Sam Meech finished his first regatta since the Rio Olympics on a good note, with a third in the medal race at the World Cup regatta in Hyeres overnight (NZT), but leaves France with mixed emotions after some up-and-down results.
The Olympic bronze medallist finished ninth overall in the 60-strong Laser class. He won the third race of the regatta and had four other top-10 finishes but also had some poor results by his standards which meant he battled to make the top-10 medal race.
"I had some really good days and some fun racing but there were some pretty disappointing results thrown in there which really cost me in terms of the overall result," Meech said. "I'm pretty happy with that, though, for a first regatta back since the Olympics because it has been a long time.
"I expected to be rusty but it's always hard when you are getting some results you're not used to."
Meech headlined the small New Zealand team competing in Hyeres. There were some good results, including Laser sailor Andrew McKenzie's first win at a World Cup regatta (he backed that up with a second in the following race) as well as a couple of top three results for young 49er pair Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie.
