“What makes this even more special is that Bella and I were in the bronze fleet at our last major international regatta. To come here, make gold fleet and then win a medal is an incredible feeling.”
New Zealand also won the Nations Cup as the highest-performing country across the regatta, with all five crews sent over qualifying for the gold fleet.
Three New Zealand crews also finished inside the overall top 10, with Nelsen Meacham and Oli Stone placing fourth, Matteo Barker and Leo Brown seventh, and Blake Batten and Hugo Smith 10th.
“It’s an incredible feeling to help the team win the Nations Cup, but being second female overall and winning the Under-19 title makes it even more special,” Jenkins said.
“We don’t have big fleets back home, so being able to race against 50 boats in the gold fleet and perform like we did shows we can compete at the highest level.
“We had really shifty conditions throughout the regatta, but we managed to stay consistent and had a really strong qualifying series, which set us up well for the finals.”
The strong showing on the water continued for Kiwi teams at the 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 European Championships in Germany, with reigning world champions Seb Menzies and George Lee Rush going back-to-back as European champions.
It was an anticlimactic finish, with the final day of racing abandoned due to a lack of wind and the regatta being decided by the standings after Sunday’s racing.
The result continues an impressive run for the 21-year-olds, particularly given how little they have been competed internationally this season, missing two of the sport’s premier regattas and focusing on the World Championships and European Championships, while Menzies has also been working towards the America’s Cup with Emirates Team New Zealand as co-helm alongside Nathan Outteridge.
“It was an interesting week. We had a lot of breeze and then not much breeze and finally today, not enough breeze. We didn’t get to race today, which is a shame, but we’re still very happy with how we raced this week,” Menzies said.
“It takes a lot to get up from New Zealand, so doing the two Grand Slams and the worlds would be a long trip. We just focused on the important ones, which were the worlds and the Europeans.”
The New Zealand team also came away with two fifth places at the event, with Mattias Coutts and Oscar Gunn in the 49er and Micah Wilkinson and Kate Stewart in the Nacra 17.