2015 Finn Gold Cup - British sailor advanced to top of the leaderboard
by Lindsey Bell on 25 Nov 2015
Scott edges ahead of Greece’s Ioannis Mitakis in Wednesday’s race Robert Deaves/Finn Class
http://www.finnclass.org
Giles Scott advanced to the top of the leaderboard on a truncated second of day of Finn Gold Cup racing in Takapuna, New Zealand, on Wednesday (25 November).
The defending world champion won the only race of the two originally scheduled races in a light and decaying breeze to take the yellow jersey and a 16 point lead into Thursday’s third day of competition.
Ed Wright, the 2014 bronze medallist and 2010 Gold Cup winner, retained overall third with a tenth place from his race.
Light winds and a strong tide on the Hauraki Gulf provided a challenge for the race committee to get racing started, with boats struggling to stay behind the start line and giving rise to several abandonments and a general recall before the fleet finally got underway under the threatening black flag.
“That always puts a bit more pressure on the start,” remarked Scott.
“I managed to stay reasonably clear and had a half decent lane out to the right side which worked out reasonably well.”
“I think I was maybe around tenth at the first mark, but managed to sail reasonably smart from there to the finish. I slowly pulled my way back to the front of the fleet and managed to get the Greek guy just before the bottom gate to win.
“It was quite a tricky race with big tidal gains right and big shifts left halfway through, so there was an awful lot to manage but it came good for me in the end.”
Exmouth’s Ben Cornish earned his progression to the British Sailing Team’s Podium squad at the European Championships in May, and is racing just his second Finn class World Championship this week.
He’s 12th overall, with a 24th on the board today and is enjoying the different challenge that an 80-boat Finn Gold Cup start line brings about.
“As we expected it’s going to be a high scoring regatta with such a big fleet out there,” Cornish observed. “At the moment in the early stages it’s just about trying to avoid any disasters and making sure I get to Friday and Saturday somewhere in touch with the top ten.
“There are challenges there, there are big opportunities but there are also big opportunities for it to go wrong,' said Cornish of the larger fleet size tactics compared to World Cup series regattas.
'If you find yourself on the wrong side of the leverage from the start line, it’s quite a long way back to try and work yourself back towards the front of the fleet.”
“When it does go wrong, you just have to stay positive because there are always opportunities back. We’re racing big 1.2 mile beats and it’s pretty light breeze so far, so the race is long enough to try and find opportunities back if you stay in the game.”
“I’m just trying to avoid anything too drastic at this stage. I’m not taking too much and hopefully that will start to pay off towards the end of the week.”
British Sailing Team Podium Potential sailor James Hadden is currently 45th overall.
Organisers will attempt to catch up with the race schedule on Thursday (26 November) with three races planned from 1200hrs (local). The final medal race is planned for Sunday 29 November.
Overall Results
Sailed: 3, Discards: 0, To count: 3, Entries: 76, Scoring system: Appendix A
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