Finn Gold Cup - Early World Championship victory

by Lindsey Bell on 28 Nov 2015 2015 Finn Gold Cup - A dominant Giles Scott extended his winning streak to 25-months at the Finn Gold Cup in Takapuna, New Zealand, on Saturday (28 November), defending his World Championship crown with a day and two races to spare.

Scott now becomes one of only six sailors in the 60-year history of the Finn Worlds to claim a hat-trick of victories, with Ben Ainslie, whose Olympic title Scott is hoping to keep in British hands next year, the only man with more Gold Cup wins.

The 28-year-old Scott went into the penultimate day of racing on the Hauraki Gulf with an imposing 52-point lead, needing only one result within the top 18 from the day’s two races to secure an early victory.

Looking comfortable from the first gun, Scott’s second place in the first race of the day was enough to wrap up the win ahead of both the final fleet race and Sunday’s double-points medal race.

In spite of that fact, there was no let up from the Portland-based sailor, who posted another second place in Saturday’s second race to take an overwhelming 54-point lead over France’s Olympic bronze medallist Jonathan Lobert into the final day of competition.

“I have been really pleased with my year and the way I’ve been sailing,” Scott said modestly.

“The last couple of months have been tricky to manage because we’ve been testing these new boats that have just come out, so to be able to come here and show good form and win with a couple of races to go is great and I couldn’t really ask for more than that.

“I’ve sailed a good, consistent week and it’s come good early, which is great.”

“I was trying to stay risk-free where possible and fortunately the racing panned out in a manner that rewarded that,” continued Scott, who adds this 2015 Worlds victory to his successes in the 2011 and 2014 editions.

“I think that’s a trait of the Gold Cup with racing in such huge fleets. You can get it right by taking a lot of leverage but you can also get it massively wrong. The majority of the fleet showed that with some high scores there. Being able to stay away from that was key to the week.”

“Winning here wasn’t like the shock emotion I had at the Test Event where the points were so close. It was more of a gradual thing, but I’ll take winning in that manner every time. It’s certainly the way to win a Championship!”

Scott’s not only has his sights on Rio glory next year but also in making a further dent towards his America’s Cup boss Ainslie’s six-win Finn Gold Cup record.

“This event holds a huge amount of history and heritage to it and it’s certainly a regatta that everyone wants to win. To be lucky enough to win it three times is great. There’s another one before the Games next year so hopefully it’s not my last Gold Cup win!”

British Sailing Team Finn coach Matt Howard paid tribute to his charge, but as he and Scott both admit, they’re not a finished product yet.

“You get asked a lot about what sets these kind of people apart. For me, the biggest thing with Giles is that he’s just a very good learner. Ultimately how well you learn, how you move forward, how you get better and learn to sail the boat, pick up new techniques and learn from your mistakes, is what sets apart the great from the good.

“Giles is very, very good at learning. The work rate and the effort and commitment he puts in is second to none. We work extremely hard and we will continue to do so despite the extent of this victory here.”

“I’ve got a list of things for Giles to work on, but I couldn’t possibly share it this close to the Olympics!” Howard smiled.

Elsewhere, Ed Wright qualified for Sunday’s medal race in ninth place overall, while Ben Cornish narrowly missed out on the cut for the ten medal race spots. He’s in 13th overall with a final race for the non-medal race contenders planned on Sunday giving him and James Hadden, in 46th, one final chance to push up the standings.

The final day of racing on Sunday 29 November is scheduled to start from 1100hrs.

Overall

Rank	Flag	Nat	SailNo	Bow	Division	HelmName	Club	R1 24 Nov	R2 24 Nov	R3 25 Nov	R4 26 Nov	R5 26 Nov	R6 27 Nov	R7 27 Nov	R8 27 Nov	R9 28 Nov	R10 28 Nov	Total	Nett
1st		GBR	41	3		Giles Scott	WPNSA	5	3	1	8	4	4	(15)	2	3	2	47	32
2nd		FRA	112	12		Jonathan Lobert	SNO Nantes	(45)	5	19	5	19	14	18	3	1	1	130	85
3rd		NZL	16	20		Andrew Murdoch	TYPBC	1	7	17	(43)	37	9	6	9	5	3	137	94
4th		SWE	33	16		Max Salminen	GKSS	22	(24)	13	15	18	1	4	7	15	4	123	99
5th		SLO	73	9		Vasilij Zbogar	Burja Izola YC	19	6	7	(36)	17	6	9	15	7	14	136	100
6th		BRA	109	23		Jorge Zarif		24	20	8	(48)	13	17	11	8	4	10	163	115
7th		NED	842	10		Pieter-Jan Postma	Delta Lloyd	27	29	5	23	(34)	13	1	6	6	7	151	117
8th		FIN	218	24		Tapio Nirkko	EPS	11	11	(30)	6	3	16	17	26	18	20	158	128
9th		GBR	11	4		Edward Wright	Parkstone YC	4	13	10	10	(54)	26	14	21	9	24	185	131
10th		GRE	77	11		Ioannis Mitakis	YCG	3	27	2	33	(77 RET)	5	20	1	37	6	211	134
11th		EST	2	15		Deniss Karpak	SK Karpak Sailing Team	14	(42)	4	1	12	21	27	25	23	11	180	138
12th		USA	6	7		Caleb Paine	St Francis YC	8	21	9	20	14	22	23	14	(36)	12	179	143
13th		GBR	91	14		Ben Cornish	Exe SC	7	23	24	11	5	(77 BFD)	21	10	14	35	227	150
14th		NZL	24	5		Josh Junior	WBBC	29	9	14	(54)	40	2	12	4	21	22	207	153
15th		CRO	69	22		Milan Vujasinovic	JK Split	6	15	15	38	7	(39)	7	33	16	23	199	160
16th		FRA	17	42	J	Fabian Pic	SRR	13	36	25	2	1	8	40	(41)	31	16	213	172
17th		URU	301	44		Alejandro Jose Foglia	YCPE	2	38	21	(56)	44	11	2	19	8	27	228	172
18th		DEN	2	40		Jonas Hogh-Christensen	Royal Danish Yacht Club	23	30	20	9	30	28	3	16	19	(77 DNF)	255	178
19th		AUS	41	2	J	Jake Lilley	RQYS	(56)	2	45	18	36	37	16	5	17	8	240	184
20th		CRO	524	1		Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic	JK Labud Fantasica	10	10	16	(77 RET)	24	25	8	77 BFD	11	5	263	186
21st		NOR	1	19		Anders Pedersen	DSSF	21	4	(77 BFD)	13	39	3	24	23	29	34	267	190
22nd		AUS	261	6		Oliver Tweddell	Sandringham YC	17	12	39	14	8	7	(42)	18	38	39	234	192
23rd		HUN	40	21		Zsombor Berecz	MVM SE	15	40	3	(45)	29	24	41	11	13	21	242	197
24th		ITA	117	18		Giorgio Poggi	SVGDF	35	25	32	(39)	15	12	13	20	24	26	241	202
25th		CRO	52	47	J	Nenad Bugarin	YC Labud	20	(41)	23	24	2	35	38	22	20	19	244	203
26th		SWE	6	8		Bjorn Allansson	GKSS	43	1	12	(58)	23	46	22	13	22	25	265	207
27th		RUS	2	67		Aleksey Borisov		25	26	35	7	6	41	10	35	25	(49)	259	210
28th		ESP	17	38		Pablo Guitian Sarria	C.N.ELCANO	(50)	37	38	3	11	23	36	30	10	28	266	216
29th		ITA	146	13		Michele Paoletti	SVBG	12	34	(77 BFD)	22	20	33	28	29	26	13	294	217
30th		USA	4	80		Zach RAILEY		26	18	34	25	(43)	10	43	17	12	33	261	218
31st		CRO	1	56		Josip Olujic	JK Labud	18	(45)	31	41	16	36	5	12	43	17	264	219
32nd		RUS	57	28		Egor Terpigorev	CSP Hlebnikovo, Fantastica, CSKA VMF	36	16	29	21	33	32	30	28	(46)	9	280	234
33rd		CZE	5	30	J	Ondrej Teply	YCBrno	28	14	27	31	9	27	(46)	27	40	32	281	235
34th		TUR	21	32		Alican Kaynar	FenerbahAgeSK	(59)	31	6	49	38	15	34	32	2	31	297	238
35th		CAN	110	33		Martin Robitaille	CVL/RCYC	30	44	22	29	31	18	(47)	38	34	15	308	261
36th		ESP	2	26		Alex Muscat	Club Nautica Garraf	40	17	18	42	(52)	19	29	40	41	18	316	264
37th		EST	11	29		Lauri Väinsalu	ROPK/TREV2	33	(59)	28	16	10	38	31	36	33	42	326	267
38th		POL	17	17		Piotr Kula		38	19	(77 BFD)	17	22	29	32	34	32	45	345	268
39th		ITA	66	25		Enrico Voltolini		(48)	8	36	46	27	34	33	31	27	30	320	272
40th		RUS	6	31	J	Arkadiy Kistanov		9	43	33	35	25	(77 BFD)	25	39	30	36	352	275
41st		GER	259	34		Phillip Kasueske	VSaW	34	28	11	40	35	30	35	37	47	(52)	349	297
42nd		ITA	123	27		Filippo Baldassari	SVGDF	41	39	26	26	42	(48)	19	24	45	40	350	302
43rd		RUS	7	68		Vladimir Krutskikh	Fantastica	16	32	43	12	46	(55)	44	45	51	50	394	339
44th		ITA	147	53		Simone Ferrarese	Circola Vela Bari	37	51	40	(57)	21	42	37	42	44	29	400	343
45th		POR	5	37		Frederico Melo	Cncascais	32	35	41	52	64	20	39	(77 BFD)	28	38	426	349
46th		GBR	18	46		James Hadden	WPNSA	42	33	54	4	49	51	57	44	(60)	46	440	380
47th		CHN	1225	51		He Chen	Chinese YA	39	53	37	32	47	31	(54)	47	48	51	439	385
48th		CZE	1	55		Michael MAIER	YCR	52	55	44	30	(56)	40	49	48	50	37	461	405
49th		NZL	8	82		Matt COUTTS	MBBC	31	47	(77 BFD)	27	28	49	45	77 DNF	55	47	483	406
50th		DEN	24	54		Andre Hojen Cristiansen	SNV	47	52	42	19	(68)	52	61	53	56	48	498	430
51st		CAN	2	36	J	Kyle Martin	Royal Vancouver	58	49	53	47	48	45	52	(77 BFD)	39	41	509	432
52nd		CHN	1226	39		Lei Gong	Chinese YA	60	22	(77 BFD)	67	60	43	26	77 BFD	35	44	511	434
53rd		ARG	1	62	J	Fernando Sanjurjo	YC Argentina	44	48	52	(66)	58	44	56	43	42	57	510	444
54th		ESP	717	57		Victor Gorostegui	RCM Santander	53	46	55	(69)	26	50	51	54	57	54	515	446
55th		AUS	22	41	J	Joseph McMillan	WSC	54	56	56	28	(77 RET)	47	50	51	52	56	527	450
56th		NZL	111	60		Karl Purdie	WBBC	49	54	(59)	34	55	59	58	46	58	43	515	456
57th		NZL	21	58		Nik Burfoot	TBC	46	50	46	53	51	54	53	52	(61)	53	519	458
58th		AUS	26	43		Ian Mckillop	R. Prince Albert YC	(64)	60	47	51	32	56	62	49	59	58	538	474
59th		FIN	225	49		Mikael Hyrylainen	NJK	51	57	50	64	(77 RET)	53	55	50	49	60	566	489
60th		USA	11	35		Philip Toth	USSTS	62	61	51	55	50	57	48	55	54	(64)	557	493
61st		AUS	10	48		John Condie	Yarra Bay 16' Skiff SC	(68)	64	60	37	41	58	60	58	65	61	572	504
62nd		FIN	99	65		Jesse KYLANPAA	RPS	55	(67)	48	50	59	63	63	56	62	55	578	511
63rd		FRA	42	79		Brendan MCCARTY		66	(70)	49	59	45	60	66	61	68	63	607	537
64th		NZL	7	61		Bradley Douglas	WBC	57	63	63	65	66	61	59	57	53	(77 DNF)	621	544
65th		NZL	9	59		Rob Coutts	RAYC	70	58	(77 BFD)	61	53	64	65	59	63	59	629	552
66th		NZL	20	69		Chris Wells	NPC	61	62	57	68	61	62	65	60	(71)	65	632	561
67th		NZL	10	64		David Hoogenboom	WYC	67	(77 DNS)	61	44	63	68	68	62	67	62	639	562
68th		NZL	22	66		Dirch Andersen	WYC	69	69	65	62	57	65	(72)	65	64	68	656	584
69th		RUS	212	71		Lanfranko Cirillo	Fantastica	63	68	62	60	65	67	67	63	69	(77 DNF)	661	584
70th		NZL	19	83		Denis MOWBRAY	NPC	65	66	58	(70)	67	66	69	64	66	69	660	590
71st		NZL	265	72		Mike Pearson	CBYC	71	71	64	63	62	71	(74)	67	73	66	682	608
72nd		NZL	88	74		Gerard Lelieveld	WYC	(72)	65	66	72	69	69	70	68	70	70	691	619
73rd		NZL	23	73		Alan Dawson	WYC	74	72	67	73	70	72	71	66	(75)	67	707	632
74th		NZL	3	70		Ben Winters	CBYC	73	73	68	71	71	70	73	69	72	(77 DNF)	717	640
75th		NZL	193	87		Gerrit BEARDA	WYC	(77 DNF)	74	69	74	72	73	75	70	74	71	729	652
76th		NZL	2	63		Ray Hall	WBBC	(77 DNC)	77 DNC	77 DNC	77 DNC	77 DNC	77 DNC	77 DNC	77 DNC	77 DNC	77 DNC	770	693