"I am guaranteed a silver which is really, really cool, so it gives me a chance to really have a go to try to take the win," the Olympic bronze medallist said. "It's pretty close between me and Pavlos so I'm really looking forward to what should be a good challenge."
Meech has done well to consistently bank low scores when many of his rivals in the high-quality field stacked with world, Olympic and European champions have not been so fortunate.
Fellow Tauranga sailors Tom Saunders and Andrew McKenzie did enough to make the top 10 medal race but both finished mid-pack to qualify ninth and 10th respectively.
Only one race was possible on the Laser course before the wind flattened out and racing was eventually called off.
"It was another really wet and light-wind day," Meech said. "I got a really good start in the race and managed to put myself in the lead pack and then chipped away and took a couple of places around the course. I ended up third which was really good."
World champions Dylan Fletcher-Scott and Stuart Bithell won gold in the 49er, holding off the challenge from fellow Brits James Peters and Fynn Sterritt, but it was an encouraging regatta for the Kiwi crews.
McHardie and McKenzie banked three top five results in the medal races, including a second in one, to jump ahead of the other two Kiwi crews.
"It was really cool to come away from it with a good result after a really tough regatta in some super unstable and random conditions," McKenzie said. "We are both extremely happy with how we performed in the three medal races today, managing to climb a few places on the leaderboard. It was also a bonus having our other two New Zealand 49er teams all pushing each to the end finishing fifth, sixth and seventh."
