Finn World Masters - Gunther in top ten

by Robert Deaves on 25 May 2010 2010 Finn World Masters in Split, Croatia. With the sea breeze providing great sailing conditions, after two races the Italian National Secretary Marco Buglielli and the big Czech Michael Maier share the points lead.

The two sailors took a first and a second each while other race wins went to local favourite Luksa Cicarelli (CRO) and Peter Mosny (SVK).

The 2010 Finn World Masters was official opened on Sunday evening outside YC Labud. After registration was complete the entry stood at 167 from 25 nations. Following presentations by Ivan Kuret, president of Organising
Committee and Mario Negotic, head of the sports department of the City of Split, Fons van Gent, the Finn Masters President officially opened the championship. Earlier, Attila Szilvassy (HUN) had won the practice race in light to moderate conditions.

Monday started with a short postponement to allow the sea breeze time to build, and the first races got underway at 13.00 in 8-10 knots of breeze.

Luksa Cicarelli (CRO), who has been practising in the waters off Split for months, realised the reward for all his hard work with a win in race one in the RED group. Rounding the top mark in eighth place he gradually climbed through the fleet to take the lead on the final leg. Alan Tucker (RSA) led for the majority of the race but finally crossed in fifth. Lars Hall (DEN) placed second with David Potter (GBR) in third.

In the BLUE group, Maier, the 2006 World Masters Champion, led at every mark to win the opening race. Buglielli placed second, knocking Michael Gubi (AUR) into third place on the final leg.

The wind had increased for the second race with Oscar flag flying at the start for free pumping downwind. Both fleets got away first time, though by the time the fleets had got to the first mark, the wind had decreased causing Romeo to be displayed.

BLUE fleet was led at every mark by Buglielli. Behind him Maier, Gubi, Budzien and Burrell chased hard but Buglielli held on to the lead to win. Maier, who rounded the first mark in fourth came through to second by the finish, while Allen Burrell (GBR) placed third.

It was a similar picture in the RED fleet. Though Christoph Christen (SUI) led round the top mark, it was Peter Mosny (SBK) who took the lead on the first downwind to lead throughout. He was followed over the line by Geza Huszar (HUN) and Christen.

Interestingly, in addition to Maier, two of the other main favourites were also in BLUE group today. Allen Burrell (GBR) placed 11th and third to end up seventh overnight while defending champion André Budzien (GER) struggled
to catch the leading group in each race and opened his series with a seventh and fifth to sit in sixth place overall.

Buglielli is a member of Anzio YC in Rome and has raced Finns for 18 years. This is his third World Masters. Maier meanwhile is a seasoned professional with 18 Gold Cups and four Olympics behind him. Buglielli also leads the
Grand Masters fleet, while Alan Tucker leads the Grand Grand Masters.

Richard Hart (GBR) - runner-up Legend last year - leads the Legends category with placings of 40th and 37th on day one. There are 15 Legends competing in Split this year.

So after day one, Marco Buglielli and Michael Maier are both on three points with a four point lead over Michael Gubi, and six points over David Potter. Two more races in groups are scheduled for each day until Friday 28th May.

Results after two races

1 ITA 2 Marco Buglielli, 47, GM(50-59) 3.0 2 1
2 CZE 1 Michael Maier, 2, M(40-49) 3.0 1 2
3 AUT 7 Michael Gubi, 91, GM(50-59) 7.0 3 4
4 GBR 65 David Potter, 54, M(40-49) 9.0 3 6
5 DEN 6 Lars Hall, 128, GM(50-59) 10.0 2 8
6 GER 711 Andre Budzien, 168, M(40-49) 12.0 7 5
7 GBR 2 Allen Burrell, 83, M(40-49) 14.0 11 3
8 RSA 540 Alan Tucker, 81, GGM(60-69) 16.0 5 11
8 CRO 6 Armano Zekan, 147, M(40-49) 16.0 5 11
10 AUS 3 Jake Gunther, 97, GM(50-59) 18.0 12 6
11 NED 2 Wouter Molenaar, 41, GGM(60-69) 18.0 8 10
12 GBR 665 Julian Smith, 127, M(40-49) 19.0 6 13
13 NED 29 Bas de Waal, 69, M(40-49) 22.0 10 12
14 ITA 4 Francesco Faggiani, 50, M(40-49) 25.0 9 16
15 RUS 41 Felix Denikaev, 112, M(40-49) 25.0 12 13
16 SVK 1 Peter Mosny, 71, M(40-49) 28.0 27 1
17 HUN 211 Attila Szilvassy, 84, M(40-49) 28.0 23 5
18 ITA 5 Francesco Cinque, 37, GM(50-59) 29.0 25 4
19 SUI 12 Franz Buergi, 143, M(40-49) 29.0 20 9
20 HUN 5 Zsombor Majthenyi, 67, M(40-49) 29.0 14 15

Event website: www.jklabud.hr/finn-world-masters-2010
Results: www.jklabud.hr/finn-world-masters-2010/results

Class website: www.finnclass.org