Another day of waiting

The difficult conditions continue at the Finn European Championships in Italy

The glorious Tuscany weather returned for the second day of racing at the Finn Open and Junior European Championship in Scarlino, Italy. However, again, the wind didn't make things easy. It took four hours waiting for the wind to stabilise and three general recalls before racing could finally start. When it did, race wins went to Gasper Vincec (SLO) and Pieter-Jan Postma (NED) with a number of favourites picking up high scores.

The moderate north-easterly offshore wind in the morning created some early problems for the race committee as a shifting wind produced two general recalls before the race committee decided to wait for the thermal breeze from the sea. They waited for an hour and nothing changed so decided to start race two in the offshore wind. This got away first time with Zach Railey (USA) starting at the committee boat, taking a short hitch to port before crossing right across to the left and leading round the first mark. He was still leading at the leeward gate, but soon after the wind disappeared and three guns sounded from the committee boat.

The fleet then had to wait a further hour and a half before the next start was attempted at 15.40. By then a six to eight knot breeze had arrived from the west. After one general recall, the fleet set off to a black flag at 16.00 and was let go, but with numerous boats picking up a black flag.

The fleet was very spread out on the first upwind where there were lots of shifts and pressure changes. This left a lot of favourites struggling mid-fleet. Eduardo Couto (BRA) made the best of the beat to lead round the top mark followed by Gasper Vincec (SLO) and Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO). Overnight leader Ben Ainslie (GBR) rounded back in 45th.

Couto extended his lead on the first downwind as the breeze increased, but then lost some ground on next upwind to Chris Cook (CAN) and Gasper Vincec (SLO). Couto rounded third with Guillaume Florent (FRA) in fourth.

On final downwind to the finish, the top four had a nice gap on the bunch behind. Cook and Couto went to the left while Vincec and Florent went to the right. The right paid and Vincec took the win followed by Florent and Cook. Couto was yellow flagged on the final approach but only lost a place to Cook, however he was one of the 16 boats picking up an OCS. Notable casualties also included Peer Moberg (NOR) and Daniel Birgmark (SWE).

Race three got underway almost immediately at 17.20. The wind had by now stabilised and strengthened further to 10-11 knots. The fleet again got away to a black flag and Pieter-Jan Postma (NED) starting near the committee boat, controlled the first upwind to round the top mark with a small lead over Zach Railey (USA) and Tim Goodbody (IRL).

The wind increased to 14 knots on the run and Postma excelled in these conditions to take a commanding lead by the leeward gate. At that gate, the Oscar flag was raised to indicate unlimited pumping. Behind him, Cook had moved up to second ahead of Railey and Ainslie had moved into fourth. The final upwind produced few changes, except Ainslie moved up to third.

On the downwind leg to the finish the sailors were allowed unlimited pumping and clearly enjoyed the conditions. Vincec rounded the top mark in fifth, but took the right side of the leg and moved past Railey and then Ainslie to take third place. Cook was comfortable in second, while Postma extended his lead to win by 50 seconds.

Zach Railey (USA), after a 64th place yesterday, scored a sixth and fifth today and is currently in 19th overall, became the new International Finn Association Vice-President Development at the class AGM on Sunday. In doing so he takes charge of various development initiatives around the world. Railey is particularly passionate about introducing younger sailors to the Finn and giving them a useful step up into international sailing. One such initiative is underway in the United States, where a new scheme has just been established to encourage sailors into the class. The USA Class Association is planning to buy a new Finn and offer it on loan for periods of up to one year to suitable candidates, who have to apply for its use. Railey stated, “The objective is to get one new sailor into the class each year through this initiative, probably a talented sailor from another class or someone who has got too big to sail a Laser.”

This ties in well with the IFA's FIDeS initiative to encourage development across a range of nations, that was started two years ago by outgoing Vice-President Michele Marchesini (ITA), who had the vision to create a programme that is benefiting Finn sailors worldwide.

The USA initiative is one of a growing number of Junior development schemes initiated by various national associations and individual sailors, including in Denmark and Germany, to really focus on and develop Junior Finn sailing as a viable and rewarding alternative introduction to top-flight international competition.

In the Junior European Championship this week, Piotr Kula (POL) is leading the field after a 10th and a 41st today and stands in 15th place. Second placed junior is Jan Kurfeld (GER) in 21st while Andriy Gusenko (UKR) lies third in 29th place overall.

In the overall standings, after three races Gasper Vincec is leading on 10 points with Guillaume Florent also on 10 and Chris Cook in third on 19 points. Two more races are scheduled for tomorrow at 12.00.

Results:

Pos	Helm	Nat	R1	R2	R4	Tot
1st	Gasper Vincec	SLO	6	1	3	10
2nd	Guillaume Florent	FRA	2	2	6	10
3rd	Christopher Cook	CAN	14	3	2	19
4th	Ben Ainslie	GBR	1	16	4	21
5th	Pieter-Jan Postma	NED	9	15	1	25
6th	Jonas Hogh-Christensen	DEN	4	12	10	26
7th	Ed Wright	GBR	8	13	8	29
8th	Rafal Szukiel	POL	15	17	16	48
9th	Dan Slater	NZL	32	11	7	50
10th	Jonathan Lobert	FRA	22	5	24	51
11th	Ismael Bruno	FRA	7	21	23	51
12th	Giorgio Poggi	ITA	11	26	15	52
13th	Rafael Trujillo	ESP	35	7	11	53
14th	Tapio Nirkko	FIN	20	23	17	60
15th	Piotr Kula	POL	10	10	41	61
16th	Emanuele Vaccari	ITA	5	29	29	63
17th	Anthony Nossiter	AUS	24	28	12	64
18th	Rudolf Lidarik	CZE	17	24	30	71
19th	Zach Railey	USA	63	6	5	74
20th	Riccardo Cordovani	ITA	21	19	36	76
21st	Florian Raudaschl	AUT	30	20	28	78
22nd	Bjorn Allansson	SWE	50	9	20	79
23rd	Jan Kurfeld	GER	37	25	25	87
24th	Eduard Skornyakov	RUS	54	14	22	90
25th	Gaszton Pal	HUN	16	31	43	90
26th	Mark Andrews	GBR	31	33	26	90
27th	Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic	CRO	84.0 DSQ	4	9	97
28th	Dennis de Ruiter	NED	12	45	40	97
29th	Andriy Gusenko	UKR	25	35	38	98
30th	Daniel Birgmark	SWE	3	84.0 BFD	14	101
31st	Ali kemal Tufekci	TUR	62	22	18	102
32nd	Tomas Vika	CZE	33	36	33	102
33rd	Michael Maier	CZE	52	30	21	103
34th	Nanno Schuttrups	NED	34	32	42	108
35th	Conrad Brolon	USA	19	39	54	112
36th	Diego Fructuoso	ESP1	51	27	34	112
37th	Ed Greig	GBR	26	8	84.0 OCS	118
38th	Roberto Bosetti	ITA	18	49	56	123
39th	Timothy Goodbody	IRL	27	84.0 BFD	13	124
40th	Francesco Lubrano	ITA	41	34	49	124
41st	Peer Moberg	NOR	23	84.0 BFD	19	126
42nd	Marko Kolic	ITA	13	84.0 DNC	37	134
43rd	Alexandros Dragoutsis	GRE	47	37	50	134
44th	Marco Buglielli	ITA	43	42	51	136
45th	Mihail Kopanov	BUL	72	18	47	137
46th	Geza Huszar	HUN	36	47	60	143
47th	Dmirtry Tereshkin	RUS	70	43	31	144
48th	Marton Beliczay	HUN	38	40	68	146
49th	Simone Mancini	ITA	49	48	55	152
50th	Viacheslav Sivienkov	RUS	29	57	73	159
51st	Michal Strusinski	POL	58	38	64	160
52nd	Maciej Pezala	POL	42	54	66	162
53rd	Jan CaJCIC	CZE	53	41	69	163
54th	Tomas Hrncal	CZE	28	60	77	165
55th	Sebastian Kaule	GER	56	84.0 BFD	27	167
56th	Gert Van der Heijden	NED	44	59	65	168
57th	Haris Papadopoulos	CYP	39	84.0 BFD	46	169
58th	Davourlis Panagiutis	GRE	66	44	62	172
59th	Kenneth Boggild	DEN	40	84.0 BFD	52	176
60th	Matt Johnston	CAN	48	84.0 BFD	44	176
61st	Vasily Kravchenko	RUS	60	46	74	180
62nd	Tomek Kosmicki	POL	64	56	61	181
63rd	Carlo Recchi	ITA	45	84.0 BFD	53	182
64th	Paolo Cisbani	ITA	73	50	59	182
65th	Frederico Melo	POR	67	84.0 BFD	32	183
66th	Peter Haidekker	HUN	59	53	72	184
67th	Srdjan Volarevic	SRB	69	62	57	188
68th	Constantinos Gnafakis	GRE	65	55	71	191
69th	Branislav Erac	SRB	61	61	70	192
70th	Francesco Cinque	ITA	84.0 OCS	51	63	198
71st	Andrea Bianchi	ITA	57	84.0 BFD	58	199
72nd	Piero Romeo	ITA	68	84.0 BFD	48	200
73rd	Andrew Mills	GBR	84.0 OCS	84.0 BFD	35	203
74th	Abe Torchinsky	CAN	74	84.0 BFD	45	203
75th	Darko Burcul	SRB	76	52	75	203
76th	Lorenzo Podestà	ITA	55	84.0 BFD	67	206
77th	Eduardo Couto	BRA	84.0 OCS	84.0 BFD	39	207
78th	Eirinaios Gnafakis	GRE	75	58	76	209
79th	Karel Van Hellemond	NED	46	84.0 BFD	84.0 OCS	214
80th	Mauro Merlini	ITA	71	84.0 DNC	84.0 DNC	239
81st	Alexey Selivanov	RUS	84.0 OCS	84.0 DNC	84.0 DNC	252
81st	Michele Tognozzi	ITA	84.0 DNC	84.0 DNC	84.0 DNC	252
81st	Aimilios Papathanasiou	GRE	84.0 DNF	84.0 DNC	84.0 DNC	252