Light winds set back Finn Europeans but Ben Cornish takes lead

by Robert Deaves on 10 May 2017 Ben Cornish from Great Britain has taken the lead at the Finn Europeans following a long day on the water after winning the only race possible on a day beset by light winds and abandoned races. Zsombor Berecz from Hungary moves up to second while Anders Pedersen from Norway remains third.

The mistral that has battered the regatta venue for the past two days finally dissipated overnight, and during the morning slowly faded away to leave a light eight - ten knots in place.

The first attempt at Race three was abandoned at the top mark after the wind dropped off with Karpak leading round with a nice lead. After a 90 minute wait, the fleet set off again but not before two general recalls, the second under black flag, which pulled out regatta leader Ed Wright, from Great Britain, as well as fourth overall Max Salminen, from Sweden.

When it finally got going, Karpak again led at the top from Pederson and Cornish. Cornish took the lead on the first downwind playing the pressure variations across the course well, and the extended hugely on the second beat to lead down to the finish.

In the chasing group, Berecz found the best pressure on the run to round the gate almost level with Karpak and then take second. Pederson crossed a close fourth

Soon after, Race four got away with a clean start with Ioannis Mitakis, from Greece, leading at the top from Cornish and Nenad Bugarin from Croatia. Mitakis held the lead at the gate, but the wind was down to well under five knots at times and soon after the Race Committee abandoned the race and sent the fleet ashore.

The fastest man to the top mark today was definitely Deniss Karpak.

“It was the second hard day here. Today was the opposite to yesterday, up to five knots. Wind was hard enough but I was quite fast in both races. We made almost three races today and two of them were abandoned. And I was twice first boat at the top mark so I am happy with my speed.”

“I finished third in the first race after losing a few places to the good guys, but a nice day for me. I am quite fast in light winds but yesterday I was also quick upwind in the breeze and then struggling in 30 knots downwind.”

Cornish’s win keep the British flag flying at the top of the scoreboard.

“It was a long day on the water just for the one race. The one we got in was a long one. A long course in not a lot of breeze, but good for me as I managed to get the win, which was nice.”

“It was super tight with me Deniss and Anders, especially at the top mark and down the first run, and it started to spread out a bit on the last beat which made my life a bit easier in that light wind”

“It was reasonably tight at the leeward gate but I was quite confident with the numbers I was sailing and we had a reasonable idea where the pressure was coming from at the top right and as it played out it became quite straightforward half way up.”

On his good speed, “We are using some new sails here that we haven’t had much time to test so it’s good to see we are going all right in the breeze we have been targeting.”

“Tomorrow the wind is going back round offshore from the south-east and quite a lot more breeze. Fingers crossed, we’ll be stretching the legs again.”

This week is also the U23 European Championship, with Oskari Muhinen from Finland mixing it with the seniors in 12th overall, just one place and two points ahead of Henry Weatherall from Great Britain.

The sailors were on the water today for more than seven hours with only one race to show for it. The 10 race Opening Series concludes on Saturday morning, before the Semi-Final and Final on Saturday afternoon.

Results after three races

1 GBR - 91 Ben CORNISH - 12
2 HUN - 40 Zsombor BERECZ - 14
3 NOR - 1 Anders PEDERSEN - 14
4 FRA - 112 Jonathan LOBERT - 16
5 GRE - 77 Ioannis MITAKIS - 27
6 CRO - 52 Nenad BUGARIN - 31
7 EST - 2 Deniss KARPAK - 39
8 TUR - 21 Alican KAYNAR - 45
9 AUS - 261 Oliver TWEDDELL - 51
10 CRO - 1 Josip OLUJIC - 51

Results:

Pos	Sail	Competitors	Grp	P Net	P tot	r.1	r.2	r.3	Club/Country
1	GBR   91	CORNISH Ben	FIN/FINN	12.00	12.00	3 3.0	8 8.0	1 1.0	GRANDE-BRETAGNE
2	HUN   40	BERECZ Zsombor	FIN/FINN	14.00	14.00	2 2.0	10 10.0	2 2.0	HONGRIE
3	NOR   1	PEDERSEN Anders	FIN/FINN	14.00	14.00	5 5.0	5 5.0	4 4.0	NORVEGE
4	FRA  112	LOBERT Jonathan	FIN/FINN	16.00	16.00	4 4.0	4 4.0	8 8.0	S R ROCHELAISES
5	GRE   77	MITAKIS Ioannis	FIN/FINN	27.00	27.00	14 14.0	7 7.0	6 6.0	GRECE
6	CRO   52	BUGARIN Nenad	FIN/FINN	31.00	31.00	21 21.0	3 3.0	7 7.0	CROATIE
7	EST   2	KARPAK Deniss	FIN/FINN	39.00	39.00	20 20.0	16 16.0	3 3.0	ESTONIE
8	TUR   21	KAYNAR Alican	FIN/FINN	45.00	45.00	16 16.0	24 24.0	5 5.0	TURQUIE
9	AUS  261	TWEDDELL Oliver	FIN/FINN	51.00	51.00	6 6.0	13 13.0	32 32.0	AUSTRALIE
10	CRO   1	OLUJIC Josip	FIN/FINN	51.00	51.00	24 24.0	9 9.0	18 18.0	CROATIE
11	CRO   69	VUJASINOVIC Milan	FIN/FINN	54.00	54.00	11 11.0	6 6.0	37 37.0	CROATIE
12	FIN   8	MUHONEN Oskari	FIN/FU23	57.00	57.00	18 18.0	28 28.0	11 11.0	FINLANDE
13	GBR   71	WETHERELL Henry	FIN/FU23	59.00	59.00	7 7.0	14 14.0	38 38.0	GRANDE-BRETAGNE
14	ITA   1	BALDASSARI Filippo	FIN/FINN	60.00	60.00	15 15.0	12 12.0	33 33.0	ITALIE
15	NED   89	HEINER Nicholas	FIN/FINN	61.00	61.00	22 22.0	11 11.0	28 28.0	HOLLANDE
16	DEN   24	HOEJEN CHRISTIANSEN Andry	FIN/FINN	62.00	62.00	19 19.0	23 23.0	20 20.0	DANEMARK
17	GBR   11	WRIGHT Edward	FIN/FINN	65.00	65.00	1 1.0	1 1.0	BFD 63.0	GRANDE-BRETAGNE
18	ITA   59	SPADONI Alessio	FIN/FINN	66.00	66.00	35 35.0	17 17.0	14 14.0	ITALIE
19	UKR   5	GUSENKO Andrii	FIN/FINN	67.00	67.00	25 25.0	27 27.0	15 15.0	UKRAINE
20	POL   17	KULA Piotr	FIN/FINN	69.00	69.00	26 26.0	18 18.0	25 25.0	POLOGNE
21	ESP   7	MUSCAT Alejandro	FIN/FINN	70.00	70.00	27 27.0	26 26.0	17 17.0	ESPAGNE
22	GER  259	KASUESKE Phillip	FIN/FINN	72.00	72.00	32 32.0	21 21.0	19 19.0	ALLEMAGNE
23	FRA   17	PIC Fabian	FIN/FINN	73.00	73.00	12 12.0	25 25.0	36 36.0	S R ROCHELAISES
24	SWE   33	SALMINEN Max	FIN/FINN	74.00	74.00	9 9.0	2 2.0	BFD 63.0	SUEDE
25	RUS   4	DEIEV Evgenii	FIN/FU23	77.00	77.00	29 29.0	38 38.0	10 10.0	RUSSIE
26	CAN   18	RAMSHAW Tom	FIN/FINN	78.00	78.00	37 37.0	29 29.0	12 12.0	CANADA
27	RUS   6	ARKADIY Kistanov	FIN/FINN	79.00	79.00	17 17.0	31 31.0	31 31.0	RUSSIE
28	AUS   2	MCMILAN Rob	FIN/FINN	81.00	81.00	8 8.0	22 22.0	51 51.0	AUSTRALIE
29	FIN  118	MOISIO Wltteri	FIN/FU23	83.00	83.00	44 44.0	30 30.0	9 9.0	FINLANDE
30	IRL   6	MCCLELLAND Oisin	FIN/FINN	84.00	84.00	28 28.0	32 32.0	24 24.0	IRLANDE
31	ARG   48	OLEZZA Facundo	FIN/FINN	88.00	88.00	31 31.0	35 35.0	22 22.0	ARGENTINE
32	POL   16	LAHN Mikolaj	FIN/FINN	91.00	91.00	13 13.0	15 15.0	BFD 63.0	POLOGNE
33	NZL   64	MC CARTY Brendan	FIN/FINN	99.00	99.00	36 36.0	42 42.0	21 21.0	NOUVELLE ZELAND
34	GBR   98	TWEEDLE Cameron	FIN/FU23	99.00	99.00	33 33.0	43 43.0	23 23.0	GRANDE-BRETAGNE
35	FIN  225	HYRYLAINEN Mikael	FIN/FINN	108.00	108.00	23 23.0	44 44.0	41 41.0	FINLANDE
36	GER   25	KOHLHOFF Max	FIN/FINN	110.00	110.00	34 34.0	DNF 63.0	13 13.0	ALLEMAGNE
37	SWE   11	PETTERSON Johannes	FIN/FU23	111.00	111.00	38 38.0	39 39.0	34 34.0	SUEDE
38	CZE   5	TEPLY Ondrej	FIN/FU23	113.00	113.00	30 30.0	20 20.0	BFD 63.0	REPUBLIQUE TCHE
39	FRA   99	ALLAIN DES BEAUVAIS Marc	FIN/FINN	114.00	114.00	43 43.0	45 45.0	26 26.0	S N O NANTES
40	FRA  297	BOISARD Guillaume	FIN/FU23	114.00	114.00	45 45.0	34 34.0	35 35.0	CN Sainte-Maxime
41	GBR  707	DIXON Callum	FIN/FU23	115.00	115.00	40 40.0	36 36.0	39 39.0	GRANDE-BRETAGNE
42	GBR   29	MC COY Peter	FIN/FINN	122.00	122.00	DNF 63.0	19 19.0	40 40.0	GRANDE-BRETAGNE
43	FRA   75	HAY Laurent	FIN/FINN	123.00	123.00	41 41.0	40 40.0	42 42.0	S R ROCHELAISES
44	POL   52	STROMSKI Krzysztof	FIN/FU23	124.00	124.00	51 51.0	46 46.0	27 27.0	POLOGNE
45	FRA  111	LEBRUN Valerian	FIN/FINN	127.00	127.00	46 46.0	37 37.0	44 44.0	S R ROCHELAISES
46	BER   9	ROCKAL Evane	FIN/FINN	134.00	134.00	49 49.0	33 33.0	52 52.0	BERMUDES
47	FIN  218	TAPIO Nirkko	FIN/FINN	136.00	136.00	10 10.0	DNF 63.0	BFD 63.0	FINLANDE
48	HUN  911	HAIDEKKER Elemer	FIN/FINN	137.00	137.00	47 47.0	47 47.0	43 43.0	HONGRIE
49	GER  595	GORGELS Simon	FIN/FU23	138.00	138.00	48 48.0	41 41.0	49 49.0	ALLEMAGNE
50	FRA   2	DEVINEAU Antoine	FIN/FINN	142.00	142.00	DNF 63.0	DNF 63.0	16 16.0	S N O NANTES
51	SLO   99	OREL Jan	FIN/FU23	143.00	143.00	50 50.0	48 48.0	45 45.0	SLOVENIE
52	RUS  777	GRISHNIAKOV Artem	FIN/FU23	149.00	149.00	39 39.0	DNF 63.0	47 47.0	RUSSIE
53	HUN   11	HAIDEKKER Peter Pal	FIN/FINN	149.00	149.00	52 52.0	49 49.0	48 48.0	HONGRIE
54	GER  231	JESCHULL Denny	FIN/FINN	155.00	155.00	DNF 63.0	DNF 63.0	29 29.0	ALLEMAGNE
55	GBR   88	TWEEDLE Jonathan	FIN/FINN	156.00	156.00	DNF 63.0	DNF 63.0	30 30.0	GRANDE-BRETAGNE
56	ESP   57	GOROSTEGUI Victor	FIN/FINN	168.00	168.00	42 42.0	DNF 63.0	DNC 63.0	ESPAGNE
57	ITA   83	SAVIO Matteo	FIN/FU23	172.00	172.00	DNC 63.0	DNC 63.0	46 46.0	ITALIE
58	FRA   28	GRALL Sebastien	FIN/FINN	176.00	176.00	DNF 63.0	DNF 63.0	50 50.0	S N BANDOL
59	FRA  869	BAUMGARTEN Regis	FIN/FINN	179.00	179.00	DNF 63.0	DNF 63.0	53 53.0	S R V ANNECY
60	FRA   66	LOBERT Philippe	FIN/FINN	180.00	180.00	DNF 63.0	DNF 63.0	54 54.0	S N O NANTES
61	FRA   27	LALLEMAND Pierre	FIN/FINN	181.00	181.00	DNF 63.0	DNF 63.0	55 55.0	S N BANDOL
62	FRA  113	DADURE Sylvain	FIN/FINN	182.00	182.00	DNF 63.0	DNF 63.0	56 56.0	C.V.C.E.P. SACLAY

Penalties and redress : 29 (5 BFD; 3 DNC; 21 DNF; )