Finn Gold Cup, Wright-Trujillo: lotta per la supremazia
Classi OlimpicheDeriveVela 3 Settembre 2010 Zerogradinord 0
Finn Gold Cup – San Francisco – Separati da dieci punti in vetta alla classifica della Finn Gold Cup 2010, Ed Wright e Rafael Trujillo hanno scavato un solco all’apparenza incolmabile rispetto agli inseguitori. Anche nelle due manche di ieri, infatti, i due fuoriclasse si sono confermati al top della forma e con la manifestazione ormai possima al termine paiono essere i soli a poter lottare per il successo finale. Giles Scott, terza forza della graduatoria, è staccato di diciassette punti dal battistrada che, sino ad ora, di punti, al netto degli scarti, ne ha raccolti solo sedici.
Continuanado a scorrere la classifica si nota come un secondo solco divida i primi cinque dal resto della flotta. Tra lo sloveno Gasper Vincec, quinto dietro Zach Railey, e il croato Marin Misura, attualmente sesto, sono ben trentadue le lunghezze di distacco.
Due piazzamenti nei quindici hanno nel frattempo consentito a Michele Paoletti di difendere la quattordicesima posizione, tra Daniel Birgmark, vincitore della seconda manche di ieri, e l’ex campione iridato Hogh Christensen, mentre Giorgio Poggi è tornato a perdere terreno e si è attestato attorno alla ventesima posizione.
Oggi, nel tardo pomeriggio italiano, sono in programma le ultime due prove di qualificazione, mentre domani si svolgerà la Medal Race, aperta ai primi dieci della classifica generale.
Per consultare la classifica clicca qui.
Per vedere i video dell’evento clicca qui.
FINN GOLD CUP, WRIGHT-TRUJILLO BATTLE FOR SUPREMACY
[Finn Gold Cup Press Release] After another two windy races, the top five at the Finn Gold Cup in San Francisco maintain their relative positions but Rafa Trujillo who scored 1-2 and Ed Wright who scored 2-5 increased their lead over the rest of the fleet. Giles Scott hangs onto third place after placing 3-6, but it is fast turning into a battle for supremacy between Wright and Trujillo.
The big winds and close competition is also proving something of a hit on the internet with more than 9,000 internet users enjoying the live video stream provided by SailGroove this week. This can be watched this through the event website at www.finngoldcup.com with full commentary during the racing and shore interviews before and after racing. The website also includes all the in-depth regatta reports as well as a Twitter feed sponsored by MotionX by FullPower with comments, mark roundings and latest updates for those unable – or without the time – to watch the live streaming.
Race seven got underway under black flag on the third attempt and again turned into a drag race to the right. Rafa Trujillo made the best of the upwind to round just ahead of regatta leader Ed Wright, Andrew Mills, Marin Misura and Thomas Le Breton. Wright chose the left side downwind and found more pressure to move past Trujillo but the Spaniard chose more middle ground in the second upwind to retake the lead when Wright went further right. Le Breton moved up to third, but then suffered gear failure on the reaches to the finish to drop to 10th while Giles Scott took advantage of that to take third.
Trujillo again led to the top mark in race eight followed by defending champion Jonas Høgh Christensen, Zach Railey, Wright and Jonathan Lobert. With the winds topping 22 knots and a very nasty sea running it was probably the toughest race so far, but also according to Trujillo the most fun.
Høgh Christensen took the lead on the second beat and the Dane led until the final thrilling stages of the fast spray filled second reach. He rounded the wing mark still in the lead and with the line in sight dug deep to maintain speed and stamina for the final few hundred metres. But coming from behind was Daniel Birgmark. He had already take Trujillo to leeward and catching a few waves better than Høgh Christensen, surfed through his lee to take the race win by a couple of boatlengths. It was the closest and most exciting finish of the week.
Birgmark said, “I am really enjoying sailing here in San Francisco though I think I am not the fastest upwind. There are about 10-15 boats that are much faster than me upwind, but now in the last race when there was a little bit more shifty conditions I was able to take advantage of that and I was faster on the reaches.”
“The last reach was a lot of fun. I like these broad reaches as it’s quite tactical. You have to choose your track and take your chances to go down to get a good position to increase your speed. It’s quite challenging. I passed both Rafa and Jonas to leeward and I managed to catch some really good waves to get good speed and I had a good track into the finish.”
“I don’t remember winning a race at the worlds before, so I am very happy. Coming into the championship my goal was to be top three, but I had a cold at the beginning of the week and I didn’t sail as well as I could have. I have still a lot of work to do but I hope to be top 10. ”
Trujillo said, “We had two really different races today. The first race was a really typical San Francisco race planning your start and trying to go as fast as you can to the right side. The second race was the most fun race of the week we had a lot of shifty conditions and you needed to play the middle. It was completely different and I enjoyed the second one much more than the first one, even though I didn’t do as well. The first one was really hard for me with a hard fight with Ed.”
“I realised that the second race would be a key race because it would be easy to pick up a lot of points. I was leading but finished third, but that’s OK as the objective for the day was two top 10s . I have a 35th and I cannot make any more mistakes. The legs were 1.8 miles long and Ed went to the left on the downwind and I stayed in the middle and he got better pressure and a shift into the gate and passed me. So I used this information on the second beat and passed him.”
“In the second race we had a lot more options and it was more fun, playing the shifts, looking forward, avoiding the holes. It was really fun.”
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