Photo: Robert Deaves

German sailor masters the light

But Karpak still leads at the Finn Gold Cup

Monday May 9th 2016, Author: Robert Deaves, Location: Italy

Light winds on the second day of the Finn Gold Cup in Gaeta meant only one race could be sailed. Phillip Kasueske (GER) sailed very well to win his first ever major international Finn race. The win moves him up to second overall after three races behind Deniss Karpak (EST), who placed 13th in the race. Piotr Kula (POL) crossed in third to end the day in third overall.

For the second day running the fleet were held on shore for an hour before going afloat and the postponement continued afloat for a while before one race was sailed in 6-9 knots. There were a number of high profile black flag disqualifications including long time race leader Jorge Zarif (BRA). In fact, four out of the top 10 finishers crossed the line to find their sail number on the board.

Kasueske explained the race. “I startled on the pin end and it wasn't the best start but I managed to find a gap to tack and cross the fleet. From there I went with the shifts and for me it was very easy, but I think further back in the fleet it was hard to gain places.”

Zarif rounded in front and led all the way until half way down the final run when the German kept to the right and passed. Kasueske continued, “It feels really good, it's my first win in a major regatta, so I am very happy I managed to pull that off. I am really looking forward to the next days with similar conditions and maybe some more good results can happen.”

“To be second overall is great. My goal is to finish top 25, so right now I am pretty safe, but let's see what the next days bring. But I am really happy to show what I can do, so perhaps I will stay motivated for the next years.”

Working under coach Per Baggøe (DEN), Kasueske is part of a young team that has put in the hours and this kind of success has been a long time coming. “We had some really good training this year, mostly in light winds. That's why we are good in light winds this year. We really are a great team, four young guys, always pushing hard and that brings us forward.”

While defending championship Giles Scott (GBR) recovered from around 12th at the top mark to second at the finish to end the day in seventh overall, Piotr Kula (POL) recorded his second top three place in a row to cross in third and rise to third overall.

“I am very happy with how I am going this week, but not happy that it didn't happen a month ago when we had the Olympic trials.” Poland failed to qualify for the Olympics.

“Maybe I am just a little bit more relaxed now, because I am not playing for big stakes, but also in lighter airs my old boat goes pretty well.”

On the future. “We don't know yet what will happen. For me depending on the result here it may mean I am in the team or not, but Tokyo is a far away plan right now, so I am not thinking about it yet. Our season pretty much ends with this regatta, only the Polish nationals in September, and then I am going to think about my plans.”

One of the few sailors still sailing his Olympic trials is Tom Ramshaw (CAN), who is having a great week so far and sits in sixth place. “It's been pretty light, but I've had good speed so it's just about keeping it simple. Today I had a good start and two tacks on the first upwind got me round the windward mark in third.”

About the downwind. “It was difficult. I sat in the middle and had a bit of space behind me, and was able to extend, and didn't sail too much distance. I am new to the downwind techniques, especially in light winds. It's difficult to keep flow. I wasn't fully confident but ended up extending on that downwind, thought the next one wasn't so good.”

On the Canadian trials. “I have got a couple of good results so far in some other regattas that count, and they want to see consistent performance. They will select after the Gold Cup, so it will will be exciting to hear the result. I was working really hard to get to the Olympics in the Laser but keeping the weight down was difficult, and there were four of us. So I gave the Finn a try and liked it and saw an opportunity. It means lot to improve this much during the year and hopefully to be able to compete in Rio, and hopefully to be able to battle in the front there. That would be a long shot but that is the plan.”

Racing is scheduled to continue on Tuesday at 13.00 with even lighter winds forecast, though better wind is expected for the rest of the week.

 

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Pos Sail Helm R1 R2 R3 Tot
1 EST2 Deniss Karpak 1 3 13 17
2 GER259 Phillip Kasueske 18 9 1 28
3 POL17 Piotr Kula 25 2 3 30
4 NED842 Pieter Jan Postma 4 17 10 31
5 CZE5 Ondrej Teply 21 10 6 37
6 CAN18 Tom Ramshaw 12 24 4 40
7 GBR41 Giles Scott 38 5 2 45
8 GRE77 Ioannis Mitakis 29 7 9 45
9 FRA17 Fabian Pic 3 20 25 48
10 RUS57 Egor Terpigorev 14 23 11 48
11 DEN2 Jonas Hogh-Christensen 30 1 19 50
12 CRO524 Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic 23 11 18 52
13 ESP7 Alejandro Muscat 13 15 24 52
14 ITA146 Michele Paoletti 28 13 15 56
15 ITA117 Giorgio Poggi 6 12 41 59
16 ITA202 Giacomo Giovanelli 24 32 5 61
17 CRO1 Josip Olujic 17 27 17 61
18 GBR91 Ben Cornish 41 6 16 63
19 CRO69 Milan Vujasinovic 37 16 14 67
20 ITA123 Filippo Baldassari 46 19 8 73
21 AUS261 Oliver Tweddell 22 26 28 76
22 RUS2 Borisov Aleksei 27 30 23 80
23 AUS41 Jake Lilley 47 14 21 82
24 ITA94 Federico Colaninno 16 48 20 84
25 GBR11 Ed Wright 40 25 22 87
26 ITA964 Roberto Strappati 31 52 7 90
27 SWE6 Bjorn Allansson 54 8 30 92
28 POL13 Michal Jodlowski 43 22 27 92
29 GER772 Ulli Kurfeld 9 53 32 94
30 ITA83 Matteo Savio 2 37 58 97
31 BRA109 Jorge Zarif 7 18 74\BFD 99
32 TUR21 Alican Kaynar 33 34 37 104
33 DEN24 Andre' Hogh Christiansen 60 33 12 105
34 GER771 Jan Kurfeld 36 43 26 105
35 GER252 Eike Martens 10 59 38 107
36 CRO52 Nenad Bugarin 35 4 74\BFD 113
37 CZE1 Michael Maier 32 47 34 113
38 ITA234 Tommaso Ronconi 19 61 36 116
39 ESP17 Pablo Guitian Sarria 8 35 74\BFD 117
40 RUS6 Arkadiy Kistanov 15 29 74\BFD 118
41 GER25 Max Kohlhoff 5 41 74\BFD 120
42 CAN2 Kyle Martin 52 21 52 125
43 NZL64 Brendan McCarty 26 49 55 130
44 EST11 Lauri VŠinsalu 59 42 29 130
45 ITA5 Francesco Cinque 48 39 43 130
46 GRE21 Anotonis Tsotras 45 51 35 131
47 FIN225 Mikael Hyrylainen 42 44 46 132
48 FRA93 Antoine Devineau 49 54 31 134
49 ITA175 Alessandro Vongher 55 40 39 134
50 SEY1 Allan Julie 56 38 42 136
51 GER595 Simon Gorgels 61 36 40 137
52 ITA2 Marco Buglielli 44 45 49 138
53 ITA66 Enrico Voltolini 39 28 74\BFD 141
54 USA74 Henry Sprague 11 57 74\BFD 142
55 ITA70 Francesco Lubrano 20 63 60 143
56 GBR29 Peter McCoy 58 56 33 147
57 IRL40 Oisin Mcclelland 67 31 51 149
58 ITA191 Alessandro Cattaneo 34 66 56 156
59 ESP717 Victor Gorostegui Arce 51 55 53 159
60 HUN911 Elemer Peter Haidekker 50 62 48 160
61 SLO99 Jan Orel 53 64 44 161
62 ITA147 Simone Ferrarese 69 46 47 162
63 ITA97 Lorenzo Podesta' 74\BFD 60 45 179
64 CAN110 Martin Robitaille 68 50 61 179
65 SWE9 David Berg 64 69 50 183
66 FIN226 Jukka Partinen 63 65 57 185
67 GRE4 Panagiotis Kotsovos 65 67 54 186
68 ITA11 Paolo Cisbani 57 71 59 187
69 HUN127 Peter Pal Haidekker 71 58 62 191
70 FIN227 Ronnie Roos 62 68 64 194
71 USA32 Charles Heimler 70 70 63 203
72 CAN3 Ian Bostock 66 72 65 203
73 ITA6 Enrico Passoni 74\DNC 74\DNC 74\DNC 222
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