featuring race video highlights, updates, news reports and photos.
Video - Daily video highlights are available from 9 June, 10 June, 11 June and the final day of racing on 15 June. Available on the 470 Olympic Sailing YouTube channel and ftp details on the Championship Media Page
Photos - A selection of high resolution images will be available for FTP download at:
Host: ftp.icarussailingmedia.com
Username: europeans2013
Password: formia.2013
Images from racing are also available on the Championship website and our Facebook photo gallery
About the NZL Sailing Team
NZL Sailing Team includes New Zealand’s top Olympic campaigners who share the ultimate goal to win Olympic medals for New Zealand at the Rio Games in 2016.
NZL Sailing Team sailors all started out at grass roots yacht clubs around the country and with commitment, dedication and drive have risen to be world class athletes; they work hard in the gym, train long hours on the water and are supported by great coaches.
For more information contact
Jodie Bakewell-White
Communications Manager, Yachting New Zealand
E. jodie@yachtingnz.org.nz
M. 021 709 065
