2013 Finn Gold Cup at Tallinn, Estonia - Day 2
by Robert Deaves, International Finn Association 27 Aug 2013 21:29 BST
23-31 August 2013
Andrew Mills extends lead as tricky conditions continue
Andrew Mills (GBR) has extended his lead on the second day of the 2013 Finn Gold Cup in Tallinn, Estonia after winning the second race of the day. Zsombor Berecz (HUN) moves up to second with Michele Palette (ITA) now in third. The first race of the day was won by Pieter-Jan Postma (NED).
In conditions very similar to Monday's races the fleet was again held on shore for two hours for the wind to build. The wind turned up again, but was still not more than 7-8 knots at any time and still very unpredictable, causing a string of high scores throughout the fleet. The results make for interesting reading with a huge number of different names near the top, with many of the favourites struggling down to mid-fleet.
Race three got under way after two general recalls. Starting right at the pin end and tacking straight across to the right side if the course. Pieter-Jan Postma ((NED) controlled race three from start to finish. He rounded the top mark ahead of Josh Junior (NZL) and Jonathan Lobert (FRA) and these positions remained the same throughout. Junior made some gains on the second upwind with Postma tacking right on top of him as they approached the top mark. However, Postma extended downwind to win from Junior and Lobert. Mark Andrews (GBR) recovered from the teens at the first mark to cross the line in fourth.
Regatta leader, Andrew Mills (GBR) crossed in 15th after rounding the first mark well placed, as he slipped back slightly. However in the second race, he made amends, starting near the pin and tacking across to the right to lead at each mark for the whole race. He rounded the top mark ahead of Michal Jodlowski (POL) and Milan Vujasinovic (CRO). Many of the overall leaders were deep in the fleet again.
As Mills maintained his lead throughout Vujasinovic moved up to second at the downwind gate. Jodlowski was back in second at the final top mark and held it to the finish, only to find out he was one of seven boats black flagged at the start. So Vujasinovic picked up the second place with Jorge Zarif (BRA) had a great last leg to move up to third.
The list of black flagged starters also showed that Bruno Prada (BRA) had picked up his second black flag of the day.
Postma described his day, "Before the start, the wind shifted a little bit left and so I went to the left side of the line and I won that side, and then I could take the shift and I was leading straight away. The fourth race was not a good race for me. Again the wind shifted left at the start but farther than the whole day so I started on the right side and I thought it would shift back but it only shifted more left so I was taking the long way and had a bad race."
Junior scored a 2, 11 today and moved up to 15th overall. He said, "Another glamour day with five knots and the shifts continued, but instead of the right paying like yesterday, the left paid. I was pretty lucky and found myself out on the left and managed to get a second in the first race and a 12th in the second, so I'm pretty happy. It's plenty tricky and it's really hard to predict what's going to happen as you can't really see the pressure, so all you can do is get a good start and play the percentages and work your way up."
Mills said, "Another tricky day. It was just about trying to get two consistent races, maybe top 10s. Light winds is not traditionally what I am good at but I seem to be doing OK here. But it's a long way to go, with seven races left."
"The last race was tight, with a black flag and a lot of people pushing the line at the pin. I lined up with a few seconds to go and was perfectly covered and found a wave to surf out of the line. I hit that perfectly. From there I was well punched, tacked on the shifts and got a decent bit ahead. From there it was just sailing, as I was confident I was in the top two from five minutes out."
After an indifferent Monday, Greg Douglas (CAN) had a better Tuesday with a 8, 13 to move up to 13th overall. He said, "It was another lovely summer day in Estonia with a light, tricky breeze which made for some interesting racing. As always the boys were eager to get off the line so we had a few recalls which made for a slow start but we got away and had two great races."
"Being consistent and keeping your head out of the boat really paid. There was more wind in the second race which stretched the fleet out a bit more, which was nice so the marks were less crowded and made the racing easier and more spread.
The man who brought the Finn Gold Cup to Estonia two weeks ago now finds himself 17 points clear at the top of the leader-board after four races. He is not taking anything for granted but in this high scoring regatta most of his main rivals have already collected two high scores. The forecast is for more of the same conditions in the coming days.
Racing continues at 12.00 on Wednesday. The opening series of ten races will be followed by the medal race for the top ten and the final race for the rest on Saturday, 31 August. It can be followed in a number of different ways including the live video stream from ERR, GPS tracking from Trac Trac and Twitter updates on @Finn_Class.
Results after Day 2: (four races, 1 discard after five races)
1 GBR 85 Andrew Mills 25pts
2 HUN 40 Zsombor Berecz 42pts
3 ITA 146 Michele Palette 42pts
4 CRO 69 Milan Vujasinovic 47pts
5 FRA 112 Jonathan Lobert 52pts
6 ITA 117 Giorgio Poggi 58pts
7 GBR 11 Edward Wright 59pts
8 EST 2 Deniss Karpak 59pts
9 AUS 261 Oliver Tweddell 65pts
10 BRA 9 Jorge Zarif 72pts
Full results at www.finngoldcup.org/2013/data/Results/pre-res-race4.html
www.finngoldcup.org/2013