Sailing: Northlanders strike gold in sailing cup

Two Northland sailors have come away with gold medals at the first of five regattas in the inaugural EUROSAF Champions Sailing Cup in Italy.

Onerahi's Marcus Hansen and Kerikeri's Andy Maloney finished the five-day regatta strongly to nail two of New Zealand's three medals from the event.

Maloney's win on Sunday night was no easy feat after he pipped more than 100 international Olympic campaigners, thanks to help from a new scoring system being trialled, who had been battling it out on Lake Garda in the past week.

Maloney reported on his "Andy Maloney Sailing" Facebook page the finals racing, in which only the top six sailors earned a start, was intense as no clear winner had emerged.

"I went out there to win the race today and see how everything else fell into place," Maloney said after jumping from fifth place to win the gold.

"It worked out perfectly for me. Even so, I believe that this format we tested at this regatta was not ideal, to say the least. There were two standout sailors who out-performed me in the previous four days of competition and deserved to win more than me, even though I won the 'final race'."

Maloney said he predicted the new scoring format would not stand the test of time, although a win was a win.

"I managed to win the race after a super tight final downwind and finish with Daniel Mihelic from Croatia. With all the other scores falling into place perfectly, I managed to move up the leader board considerably and take the overall win."

In the 49er skiff event, Hansen, along with sailing partner Josh Porebski, put in consistent performances to move their way up the leaderboard throughout the finals racing.

Hansen and Porebski finished fourth in their first race of the day before adding two second placings, which were added to their carry forward score of three after lying third at the start of the day. It was enough to secure them the victory in the 24-boat fleet with a three-point margin.

Under the trailed scoring format, the 49er skiff event had the top eight placed boats head out for three short sharp "stadium style" races to determine the podium places.

Winning New Zealand's third gold at the regatta was Olympic champions Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie, marking the opening of their Rio 2016 campaign by taking victory in what was a relatively light fleet of just 10 boats.

The next regatta in the EUROSAF Champions Sailing Cup is one week away, with New Zealand crews competing in the Delta Lloyd Regatta from May 21-25 in the Netherlands.