Finn Gold Cup - Disappointment for Australian Sailing's Finn sailors

by Cora Zillich on 29 Nov 2015 2015 Finn Gold Cup - Australian Sailing’s Finn sailors Jake Lilley (QLD) and Oliver Tweddell (VIC) have finished the 2015 Finn Gold Cup, the Finn Class World Championship, in Takapuna, New Zealand ranked 19th and 22nd respectively.

Lilley and Tweddell, coached by US Olympic silver medallist John Bertrand, both missed out qualifying for the medal race after finishing outside of the top ten at the conclusion of yesterday’s (Saturday, 28 November) final day of fleet racing. Today’s final race scheduled for boats ranked outside the top ten was cancelled due to the lack of wind. Yesterday’s rankings stand as the final World Championship result.

Queenslander Jake Lilley made up for a week of average results by posting two top ten finishes over the last two days, which saw him climb up from 23rd into 19th on the last day and finish the event three spots ahead of his team mate Oliver Tweddell.

For both sailors it was not the result World number two Jake Lilley and World number six Oliver Tweddell had hoped for in the 75-boat fleet and consequently the disappointment was high.

“We’ve been having tricky conditions in Takapuna. Fortunately we had a bit more breeze yesterday, still a lot of shifts and with all the ups and downs we’ve had it’s been a really tough week of racing. I’ve had a really tough week, actually it’s been a bit of a nightmare,” a disappointed Jake Lilley said.

“Yesterday morning I woke up and was channelling a bit of Jimmy Spithill and Tom Slingsby and had to do some form of come back and try my best and move up on the overall results ladder. I got to 19th, which is still very disappointing and it has highlighted what we need to go away with and work on.”

“In the lead up we were sailing really well and were very happy with how things were going and had high expectations. 19th is not where we wanted to be and it was disappointing again that the final race didn’t happen with no additional chance for a comeback.”

Australian Sailing Squad’s Oliver Tweddell (VIC) had been leading over his teammate for most of the week and went into the final race day ranked 15th, but a 38th and 39th saw him drop down the ranks to finish the event in overall 22nd.

“Yesterday was a pretty rough day for me. I came into it in quite a decent position and within strike of the medal race and then just didn’t sail very well at all. I had two really deep races, which dropped me miles out of the leader board so it was a rough day,” Oliver Tweddell said self-critically.

“Up until then I was quite happy with my sailing. I made a couple of mistakes, which resulted in some deep races, but up until today I was quite happy and after that final day I’m obviously quite gutted.”

“That’s sailing unfortunately. It doesn’t always go your way. Very unfortunate too to miss that last race today with no opportunity to bounce back and to get myself into a decent position.”

Oliver Tweddell will contest the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Melbourne from next week (9 – 13 December 2015), while Jake Lilley will be heading to Rio de Janeiro for a training event.

Jake Lilley secured country qualification for the Finn class for Rio 2016 at last year’s ISAF Sailing World Championships in Santander, Spain. But who will be representing Australia in the class is yet to be decided with selection ongoing.

Racing at the Finn Gold Cup ran from Tuesday 24 to Sunday 29 November with ten races scheduled until Saturday 28 November and with a medal race and final race on Sunday 29 November.

Results 2015 Finn Gold Cup results (as of 29 November 2015)

- Oliver Tweddell (VIC/VIS/SYC/SSBC) – ASS: 17, 12, (39), 14, 8, 7, 42, 18, 38, 39 – 22nd
- Jake Lilley (QLD/QAS/RQYS) – ASS: 56, 2, 45, 18, 36, 37, 16, 5, 17, 8 – 19th

Other Australian, non AST/ASS entries:

- Joseph McMillan (WSC): 54, 56, 56, 28, 51, 32, 47, 50, 51, 52, 56 – 57th
- Ian McKillorp (PAYC): 64, 60, 47, 51, 32, 56, 62, 49, 59, 58 – 58th
- John Condie (Yarra Bay): 68, 64, 60, 37, 41, 58, 60, 58, 65, 61 – 61st

Other World Title Events

Meanwhile the 2015 Para World Sailing Championships (28 November – 3 December) kicked-off in Melbourne on Saturday, 28 November with Australian Sailing’s Paralympic class sailors taking to the waters out of the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria (RYCV) in Williamstown.

All five crews of Australian Sailing Team’s (AST) and Squad (ASS) Paralympic boat class sailors are contesting the event and are aiming to defend their 2014 Nation’s Cup win as the team prepares for the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games (7 – 18 September 2016).

Overall Results

Rank	Flag	Nat	SailNo	Bow	Fleet	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	Medal 29 Nov	Total	Nett
1st		GBR	41	3	Medal	O	Giles Scott	WPNSA	5	3	1	8	4	4	(15)	2	3	2	16	63	48
2nd		FRA	112	12	Medal	O	Jonathan Lobert	SNO Nantes	(45)	5	19	5	19	14	18	3	1	1	8	138	93
3rd		SLO	573	9	Medal	M	Vasilij Zbogar	Burja Izola YC	19	6	7	(36)	17	6	9	15	7	14	12	148	112
4th		NZL	16	20	Medal	O	Andrew Murdoch	TYPBC	1	7	17	(43)	37	9	6	9	5	3	18	155	112
5th		SWE	33	16	Medal	O	Max Salminen	GKSS	22	(24)	13	15	18	1	4	7	15	4	14	137	113
6th		NED	842	10	Medal	O	Pieter-Jan Postma	Delta Lloyd	27	29	5	23	(34)	13	1	6	6	7	2	153	119
7th		BRA	109	23	Medal	O	Jorge Zarif		24	20	8	(48)	13	17	11	8	4	10	10	173	125
8th		GBR	11	4	Medal	O	Edward Wright	Parkstone YC	4	13	10	10	(54)	26	14	21	9	24	4	189	135
9th		GRE	77	11	Medal	O	Ioannis Mitakis	YCG	3	27	2	33	(77 RET)	5	20	1	37	6	6	217	140
10th		FIN	218	24	Medal	O	Tapio Nirkko	EPS	11	11	(30)	6	3	16	17	26	18	20	20	178	148
11th		EST	2	15		O	Deniss Karpak	SK Karpak Sailing Team	14	(42)	4	1	12	21	27	25	23	11	0 -	180	138
12th		USA	6	7		O	Caleb Paine	St Francis YC	8	21	9	20	14	22	23	14	(36)	12	0 -	179	143
13th		GBR	91	14		O	Ben Cornish	Exe SC	7	23	24	11	5	(77 BFD)	21	10	14	35	0 -	227	150
14th		NZL	24	5		O	Josh Junior	WBBC	29	9	14	(54)	40	2	12	4	21	22	0 -	207	153
15th		CRO	69	22		O	Milan Vujasinovic	JK Split	6	15	15	38	7	(39)	7	33	16	23	0 -	199	160
16th		FRA	17	42		O	Fabian Pic	SRR	13	36	25	2	1	8	40	(41)	31	16	0 -	213	172
17th		URU	301	44		O	Alejandro Jose Foglia	YCPE	2	38	21	(56)	44	11	2	19	8	27	0 -	228	172
18th		DEN	2	40		O	Jonas Hogh-Christensen	Royal Danish Yacht Club	23	30	20	9	30	28	3	16	19	(77 DNF)	0 -	255	178
19th		AUS	41	2		J	Jake Lilley	RQYS	(56)	2	45	18	36	37	16	5	17	8	0 -	240	184
20th		CRO	524	1		O	Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic	JK Labud Fantasica	10	10	16	(77 RET)	24	25	8	77 BFD	11	5	0 -	263	186
21st		NOR	1	19		O	Anders Pedersen	DSSF	21	4	(77 BFD)	13	39	3	24	23	29	34	0 -	267	190
22nd		AUS	261	6		O	Oliver Tweddell	Sandringham YC	17	12	39	14	8	7	(42)	18	38	39	0 -	234	192
23rd		HUN	40	21		O	Zsombor Berecz	MVM SE	15	40	3	(45)	29	24	41	11	13	21	0 -	242	197
24th		ITA	117	18		O	Giorgio Poggi	SVGDF	35	25	32	(39)	15	12	13	20	24	26	0 -	241	202
25th		CRO	52	47		O	Nenad Bugarin	YC Labud	20	(41)	23	24	2	35	38	22	20	19	0 -	244	203
26th		SWE	6	8		O	Bjorn Allansson	GKSS	43	1	12	(58)	23	46	22	13	22	25	0 -	265	207
27th		RUS	2	67		O	Aleksey Borisov		25	26	35	7	6	41	10	35	25	(49)	0 -	259	210
28th		ESP	17	38		M	Pablo Guitian Sarria	C.N.ELCANO	(50)	37	38	3	11	23	36	30	10	28	0 -	266	216
29th		ITA	146	13		M	Michele Paoletti	SVBG	12	34	(77 BFD)	22	20	33	28	29	26	13	0 -	294	217
30th		USA	4	80		O	Zach Railey	St Francis YC	26	18	34	25	(43)	10	43	17	12	33	0 -	261	218
31st		CRO	1	56		O	Josip Olujic	JK Labud	18	(45)	31	41	16	36	5	12	43	17	0 -	264	219
32nd		RUS	57	28		O	Egor Terpigorev	CSP Hlebnikovo, Fantastica, CSKA VMF	36	16	29	21	33	32	30	28	(46)	9	0 -	280	234
33rd		CZE	5	30		J	Ondrej Teply	YCBrno	28	14	27	31	9	27	(46)	27	40	32	0 -	281	235
34th		TUR	21	32		O	Alican Kaynar	FenerbahAgeSK	(59)	31	6	49	38	15	34	32	2	31	0 -	297	238
35th		CAN	110	33		O	Martin Robitaille	CVL/RCYC	30	44	22	29	31	18	(47)	38	34	15	0 -	308	261
36th		ESP	2	26		O	Alex Muscat	Club Nautica Garraf	40	17	18	42	(52)	19	29	40	41	18	0 -	316	264
37th		EST	11	29		O	Lauri Väinsalu	ROPK/TREV2	33	(59)	28	16	10	38	31	36	33	42	0 -	326	267
38th		POL	17	17		O	Piotr Kula		38	19	(77 BFD)	17	22	29	32	34	32	45	0 -	345	268
39th		ITA	66	25		O	Enrico Voltolini		(48)	8	36	46	27	34	33	31	27	30	0 -	320	272
40th		RUS	6	31		J	Arkadiy Kistanov		9	43	33	35	25	(77 BFD)	25	39	30	36	0 -	352	275
41st		GER	259	34		J	Phillip Kasueske	VSaW	34	28	11	40	35	30	35	37	47	(52)	0 -	349	297
42nd		ITA	123	27		O	Filippo Baldassari	SVGDF	41	39	26	26	42	(48)	19	24	45	40	0 -	350	302
43rd		RUS	7	68		O	Vladimir Krutskikh	Fantastica	16	32	43	12	46	(55)	44	45	51	50	0 -	394	339
44th		ITA	147	53		O	Simone Ferrarese	Circola Vela Bari	37	51	40	(57)	21	42	37	42	44	29	0 -	400	343
45th		POR	5	37		O	Frederico Melo	Cncascais	32	35	41	52	64	20	39	(77 BFD)	28	38	0 -	426	349
46th		GBR	18	46		O	James Hadden	WPNSA	42	33	54	4	49	51	57	44	(60)	46	0 -	440	380
47th		CHN	1225	51		O	He Chen	Chinese YA	39	53	37	32	47	31	(54)	47	48	51	0 -	439	385
48th		CZE	1	55		O	Michael Maier	YCR	52	55	44	30	(56)	40	49	48	50	37	0 -	461	405
49th		NZL	8	82		O	Matt Coutts	MBBC	31	47	(77 BFD)	27	28	49	45	77 DNF	55	47	0 -	483	406
50th		DEN	24	54		J	Andre Hojen Cristiansen	SNV	47	52	42	19	(68)	52	61	53	56	48	0 -	498	430
51st		CAN	2	36		O	Kyle Martin	Royal Vancouver	58	49	53	47	48	45	52	(77 BFD)	39	41	0 -	509	432
52nd		CHN	1226	39		O	Lei Gong	Chinese YA	60	22	(77 BFD)	67	60	43	26	77 BFD	35	44	0 -	511	434
53rd		ARG	1	62		J	Santiago Falasca	YC Argentina	44	48	52	(66)	58	44	56	43	42	57	0 -	510	444
54th		ESP	717	57		O	Victor Gorostegui	RCM Santander	53	46	55	(69)	26	50	51	54	57	54	0 -	515	446
55th		AUS	22	41		J	Joseph McMillan	WSC	54	56	56	28	(77 RET)	47	50	51	52	56	0 -	527	450
56th		NZL	111	60		M	Karl Purdie	WBBC	49	54	(59)	34	55	59	58	46	58	43	0 -	515	456
57th		NZL	21	58		M	Nik Burfoot	TBC	46	50	46	53	51	54	53	52	(61)	53	0 -	519	458
58th		AUS	26	43		O	Ian Mckillop	R. Prince Albert YC	(64)	60	47	51	32	56	62	49	59	58	0 -	538	474
59th		FIN	225	49		O	Mikael Hyrylainen	NJK	51	57	50	64	(77 RET)	53	55	50	49	60	0 -	566	489
60th		USA	11	35		O	Philip Toth	USSTS	62	61	51	55	50	57	48	55	54	(64)	0 -	557	493
61st		AUS	10	48		GM	John Condie	Yarra Bay 16' Skiff SC	(68)	64	60	37	41	58	60	58	65	61	0 -	572	504
62nd		FIN	99	65		O	Jesse Kylanpaa	RPS	55	(67)	48	50	59	63	63	56	62	55	0 -	578	511
63rd		FRA	42	79		O	Brendan McCarty		66	(70)	49	59	45	60	66	61	68	63	0 -	607	537
64th		NZL	7	61		O	Bradley Douglas	WBC	57	63	63	65	66	61	59	57	53	(77 DNF)	0 -	621	544
65th		NZL	9	59		GGM	Rob Coutts	RAYC	70	58	(77 BFD)	61	53	64	65	59	63	59	0 -	629	552
66th		NZL	20	69		GM	Chris Wells	NPC	61	62	57	68	61	62	65	60	(71)	65	0 -	632	561
67th		NZL	10	64		GM	David Hoogenboom	WYC	67	(77 DNS)	61	44	63	68	68	62	67	62	0 -	639	562
68th		NZL	22	66		GM	Dirch Andersen	WYC	69	69	65	62	57	65	(72)	65	64	68	0 -	656	584
69th		RUS	212	71		GM	Lanfranko Cirillo	Fantastica	63	68	62	60	65	67	67	63	69	(77 DNF)	0 -	661	584
70th		NZL	19	83		GM	Denis MOWBRAY	NPC	65	66	58	(70)	67	66	69	64	66	69	0 -	660	590
71st		NZL	265	72		M	Mike Pearson	CBYC	71	71	64	63	62	71	(74)	67	73	66	0 -	682	608
72nd		NZL	88	74		M	Gerard Lelieveld	WYC	(72)	65	66	72	69	69	70	68	70	70	0 -	691	619
73rd		NZL	23	73		GGM	Alan Dawson	WYC	74	72	67	73	70	72	71	66	(75)	67	0 -	707	632
74th		NZL	3	70		L	Ben Winters	CBYC	73	73	68	71	71	70	73	69	72	(77 DNF)	0 -	717	640
75th		NZL	193	87		GGM	Gerrit BEARDA	WYC	(77 DNF)	74	69	74	72	73	75	70	74	71	0 -	729	652
76th		NZL	2	63		M	Ray Hall	WBBC	(77 DNC)	77 DNC	77 DNC	77 DNC	77 DNC	77 DNC	77 DNC	77 DNC	77 DNC	77 DNC	0 -	770	693