Team Surrey Sailing’s Sam Blaker has capped off a brilliant year of personal success by claiming our first BUCS medal of the season at the BUCS Fleet Racing Championships earlier this month.
Sam secured a third-place finish at the championship which he has added to other third-place finishes at the RS Aero Inland Championships and RS Aero Youth World Championships.
The BUCS event was a handicap event with multiple classes all competing from Aeros, Wayfarers & National 12s, so this made it tricky for Sam to work out what position he was in on the water.
Back in October, Sam produced another excellent performance in difficult sailing conditions to secure his bronze in the RS Aero Inland Championships. This was up against a very competitive field consisting of former world champions and podium winners from the summer who were all competing. Eight races took place over the course of the two-day event with consistency being the key to success amid the shifty and gusty conditions.
Prior to these two Championships, Sam spent the summer at the first ever RS Aero Youth World Championships where his bronze medal came after 14 races across five days. The varying wind strengths at this competition provided a test for all 53 sailors competing and led him in nicely to the RS Aero European Championships.
Sam was amongst former world champions and an Olympic gold medallist at this five-day event and it proved to be an incredibly tight contest with just a few points separating the top eight sailors. The leaderboard was constantly changing each day and Sam eventually finished in seventh place which was an incredible achievement given the level of competition out on the water.
We would like to congratulate Sam on all his brilliant achievements throughout 2022 and for gaining our first BUCS medal of the season. We look forward to sharing stories of more medals from our Team Surrey student athletes in the future.
Got a Team Surrey story about yourself or a fellow student? Click HERE to submit yours now!