Finn Gold Cup, vige l’equilibrio
Classi OlimpicheDeriveVela 1 Settembre 2010 Zerogradinord 0
Finn Gold Cup – San Francisco – Seconda giornata di regate nella baia di San Francisco, dove gli specialisti del Finn si stanno dando battaglia per la conquista della Gold Cup al fronte di condizioni meteo piuttosto impegnative. Anche ieri, infatti, si è regatato con il vento che ha ben presto superato i 20 nodi.
Rafael Trujillo (2-1-35-10), leader della prima ora, non è riuscito a ripetersi sui livelli dell’esordio. Il canmpione spagnolo ha infatti incassato un trentacinquesimo e un decimo, risultati che lo hanno fatto scivolare dal primo al settimo posto di una classafica ora guidata da Thomas Le Breton (8-7-3-3).
Giunto due volte terzo, il velista francese è a pari punti con Zach Railey (5-5-7-4), confermatosi secondo. La coppia di testa anticipa di due lunghezze Edward Wright (18-3-1-1), grande protagonista della giornata grazie a due successi, e Giles Scott (10-2-6-5).
Ottima prova, almeno sino ad ora, di Michele Paoletti (17-9-12-19). Il velista triestino ha migliorato il dodicesimo posto di ieri ed è entrato nella top ten raggiungendo talenti come Gasper Vincec, Marin Misura e Jonas Hogh Christensen (6-6-38-12). Bene anche Giorgio Poggi, bravo nel migliorare la propria classifica (25-25-11-21) al punto da entrare tra i primi venti.
Per consultare la classifica clicca qui.
Per vedere i video dell’evento clicca qui.
FINN GOLD CUP, THOMAS LE BRETON IS THE NEW LEADER
[Finn Gold Cup Press Release] Thomas Le Breton takes the lead at the Finn Gold Cup in San Francisco after two third places on Tuesday. Zach Railey stays in second place while the day belonged to third overall Ed Wright after dominating and winning both races.
The day started misty and calm and by 12.00 it was a beautiful sunny day with 5-6 knots on the race area. However the heavy mist rolling in through the Golden Gate was a foreteller of things to come later in the day with a cold breeze quickly building on the first leg to peak out at 22 knots.
Race three started after a general recall with most of the fleet immediately tacking onto port to head to the right hand side. This proved to be the best decision as half way up the beat it was apparent that a massive change was about to take place. While the left side was still experiencing light winds, on the right, it started to increase and when the boats tacked they easily cleared the left.
Emerging from the middle right, Alexey Selivanov led round the top mark from Piotr Kula and Ed Wright and Ioannis Mitakis. Oscar flag for free pumping was raised at the top mark as the wind had already increased from 6 knots to 12 knots. Wright flew down the run to round the gate in the lead from Selivanov, while Gasper Vincec had climbed to third.
Again favouring the right hand side, Wright extended on the second upwind, while Vincec climbed to second and Thomas Le Breton climbed to third. The positions stayed the same down the final run as the wind kept increasing to 18-20 knots for some spectacular downwind sailing.
Several of the front runners had a bad race with regatta leader Rafa Trujillo climbing from the 50s at the top mark to 35th at the finish, Jonas Høgh Christensen finishing 38th and Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic in 37th.
After a second general recall race four started in 18-22 knots with the right side again being the most popular, though there were also big gains to be made on the left on the second upwind. Wright and Mark Andrews led to the right hand corner, tacked and led round the top mark from Le Breton and Greg Douglas. Andrews got past Wright on the first downwind while Railey climbed to fourth.
Wright applied pressure to Andrews on the second beat and both passed him and created a useful gap. The final two reaches to the finish were fast and furious as the boats planed and surfed the choppy waves in balls of spray. Railey moved up to third, but Le Breton took it back on the reach to take his second third place finish of the day.
Le Breton summed his his day. “I have a good start. I am sailing well and it’s nice. I had to stop sailing for about two months at the beginning of the summer as I got sick, but I am OK now. I am enjoying the sailing, so maybe that’s the reason I am doing well.”
“I started sailing the Finn two years ago and Jonathan Lobert and I have been training together in that time. For sure it’s a good way to improve your speed. “
Railey said, “It has been a pretty good start to the regatta for me. I just kind of put myself in a good position after the first couple of days. I’ve been fortunate to four consistent results. I was very happy about the first race today. I rounded the first weather mark about 30th and got back up to seventh so that was for sure a key race for me.”
I think the regatta as far as the points being so close is going to continue. I think everyone is sailing really well and all the top guys are here, so if everyone carries on sailing the way they are the points are going to stay close the entire time. There are a few boats behind us now with a larger drops but also have some really good scores, so that will change things after the drop race comes in. But we still have a lot of sailing to go.”
“This is definitely the first windy regatta of the season. We have had some windy days before but for the most part it’s been a very light airs season so we have been working hard in the gym and I came out here for three weeks training in July to prepare for this and really working on my fitness and pumping. This is a very hard venue because you have long times on one tack to one side. The right has mostly paid, but a few times the left has paid, but you are spending 8-10 minutes on one tack, so it’s just about you pushing the boat as much as you can. Everyone is going really fast out there so if you let off a little bit you fade away.”
Wright said, “It was a great day today. Two bullets for me and my coach did his good deed for the day finding a Finn sail sinking on the right side in the second race. I had two good starts and didn’t make any mistakes like yesterday. Mark Andrews pushed me hard on the second race by using his acrobatics on the first run and passing me. But I hope for more speed again tomorrow.”
To read the ranking click here.
To watch the event’s video click here.
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