ISAF Sailing World Cup Mallorca - Frenchman extends lead in Palma

by Robert Deaves on 2 Apr 2014 At the ISAF Sailing World Cup Mallorca, Thomas le Breton (FRA) extended his lead at the top of the Finn fleet after an impressive display on the second day in Palma. Tapio Nirkko (FIN) is in second with Deniss Karpak (EST) in third. Three sets of races were held after the fleet waited, first ashore and then afloat, for more than three hours for the wind to build.

When the wind finally arrived it kicked in at a solid 8-10 knots ad Oscar was raised at the first mark and more or less stayed up all day. The shifty winds kept the sailors busy all day with bands of wind up to 14 knots and down to six knots coming down the course area.

Thomas Le Breton (FRA) capitalised on a good start yesterday to place 6, 1, 1 to take a nine point lead at the top. Second placed Tapio Nirkko (FIN) won the opening race in his group before rounding up the day with a 9, 2. Denisss Karpak (EST) added two second places to his Monday's scores to sit in third, on equal points with Nirrko. Other race wins went to Jonathan Lobert (FRA), Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO) and Piotr Kula (POL).

Le Breton said, 'It was nice today I was going well in the shifts, and had good speed downwind for sure. I made a nice comeback in the last race after a bad start. In the second race I had a nice battle with Deniss, while in the first race I had a good start but I missed something and dropped back. It was not an easy day, but at least it was sailable.'

Le Breton is working on a training group that includes 2012 bronze medalist Lobert, 2012 Star Olympic gold medalist Max Salminen (SWE) and double Olympian Nirkko. 'I think we did a good job this winter, though it's only the beginning of the season so there's a long way to go. But it's great to start like this. We are quite confident with our speed.'

Greg Douglas (CAN), star of the 360 video, had a good day with a 2, 3, 9. He said, 'I stayed consistent on a day that was tough to stay consistent. There were some big shifts today and the key was keeping your head out of the boat and being able to do what you needed to do. That meant starting so you could tack when you needed to and keeping clear and free from the rest of the fleet. Upwind I definitely had some speed which allowed me to get punched and hit the shifts when I wanted to, and then going quick downwind and stay with the boys.'



Last race winner Piotr Kula (POL) rounded out an excellent day after a 4, 2 said 'I knew it was quite late in the afternoon so I was prepared for some big shifts. Not the shore shifts but the big ones so I was expecting for something big to happen and indeed it did. We had a big left hand shift on the first beat and I was on the right side. I mean I was on the left side, which is where you wanted to be and was first to the top mark. Then I pumped like crazy so I gained quite a big advantage over the fleet.'

However it wasn't quite in the bag yet as on the final downwind the wind dropped to 5-6 knots for a while. 'I was quite in front of everyone and I was thinking what to do because I was out of any wind and it was coming from behind, so I was expecting the fleet would catch me, But I used a little bit of one gust to take me to another one and I kept my place, though not the big lead. It was tricky and it's pretty tough to pump without any wind. You need to wait for the sail to go back with the expander and pump again. But it was a tough day in all.'

The Finn fleet is now split onto gold and silver fleet for the final three days before the medal race on Saturday. Forecasts are for a lot more wind later in the week.

Finn Results

	Sail Nr.	Bow Nr.	Boat Name	Crew	Club	Cat	Net Points	TotalPoints	1Q	2Q	3Q	4Q	5Q
1	FRA 29	30		Thomas le BRETON	SR BREST		5	11	2	1	6	1	1
2	FIN 218	44		Tapio NIRKKO	EPS		14	28	14	2	1	9	2
3	EST 2	8		Deniss KARPAK	Karpak Sailing Team		14	26	6	4	2	2	12
4	GBR 41	10		Giles SCOTT	WPNSA		16	23	5	3	3	5	7
5	CRO 524	21		Ivan KLJAKOVIC GASPIC	JK Labud		18	65	8	1	UFD	1	8
6	POL 17	13		Piotr KULA	GKZ GDANSK		18	33	11	15	4	2	1
7	CAN 5	32		Greg DOUGLAS	Royal Canadian Yacht Club		18	55	4	37	2	3	9
8	HUN 40	28		Zsombor BERECZ	MVM SE		18	30	2	12	6	6	4
9	GBR 85	2		Andrew MILLS	Queen Mary		21	38	1	4	3	13	17
10	SLO 573	97		Vasilij ZBOGAR	J.k.burja		21	31	5	7	5	10	4

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