World champion Star sailor Hamish Pepper today said he was pleased to be able to turn mathematics into reality at the Miami Olympic classes yachting regatta.
A strong finish propelled Pepper and stand-in crew David Giles to a silver medal at the International Sailing Federation (Isaf) grade-one event,which ended at Biscayne Bay at the weekend.
The pair took the last race to end as runners-up to Swedish pair Fredrik Loof and Anders Ekstrom in a class that featured a huge fleet of 68 boats.
"It was a great finish to the regatta -- winning the medal race and being able to put the opposition back where we needed them," Pepper said.
"Mathematically it was possible to finish second overall and the opportunity arose where I could force the No 2-placed boat to infringe. He had to do a penalty, putting him to the back of the fleet."
Pepper said he and Giles had a "perfect" start to the race and got the jump on their rivals on the opening leg.
"We had clear air and just sailed a conservative race after the first lap," he said.
"The new Olympic classes format, with the medal race, puts a huge influence on the final race, so there can be huge gains and losses. Luckily, we got it right and came out on top."
Under the new system, introduced by Isaf last year for grade-one events, the top 10 sail off on the final day, with the points being doubled.
After their world championship victory last October, Pepper and Carl Williams were nominated in the Team of the Year category for the Halberg sports awards, to be announced on February 15.
New Zealand's second-best performance at Miami came from Finn sailor Dan Slater, who finished fifth.
