Finn Gold Cup, il nuovo leader è Ed Wright
Classi OlimpicheDeriveVela 2 Settembre 2010 Zerogradinord 0
Finn Gold Cup – San Francisco – Nuovo cambio di leader alla Finn Gold Cup di San Francisco. Dopo Rafael Trujillo e Thomas Le Breton, a guidare la classifica provvisoria è l’inglese Ed Wright che, a differenza dei predecessori, pare avere preso le redini della manifestazione in mano con una certa sicurezza.
Già vincitore di entrambe le manche disputate nel corso della seconda giornata, Wright ha confermato un’invidiable stato di forma vincendo anche la prima prova disputata nell’ambito della terza giornata e chiudendo al terzo posto la successiva. Un ruolino di marcia che lo ha proiettato al comando della classifica con un margine tutto sommato rassicurante sullo spagnaolo Rafael Trujillo, rilanciato nelle zone alte della graduatotria dal conteggio dello scarto, e sul connazionale Giles Scott, salito sul podio provvisorio ai danni del francese Thomas Le Breton e dell’idolo di casa Zach Railey.
La terza giornata ha visto Michele Paoletti perdere alcune posizioni in classifica generale nonostante il velista triestino si sia cavato la sodisfazione di entrare per la prima volta nei dieci. Il tattico di Fantastica è ora quattordicesimo ed è incalzato da Giorgio Poggi, ottimo secondo nella sesta regata.
Male, invece, Hogh Christensen. Il già vincitore della Finn Gold Cup è incappato in due prove non alla sua altezza ed è passato da una piazza nella top ten a una a ridosso della ventesima posizione.
Per consultare la classifica clicca qui.
Per vedere i video dell’evento clicca qui.
FINN GOLD CUP, ED WRIGHT TAKES THE LEAD
[Finn Gold Cup Press Release] Ed Wright has taken a comfortable lead at the 2010 Finn Gold Cup in San Francisco after another outstanding day, placing first and third in the two races. Rafa Trujillo (ESP) won the second race of the day to climb to second, while a string of top 10 placings leave Giles Scott in third.
After a short postponement to allow time for the wind to clock round and build, the first race was sailed in 10-14 knots with Ed Wright leading at each and every mark. He rounded the top mark from the right with Michele Paoletti rounding second from the left. Jonathan Lobert rounded third.
Wright took off on the downwind to build a substantial lead with Lobert climbing to second and these two separated from the pack, and most of the fleet favoured the right hand track. Regatta leader Thomas Le Breton recovered from a poor first beat to place third.
Race six was then sailed in 14-17 knots with Rafa Trujillo leading from start to finish. He rounded the top mark ahead of Pieter-Jan Postma, Paoletti, Zach Raile, Bjorn Allansson and Wright.
Not much changed on the first downwind but on the second upwind the left side was favoured for a change and while Trujillo and Wright favoured the right, a lot of boats made up a lot of distance.
Trujillo still maintained a narrow lead but Allansson had climbed to second in front of Wright with Giorgio Poggi moving to fourth from the right. Trujillo made enough of a break early on the reach to be comfortable in the lead while the fight for second to fifth was very tight.
Poggi eventually found a route under Wright to claim second by a few boatlengths with Dan Slater finally finding the front to take fourth on the line from Allansson.
With the drop now coming into effect, Wright now has a 13 point lead with four more races to sail before Saturday’s medal race, while the next four boats are separated by only four points. The leader going into today Le Breton drops to fourth while Railey maintains his consistency to end up in fifth, just four points off second. While the points at the top at tight
Poggi said, “Sailing in San Francisco is nice. These are nice conditions and I had a good day. The good thing is that races races are perfect with the wind and you can always gain some positions. In the first race I was about 35th on the first upwind and I finished about 12th as I gained a lot on the last downwind. In the second race I finished second so I am quite happy because I passed many boats on the downwinds and the last reach.”
On the second race, Trujillo said “The downwind was very difficult, the fleet very open and on the second beat the right was not paying at all. But to get out in front the starts are so important as the right side has so far mainly been favoured.”
Lobert commented on his second place, “It was my first good start of the championship. So this week if you have a good start then you have done half of the job. Both Ed and Thomas have been getting good starts, they are always ready to get on the good tack to the right hand side. So this is what I did in the first race. I got out and went right and the further you go the better it gets.
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