Meech starts in perfect fashion at world champs

Sam Meech illustrated in exemplary fashion why he's one of the favourites in the Laser fleet at the sailing world championships with two race wins on his opening day of action.

The Rio Olympics bronze medallist revelled in the 10-12 knot sea breeze off the coast of Aarhus to take an early lead but most of the contenders also punched out low scores to sit close behind after two races.

It was a profitable day for a number of other New Zealanders, with Andrew McKenzie (seventh) and Tom Saunders (21st) also in the mix in the Laser, Josh Junior (10th) and Andy Maloney (11th) both well placed in the Finn and Paul Snow-Hansen and Dan Willcox jumping up to 11th in the mens 470.

But it was Meech who stole the show. As one of his training partners put it, he made it look easy out on the Bay of Aarhus.

"I dont know about that," he said modestly. "There were some dangerous moments but I managed to make a couple of good decisions which led to two good races and my speed was reasonably good as well.

"Its a perfect start for me. I couldnt really ask for much more from a first day but its still really early in the regatta and Im going to have to take it day by day, but looking forward to the rest of the week."

The Laser is by far the biggest fleet at the world championships, with 165 sailors divided into three fleets. They are due to sail two more days of qualifying races before the top third are put into gold fleet to decide the medals.

McKenzie was sixth and fourth in the same fleet as Meech and, although Saunders was a little disappointed, little damage was done to his scoreboard.

Junior brushed aside his poor first-up race yesterday, banking a third, eighth and fifth to jump into 10th overall now the discard for the worst score has come into play. Hes level on points with fellow Kiwi Andy Maloney who was 13th, fifth and fifth in his races.

"It was much better than yesterday," Junior said. "I managed to get three top 10s and they are all keepers.

"Yesterday I didnt do anything right but I made a conscious effort today to try to get some good starts and I did that and I think thats what got me some good results. But its a long regatta and you just have to keep chipping away and keep learning. Ive had some good starts, now I need to start racing well. Its going to be a whole week of trying to get better and better and hopefully by the end I am firing."

Maloney is usually a model of consistency and always found himself near the front of the race but he wasnt entirely satisfied with his day.

"There were a few points I maybe left out there," he said. "I maybe could have finished it off a bit sooner in the races but I had three consistent results so its still good for this stage of the regatta."

Snow-Hansen and Willcox were feeling much better about their chances after three results in the top seven today which lifted them to 11th overall, only six points off the lead. The pair unsuccessfully protested the fairness of yesterdays only race when the wind oscillated 70 degrees at times and they found themselves tacking on what was supposed to be a downwind leg.

More Kiwis join the action tonight (NZ time), with three crews battling it out in the 49er and Alex Maloney and Molly Meech starting their tilt for a second world title in the 49erFX.

Results and standings after the second day of the sailing world championships in Aarhus, Denmark, overnight (NZ time):

Finn (90 boats)

1st: Pieter-Jan Postma (NED) (14) 1 3 3 - 7 points

2nd: Tom Ramshaw (CAN) (9) 1 9 2 - 12 pts

3rd: Josip Olujic (CRO) 1 (15) 2 9 - 12 pts

10th: Josh Junior (NZL) (25) 3 8 5 - 16 pts

11th: Andy Maloney (NZL) 6 (13) 5 5 - 16 pts

Men's 470 (64 boats)

1st: Kazuto Doi / Naoya Kimura (JPN) (15) 1 5 3 - 9 pts

2nd: Anton Dahlberg / Fredrik Bergstrom (SWE) 1 3 (6) 5 - 9 pts

3rd: Jordi Xammar Hernandez / Nicols Rodriguez Garcia-Paz (ESP) 2 4 3 (18) - 11 pts

11th: Paul Snow-Hansen / Dan Willcox (NZL) (25) 5 7 3 - 15 pts

Women's 470 (47 boats)

1st: Ai Kondo Yoshida / Miho Yoshioka (JPN) (12) 1 3 6 - 10 pts

2nd: Hannah Mills / Eilidh McIntyre (BGR) 9 (14) 1 1 - 9 pts

3rd: Camille Lecointre / Aloise Retornaz (FRA) 2 6 4 (7) - 12 pts

41st: Courtney Reynolds-Smith / Brianna Reynolds Smith (NZL) (40) 39 34 26 - 99 pts

Laser (165 boats)

1st: Sam Meech (NZL) 1 1 - 2 pts

2nd: Kaarle Tapper (FIN) 2 2 - 4 pts

3rd: Nick Thompson (GBR) 3 2 - 5 pts

7th: Andrew McKenzie (NZL) 6 4 - 10 pts

21st: Tom Saunders (NZL) 6 11 - 17 pts

45th: George Gautrey (NZL) 18 14 - 32 pts

73rd: Matthew Kempkers (NZL) 40 12 - 52 pts

Laser Radial (119 boats)

1st=: Vasileia Karahaliou (GRE) 2 1 - 3 pts

1st=: Paige Railey (USA) 2 1 - 3 pts

3rd=: Line Flem Host (NOR) 3 2 - 5 pts

3rd=: Marit Bouwmeester (NED) 3 2 - 5 pts

46th: Susannah Pyatt (NZL) 31 18 - 49 pts

77th: Olivia Christie (NZL) 28 48 - 76 pts

118th: Annabelle Rennie-Younger (NZL) 58 57 - 115 pts

- This story has been automatically published using a media release from Yachting New Zealand