Finn Gold Cup, Wright prende il largo
Classi OlimpicheDeriveVela 4 Settembre 2010 Zerogradinord 0
Finn Gold Cup – San Francisco – La giornata più ventosa della settimana ha portato grandi emozioni nell’ambito della Finn Gold Cup, evento che si concluderà oggi a San Francisco con lo svolgimento della Medal Race. Un’appuntamento, quello con la regata decisiva, che vedrà Ed Wright partire con i favori del pronostico. Il talento britannico, grazie al primo e al terzo rimediati ieri, ha allungato il passo nei confronti di Rafael Trujillo (2-3) e Giles Scott (2-5).
“Il mio obiettivo era quello di stare il più vicino possibile ai miei diretti avversari in modo da tenermi un pò di margine per la Medal Race – racconta Ed Wright a fine giornata – Poi, una volta in acqua, ho visto che tutto andava per il meglio e mi sono ritrovato a girare la prima boa di bolina al comando in entrambe le occasioni. In poppa ho tirato, ma non ho voluto esagerare per evitare danni o cedimenti. Alla fine è stata un’ottima giornata e spero che domani (oggi, ndr) vada ancora meglio”.
Con tredici punti di margine sul secondo, Ed Wright sa che la conquista della vittoria dipende in gran parte dalla sua concentrazione. Trujillo e Scott, che c’è da scommettere le proveranno tutte pur di insidiare il leader, paiono infatti destinati alla lotta per la piazza d’onore.
Difficile anche per Zach Railey e Thomas Le Breton, leader della classifica per un giorno, sperare nella conquista di una piazza sul podio: il distacco tra Giles Scott e il timoniere statunitense è di diciassette punti e appare troppo marcato.
Per quanto riguarda gli italiani, Michele Paoletti ha vissuto la sua peggior giornata ed è finito per due volte oltre la ventesima posizione. Parziali che lo hanno fatto scivolare in sedicesima posizione, tra Dan Slater e Vasilij Zbogar. E’ invece ventiduesimo Giorgio Poggi, affacciatosi nella top twenty nei giorni scorsi.
Nel tardo pomeriggio odierno è in programma la Medal Race, atto conclusivo di questa manifestazione che ha impegnato un’ottantina di timonieri provenienti dai quattro angoli del pianeta.
Per consultare la classifica clicca qui.
Per vedere i video dell’evento clicca qui.
FINN GOLD CUP, WRIGHT TAKES THE LEAD
[Finn Gold Cup Press Release] The windiest day yet at the 2010 Finn Gold Cup in San Francisco produced some more thrilling racing, close finishes and spectacular sailing. Regatta leader Ed Wright has moved into a 13 point lead going into Saturday’s medal race after a scoring 3-1 while nearest rivals Rafa Trujillo scored 2-3 and Giles Scott scored 2-5.
Race nine was sailed in 16-20 knots with the right again proving popular with most of the fleet. Rafa Trujillo and Ed Wright led the fleet to the right hand side and played the few shifts on that side as the wind continued to increase. Wright narrowly led Trujillo round the top mark followed by Giles Scott, Eric Lidecis, Mark Andrews and Jonas Høgh Christensen.
Scott took the lead on the first downwind and dug deep to hang onto it on the second testing upwind leg. He pulling away slightly on the final reaches to record his first race win this week. Trujillo placed second to narrow the gap on Wright, who finished third. The gap between the leaders was now just nine points. But Wright was about to lay down the gauntlet and firmly take control of the series.
Race ten turned into a thrilling display of endurance and power as the wind whipped up a confused sea and the downwind became an adrenaline fuelled fun ride. Wright again led at the top mark, this time from Pieter-Jan Postma, Trujillo and Scott. The first downwind was crucial and very patchy. Both Postma and Scott slipped past Wright and avoided the holes to take the lead while Trujillo lost a lot of ground to round in eighth. Wright was having none of that though and retook the lead and then extended on the gruelling second upwind to lead down the reaches and take his fourth race win of the week. Trujillo could only recover to fifth behind Wright, Postma, Gasper Vincec and Scott.
This leaves Wright win a 13 point lead going into Saturday’s double scoring non-discardable medal race. He needs to finish seven boats ahead of Trujillo to make sure of the title. However, only five points separate second placed Trujillo and third placed Scott and if these two get into a battle for silver, then this could be the more interesting battle.
Wight commented, “Today was make or break. My goals were to just stay in contact with Rafa and Giles so tomorrow in the medal race I can have a little margin. But I found myself rounding both top marks first. Two good starts helped. It was windy on the downwinds and I wanted to sail conservatively with the steep chop making things a bit hairy. Finishing 3,1, was amazing for me as I have now extended my lead going into tomorrow. It’s all on now. Fingers crossed nothing goes wrong.
Wright is one of the four strong Skandia Team GBR sailors in San Francisco and all four are in the medal race – an impressive performance by any standard. In addition the European Champion Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic has his best day with two top 10 finishes to scrape into the medal race.
A new face inside the top 10 is Brendan Casey. He said, “I love San Francisco anyway, so when I heard the Gold Cup was going to be here it was my goal to be here, and getting into the top 10 has been my objective since I came back into Finn sailing in May. It’s been a moderate to heavy air event and it’s been wonderful.”
“This is my second world championship in the Finn. I came from the Lasers when I got too big for that. I finished 15th in in 2007, but since then I have spent more time in the boat training. I spent time with Ed, Rafa, and Zach here in San Francisco for two weeks. Three years ago I just jumped straight in the Finn from the Laser and just did regatta after regatta. Spending some time in the boat with a good group of people that allowed me to improve my performance. For the medal my tactics is high risk. I have nothing to loose. “
Star performer of the day must be Pieter Jan Postma with a 6-2; his best result so far had been an 18th. Rediscovering the form that led him to Gold Cup and pre-Olympic silver in 2007, he said, “Today was good. Perfect conditions. I have sailed better and better this week and today was my day. I have been studying the last year and didn’t sail so much, so to see progress through the regatta is great. It sounds really strange at a worlds but the problem for me wasn’t the practice it was the goals. I wanted to do really well here but I wasn’t ready. I thought I would be after 10 days training, but I wasn’t. So next time I will do more. Sailing is about feelings and the feelings are getting better and better.”
To read the ranking click here.
To watch the event’s video click here.
No comments so far.
Be first to leave comment below.