Gold for Tuke and Burling in Helsinki

Kerikeri's Blair Tuke and his Tauranga sailing partner Peter Burling have racked up another gold medal in international sailing after successfully defending their title at the 2014 49er European Championships in Finland.

Tuke and Burling sealed the deal to win the 2014 European title for the Olympic men's skiff class in commanding fashion on the final day of the event yesterday (NZ time). Having hit their stride on day two of the six-day regatta, the Kiwi duo went on to win 10 of the 16 races sailed in Helsinki on Sunday, ending with a massive 22-point margin over anyone else in the 83-strong fleet. The two men were delighted with the result, said Tuke.

"It was another great day for us today, finishing with a 1, 3, 1 in the three theatre-style races ... an awesome way to finish off what has been a really solid week for us here in Helsinki. We came out with intent this afternoon, wanting to wrap it up as quickly as possible and did that after race two. After a few quick congrats, we got back into it and won the last race to top it off!"

It wasn't all plain sailing for the pair however, Tuke admitting they got off to a slow start in the event which ran from Tuesday to Sunday, July 8-13, including an average result in the opening race of the penultimate day, a 16th, "reminding us just how difficult gold fleet racing can be when you don't execute 100 per cent".

Tuke noted that the duo won five out of the six gold fleet races, sailed in near perfect sailing conditions on day four, to leap to the head of the 49er fleet by eight points.

"We had good boat speed all day," said Tuke, "and that got us out of trouble even when we found ourselves on the wrong side of the shifts. We picked up a penalty at the start of race one but still managed to find our way through to the front. And then getting a port tack start over the fleet was like winning a race all by itself."

Germany's Erik Heil and Thomas Ploessel came away with the silver medal and Great Britain's Dylan Fletcher and Alain Sign took the bronze; while Australia's Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen suffered a messy capsize in the first race which pushed them off the podium and finish 4th by the narrowest of margins.

Meanwhile, Alexandra Maloney - who, like Tuke, attended Kerikeri High School although she no longer lives there - and Molly Meech, also in Finland with Tuke and Burling, faced more of a challenge to hold their overnight lead for the 2014 49erFX title with the classy Brazilians and Danes in striking distance. The Kiwis finished with a 3, 9, 6 in their three quick-fire races today returning them the bronze medal. Sharing the same 60 points total with the Brazilians, Maloney and Meech only just missed the silver medal on count-back. Ida Neilsen and Marie Olsen (DEN) defended their European title with an excellent final day, while Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze (BRA) snuck through for the silver in the 49erFX field of 51 boats.

Several of the quartet's NZ Sailing Team stablemates are among the leading crews at the 2014 470 European Championships on now in Athens.