420 Worlds: Two Kiwi 420 sailors follow in Peter Burling's footseps
by 420 Worlds Media/Sail-World.com/nz 16 Aug 2018 01:15 BST
16 August 2018
Seb Menzies and Blake McGlashan (NZL) celebrate their Open 420 Worlds title win in Newport RI, USA © 420 Worlds
Young New Zealand sailors Seb Menzies (13yrs) and Blake McGlashan (15yrs) have won the Open 420 Worlds being sailed in Newport RI, USA.
In doing so they have emulated the first world championship victory of America's Cup Champion and double Olympics Medalist, Peter Burling who won the same title, twice, sailing with then-skipper Carl Evans.
Menzies and McGlashan both hail from Auckland's Murrays Bay Sailing Club. Although a Youth class, the 420 Open Worls title is open to sailors of all ages and genders.
With three races on the podium deciding final day at the 2018 420 World Championship, all was open to ebb and flow across the 420 Open, Women and U17 leader boards.
For some, their points advantage would have taken a disaster to unravel the gold medal, particularly in the 420 Open, whilst in other fleets, there was still all to place for in the three races.
Three new World Champions are crowned with Seb Menzies/Blake McGlashan (NZL) taking gold in the 420 Open, María Caba Hernández/Pilar Caba Hernández (ESP) in the 420 Women and Jacobo García García/Antoni Ripoll González (ESP) in the U17 fleet.
420 Open
At the outset, you could be forgiven for not including Seb Menzies/Blake McGlashan (NZL) in the favourites’ shortlist. They were strong contenders, but had not shown their faces at a 420 Championship since last year, finishing 41st at the 420 Worlds. They escalated form to wrap up with a 5th place at last month’s Youth Sailing World Championship in Texas, USA, mixing moments of brilliance with mid-fleet results as they struggled to remain consistent. Time for redemption at the 420 Worlds, as the pair racked up 5 race wins in the 12 race series, and, excluding their discard score of 12th, counted a scoreline of top 6 finishes to seal gold.
Despite picking up multiple successes on the home-front , including silver at this year’s New Zealand 420 Class Championship, silver at the South Island 420 Championship and silver at New Zealand’s premier multi-class event, Oceanbridge NZL Sailing Regatta, their form was in early days on the international stage. Today they proved that they are a force to be reckoned with.
With the Kiwis assured assured of gold by race 11, the battle unfolded behind between three Spanish teams and the Americans for silver and bronze
“A bit nervous going into it, but when we got going we just did the basics and aimed to keep calm under pressure,” commented McGlashan on his feelings during the races. “It was the end of race 11, when we found out we were not UFD or being protested that we knew we were in a good spot.”
The pair didn’t have to sail the last race, but went out with a bang anyway to finish 6th.
“This morning we were just thinking to get two solid races on the board, as we knew that we had a better drop than the other boats,” he continued.
Menzies added, “We were not too bad this morning as we had a pretty good points advantage.”
“I think our success was all about starting and getting clear. Now, I feel pretty cool.” Sharing some words of advice to other 420 sailors he said, “It is about training a lot.” So, watch out for this pair next season, when they will return to defend their 420 Worlds title in Vilamoura, Portugal.
A memorable 420 Worlds in the stunningly beautiful backdrop of Newport, Rhode Island, a venue packed with sailing heritage.
For now, it is on to medal presentations and celebrations at the Closing Ceremony.
420 Women
They had kept at a safe distance from the podium all through the Championship, but always close enough to pounce when their moment came. Today, Spanish sisters Maria Caba/Pilar Caba exploited every opportunity in the 3 races to move on up the leaderboard, jumping from 5th at the start of the day to win 420 Women’s gold by the end. Opening with a win in race 10, backed up with finishes of 2,4, the team edged ahead of overnight leaders Patricia Reino Cacho/Isabel Laiseca Bueno (ESP).
Third to yet another young talent, as Maria Bover Guerrero/Catalina Homar Estarellas (ESP) sealed Spain’s 1,2,3 domination.
420 U-17
The tussle for the U17 gold medals was between Spain’s Marina Garau Bosch/Blanca Cabot Sancho and Jacobo Garcia Garcia/Antoni Ripoll Gonzalez . Advantage going into the day was owned by the women’s team, a position they held until the final race. The pair was already discarding 29th place, so had no room for another error, and were ultimately unseated by their 16th place in the final race. The pressure was intense, and as the women struggled, the men held firm to score a 3rd place finish and wrap up gold.
With Spain taking out gold and silver, next up came Greece to own the bronze medal and 4th place. Odysseas Spanakis/Konstantinos Mixalopoulos (GRE) held onto the bronze medal position they started the day with, as team mates Melina Pappa/Maria Tsamopoulou moved up to 4th.