PORTLAND’S Olympic star Luke Patience and crewmate Joe Glanfield bounced back from a tricky start to claim gold at this week’s European Sailing Federation (Eurosaf) Regatta in Germany.

The event in Kiel saw British sailors achieve a four-strong medal haul at the penultimate stage of the five-part Eurosaf Champions Sailing Cup series.

For 2012 Olympic silver medalist Patience and double silver Olympic medallist Glanfield, the victory marked their first gold medal since forming a new sailing partnership at the beginning of this season.

Patience, of Weston, said after a string of silver medals the gold gave them confidence ahead of the Men’s 470 dinghy class World Championships, held at La Rochelle, France, from July 31.

The 26-year-old helm, who has his sights set on the Rio 2016 Games, said: “We’re really happy. Joe and I have done four events together now and have won three medals out of four so I think we are just really pleased with how our sailing is going at the minute and where we are at.

“Obviously, Joe has been out of the boat for four years so what we will have at the Worlds won’t be our finished product as it’s still only the first year of the Olympic cycle.”

This week’s regatta saw Patience and Exmouth’s Glanfield bounce back after picking up a black flag disqualification and a 23rd on day one.

They claimed second place in the double points medal race behind Lymington’s Nick Rogers and Elliot Willis – enough to win overall while Rogers and Willis took silver.

British sailor Mark Andrews also stormed to victory in the Finn heavyweight dinghy class – his third straight win of the season.

The 27-year-old, who recently won the Delta Lloyd Regatta in Holland and Sail for Gold at Weymouth and Portland, achieved eight race wins across the five-day event.

The Scotsman said: “I’m definitely getting better and better as the year goes on and it’s nice to be peaking just time in time for the two key events of the year – the Europeans and Worlds.”

Recent 470 European bronze medallists Sophie Weguelin and Eilidh McIntyre won their medal race to claim their first gold medal since forming their new partnership.

For the full list of results visit kieler-woche.de/english/ Follow the British Sailing Team at britishsailingteam.com