In The Mix: Street Ready To Take On World's Best In Palma

Not much has been conventional about Sam Street’s sailing career.

A Waszp world champion before he had even won a national title, Street has also been juggling the one-person one-design foiler with the double-handed 470 for more than a year – all while being over 1200km away from his teammate.

It’s no surprise then, that the 22-year-old is not put off by the challenge of lining up alongside 71 other crews – including most of the world’s best – at the Princess Sofia Regatta in Palma tonight.

Street and Brittany Wornall is New Zealand’s sole 470 entry at the biggest international event of the year so far.

The class, traditionally sailed in separate men’s and women’s fleets at the Olympics, will be contested by mixed crews in the French capital.

For the duo, the Princess Sofia is also a rare opportunity to spend considerable time together in the same city as they have had to overcome a long-distance sailing partnership for more than a year.

“I’ve known Britt since my days in the youth classes, and while I had always wanted to sail with her, circumstances prevented it for a long time,” Street said.

“At the end of 2021, I took a chance and called Britt and thankfully she said she was keen to give it a crack. We both identified the opportunity there could be for New Zealand and with the wealth of knowledge we have in the class it was a bit of a no-brainer.”

Having agreed to team up, the pair next had to overcome a logistical challenge through careful planning and countless flights between Auckland, where Street lives, and Wornall’s Christchurch base.

“It’s difficult being in different islands but it makes the training sessions that we do have so much more valuable, as we’re more switched on,” Street said.

“The biggest one for us is definitely being overseas – being with other boats at the top of the class.”

Training in the Spanish resort city - ahead of the first of 11 races, starting at 10pm tonight (NZ time) - has already led to improvements.

“We’ve had some long sessions on the water and quite a bit of practice racing with close to 40 boats on the start line at times – and that’s only just over half of the fleet!”

It's a significant change from the small number of mixed 470 entries at most domestic regattas.

“One of the challenges for many countries has been getting used to mixed sailing. It’s a different dynamic… you could be two great sailors, but if you don’t gel, it just won’t work,” Street said.

The support of veteran 470 sailors Paul Snow-Hansen and Dan Wilcox, who narrowly missed out on a medal at the 2020 Tokyo Games, and former world champion Simon Cooke has been a boon – as has been working closely with the Australian squad in Palma.

“The Aussies are on the same page as us – we all just want to get better and try to close the gap on some of the more established international crews.”

There is plenty of catching up to do, Street acknowledges – after he and Wornall finished in the bottom half of the fleet at the 2022 Open European championships and the world championships in September.

“Countries like Spain and France have been in the class for 25 years and they have so many great sailors and teams that they are some way ahead of us," he said.

“We know we have the speed and for us, it’s just about consistency and time in the boat. We want to qualify for [the 2024 Olympic Games in] Paris. It’s a tough goal but we think it’s achievable.”

Street is no stranger to success on the global stage – he won last year’s Waszp world championships in Lake Garda, Italy – a result that saw him shortlisted for the male sailor of the year at the international Foiling Awards.

He followed it up with victory at the Waszp national championships in Christchurch earlier this month – his first national title at the fifth attempt – and one of the last things “to tick off” before stepping away from the class.

“I want to do the world champs at the end of this year and then get into the Moth class,” Street explained.

“The Waszp is an awesome class – it’s a one-design, so it is simplified and has a steep learning curve but it’s also limited in a sense and plateaus quickly.”

Competing in vastly different classes has its advantages, he believes.

“It’s been cool developing the different skills - surfing the waves and being a lot more dynamic with your body in the 470 while just being locked into pretty much a sailing path in the foiling stuff.

“Having that knowledge and developing the ability to switch your mindset between the two has definitely made me a more rounded sailor.”

Schedule for day 1 at the 2023 Princess Sofia Regatta in Palma de Mallorca, Spain (NZ time):

9pm: IQFOIL men (4 races): Josh Armit, Thomas Crook, Antonio Cozzolino, Patrick Haybittle, Eli Liefting.

10pm: 470 mixed (2 races): Brittany Wornall/Sam Street; ILCA 7 (2 races): Tom Saunders, George Gautrey, Caleb Armit, Luke Cashmore, Luke Deegan; ILCA 6 (2 races): Olivia Christie.

10.30pm: IQFOIL women (4 races): Veerle ten Have.

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