ISAF Sailing World Cup Mallorca - Giles Scott retains Finn title

by Robert Deaves on 6 Apr 2014 Action continued today at the ISAF Sailing World Cup Mallorca as Giles Scott (GBR) retained the title he won last year after a drama filled medal race, but one that ultimately didn't change any of the podium positions. Thomas Le Breton (FRA) took the silver and Jonathan Lobert (FRA) the bronze.

With a forecast all day of an average wind speed of four knots, it was never going to be an easy day for sailors or organisers and with some early postponements, the amended schedule had to be amended again as everyone waited for the breeze. Eventually it arrived and racing commerced an just over an hour and a half later than originally scheduled in eight knots of wind. Race winner Andrew Mills (GBR) said, 'It was a classic Palma sea breeze day so the left was strong with pressure and potential left handers.'

Regatta leader Giles Scott GBR) had one thing on his mind today, and that was second placed Thomas le Breton (FRA). Only these two could take gold. With the committee boat end favoured Scott forced Le Breton down to the pin while Scott made a conservative start in the middle.

Meanwhile third placed Jonathan Lobert (FRA) had to defend his medal from Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (FRA) and Tapio Nirkko (FIN), though Nirkko had only an outside chance. Lobert's life was made easier when Kljakovic Gaspic was OCS out of the start, along with Deniss Karpak (EST) so as long as Nirkko didn't win with Lobert last, the bronze was his.

As with the previous medal races everyone headed left, most going all the way to the layline before coming back. At the first mark it was Mills, Piotr Kula (POL), Kljakovic Gaspic and and Ed Wright (GBR).The top three overall were back in sixth, eighth and ninth. It didn’t look there were going to any major upsets.

With Kljakovic Gaspic out, and the main threat to Lobert gone, the main interest for the rest of the race was whether le Breton could get four boats between himself and Scott to take the gold. Mills led down the right side on the first downwind and led round the gate from Kula while further back, Scott stuck close to le Breton. Mills pulled clear on the second and final beat while Scott slipped into last after picking up the first of two yellow flags.

At the final top mark it was still Mills, Kljakovic Gaspic, Kula and Karpak. Le Breton was up to seventh and Scott was at the back. As he tried to break away and gain two more boats on the final downwind the French sailor tried the left while most were on the right. Scott and Lobert followed at the back, and for a while Le Breton got tantalisingly close to getting enough boats between them, but as the fleet converged on the finish line, boats from the right passed ahead. Kula maintained second while Vasilij Žbogar (SLO) came in from the right in third and Wright came in from the left for fourth.

At one point Le Breton was just 10 metres and one boat away from the gold but got passed by two boats coming into the finish and ran out of track. In the end he finished just one boat ahead of Scott.

So Giles Scott takes the gold, Thomas Le Breton the silver and Jonathan Lobert the bronze.

Scott described the race, 'It was a starboard bias line with a left track. I did a good job on the start and up the first beat forcing him to the wrong end of the line. I covered him into the last upwind. I then got flagged which put him one place in front, I rounded the last upwind in ninth and Thomas in about seventh. I then received a second yellow, which was annoying to say the least. The OCSs didn't matter in the end as they were both in front of Thomas and I.'

'I was pleased with the way the race started but annoyed with the yellow.'

Mills said, 'I got a great start near the committee boat and led to the left and tackled almost on layline. From here I led throughout and always protected the left, both up and downwind.'

'To sum up my week, a few things didn't go my way and I didn't really perform as I should in the breeze but to keep plugging away and get the fourth is pleasing for a regatta that didn't go that smoothly for me. Also it was good to get that result in a fleet that has all the major players in it.'

The fleet now has a few weeks off before gathering again in Hyeres, France for the final leg of this year's ISAF sailing World Cup. Today's medal race, as all the races since Wednesday was tracked live through the ISAF website in both 2D and 3D. You can find the tracking here.

Finn

	Sail Nr.	Bow Nr.	Crew	Club	Net Points	TotalPoints	1Q	2Q	3Q	4Q	5Q	6F	7F	8F	9F	10M
1	GBR 41	10	Giles SCOTT	WPNSA	36	43	5	3	3	5	7	1	1	1	1	16
2	FRA 29	30	Thomas le BRETON	SR BREST	42	54	2	1	6	1	1	12	8	2	7	14
3	FRA 112	6	Jonathan LOBERT	SNO Nantes	50	63	3	10	1	9	13	3	9	3	2	10
4	GBR 85	2	Andrew MILLS	Queen Mary	62	80	1	4	3	13	17	11	18	6	5	2
5	POL 17	13	Piotr KULA	GKZ GDANSK	67	83	11	15	4	2	1	16	6	8	16	4
6	SLO 573	97	Vasilij ZBOGAR	J.k.burja	68	91	5	7	5	10	4	14	4	23	13	6
7	FIN 218	44	Tapio NIRKKO	EPS	69	94	14	2	1	9	2	21	25	5	3	12
8	GBR 11	23	Edward WRIGHT	Parkstone YC	74	121	8	UFD	8	3	5	4	5	29	4	8
9	CRO 524	21	Ivan KLJAKOVIC GASPIC	JK Labud	75	122	8	1	UFD	1	8	8	15	4	8	OCS
10	EST 2	8	Deniss KARPAK	Karpak Sailing Team	83	109	6	4	2	2	12	5	26	20	10	OCS
11	USA 6	5	Caleb PAINE	St. Francis YC	68	89	3	14	13	7	2	7	7	21	15
12	CAN 5	32	Greg DOUGLAS	Royal Canadian Yacht Club	72	109	4	37	2	3	9	10	16	17	11
13	HUN 40	28	Zsombor BERECZ	MVM SE	80	110	2	12	6	6	4	19	19	30	12
14	GRE 77	42	Ioannis MITAKIS	P.S.C	89	120	9	22	4	4	6	22	3	31	19
15	GBR 88	4	Mark ANDREWS	Largs S C	91	113	18	8	9	5	16	13	10	12	22
16	NZL 24	15	Josh JUNIOR	Worser Bay Boating Club	92	127	26	6	8	4	5	9	2	35	32
17	ITA 123	18	Filippo BALDASSARI	Svgdf	109	136	27	8	13	15	3	18	24	11	17
18	CRO 69	12	Milan VUJASINOVIC	Sailing Club Split	110	137	22	9	11	12	10	15	22	27	9
19	BRA 109	33	Jorge ZARIF	CBVELA	117	148	17	5	10	23	8	2	28	24	31
20	ITA 146	16	Michele PAOLETTI	Cc. Aniene	119	154	23	17	5	10	7	30	35	13	14

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