Skunked (again) at Finn Gold Cup

Balatonföldvár, Hungary (September 9, 2017) – After the second day of no racing at the Opel Finn Gold Cup on Lake Balaton, the top ten will advance to the medal race tomorrow.

Max Salminen of Sweden will go into tomorrow’s medal race with a seven-point advantage at the top of the leader board after no more races were sailed on Day 6.

Despite a promising forecast, the expected wind arrived far too late to be useful and the time limit expired before a race could be held.

The sailors were held on shore until mid afternoon, until, with the time limit of 16.00 approaching, the fleet was released at 14.20 to wait on the lake to make the best use of any wind. Within 10 minutes the decision was rewarded with a sailable wind, however by the time the sailors arrived at the start line the wind had evaporated.

Thirty minutes later the race committee smelt some wind further south and moved over to investigate. It soon signalled everyone to follow and all support and coach boats were called upon to tow the fleet half a mile south to meet the incoming wind.

Time was tight with the deadline fast approaching, and the race committee did a fantastic job setting up a course and a start line in time to hoist the orange flag at 15.55, the latest possible time.

However, at 1 minute to go before the start the wind shifted 30 to 40 degrees, skewing the start line and the upwind, which meant the race committee had no option but to abandon racing for the day, as the time limit had passed.

Any of the top five sailors mathematically capable of winning the title. Only Ed Wright, of Britain, has won the title before, in 2010. After that race has been sailed, the final race from 11th and up is scheduled.

Day Six Results (Top 10 of 112; 7 races, 1 discard)
1 SWE 33 Max Salminen 31
2 GBR 11 Ed Wright 38
3 FRA 112 Jonathan Lobert 38
4 NED 89 Nicholas Heiner 48
5 HUN 40 Zsombor Berecz 49
6 GRE 77 Ioannis Mitakis 53
7 POL 17 Piotr Kula 60
8 ARG 48 Facundo Olezza 65
9 NOR 1 Anders Pedersen 81
10 CRO 69 Milan Vujasinovic 84
————–
29 14 Tom Ramshaw 163

Event details – Results – Facebook – YouTube

Representing North America at the Finn Gold Cup (aka World Championship) is Rockal Evans from Bermuda, Kyle Martin and Tom Ramshaw from Canada, and Luke Muller and Charles Hemler from the USA. One hundred thirteen sailors will compete in 11 races scheduled from Monday to Sunday (Sept. 4-8) with the medal race for the top ten concluding the event.

Source: Robert Deaves, Finn class