Medal haul
New Zealand and Australian sailors secure medals in successful World Cup Regatta.
30 April 2018
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Sam Meech and Paul Snow-Hansen and Dan Willcox added two more medals overnight from the World Cup regatta in Hyeres to round out a very successful event for New Zealand’s sailors.
Meech’s silver in the Laser and Snow-Hansen and Willcox’s bronze in the men’s 470 followed on from the gold won by Alex Maloney and Molly Meech (49erFX), silver by Logan Dunning Beck and Oscar Gunn (49er) and bronze collected by Josh Porebski and Trent Rippey (49er) the previous day.
Australian 49er crew David Gilmour and Joel Turner will leave Hyeres with a valuable lesson after an error in the decisive race left them in fourth place overall at the World Cup Series regatta in the south of France.
Gilmour and Turner were on track for a podium finish – possibly gold – after a solid week of racing but received an OCS, or On Course Side, for an illegal start in the Medal race, which put them out of the running.
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New Zealand’s five medals was bettered by only host nation France, who amassed seven medals, four of them gold.
Meech went into the top 10 medal race with an outside chance of gold and tried to engage with Jean Baptiste Bernaz in the pre-start.
But Bernaz, who recently won the French match racing championships, got a lift off the start line and put a tight cover on Meech on the first upwind leg. It meant Meech rounded the top mark last, but the Olympic bronze medallist showed good speed on the downwinds to finish seventh and secure silver.
Snow-Hansen and Willcox started the day with a chance of claiming silver but the Australian pair of Mathew Belcher and Will Ryan sailed away with the medal race to finish second overall behind Sweden’s Anton Dahlberg and Fredrik Bergström who had already sewn up gold before the final race.
“We were hoping to get off the start line cleanly and win the medal race but pretty soon into the race the Aussies were in control so we just managed the fleet and sailed a conservative race to make sure we got bronze,” Snow-Hansen said.
“We were looking at Hyeres as our second peak event for the season and getting the correct weight, putting on our best gear and we actually had a new boat here so it panned out pretty nicely for us.
“We sailed a pretty clean regatta. We had one OCS [start line disqualification] which was the only setback. In the World Cup standings, which include Gamagori, Miami and Hyeres, we are probably out in front which is pretty cool.”
“I’m really happy with how I sailed during the week,” Meech said.
“There were just a couple of moments that I let quite a few places slip but, then again, I had races where I caught up quite a few places too. I just need to iron out a couple of things and should be pretty close to getting it all right.
“In terms of the season, I’m really happy so far. I’m trying to get on the podium in every event. I missed out in Miami but I had a chance going into the last race so I’m really pleased with how the season is going as a whole and hopefully I can keep that going.”
Laser sailor Tom Burton has guaranteed Australia a bronze medal. Burton grabbed a 13 and a win to ensure third place on the penultimate day. Burton, the Rio gold medallist, battled back from a slow start to the regatta to score three bullets in 10 races to be 21 points clear of the chasing pack.
Natasha Bryant and Annie Wilmot competed in their first World Cup Medal Race last night, scoring a 16, which put them in 10th place overall in the 39-boat 49erFX fleet.
No racing was possible in the Finn before tonight’s Medal Race, with Jake Lilley in fifth place.
Nia Jerwood and Monique de Vries ended their regatta with an encouraging 6 to finish 23rd in the 470W, while Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin, the Rio Nacra 17 silver medallists, completed their campaign with a 10 in the Medal Race.
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