Finn Gold Cup - Impressive start for Australia’s Oliver Tweddell

by Craig Heydon on 27 Aug 2013 The 2013 Finn Gold Cup first day of racing got underway in Tallinn, Estonia. Australia’s Oliver Tweddell has made an impressive start, winning the opening race.

Tweddell got off to a good start in light winds, lead at the top mark and extended from then on, eventually winning the race by more than two minutes.

The Victorian was 22nd in race two to end the opening day fifth in the 86 boat fleet.

The results capped off a busy few days off the water for Tweddell who was forced to organise a charter boat for racing after issues with the Finn he had originally planned to use, finally getting it ready at 10pm the night before the regatta began.

'I had a great start to the regatta, winning the opening race by a big margin,' said Tweddell. 'After a tough few days on shore it was great to get out there in a different boat and still perform well given how stressful the lead up was.

'The conditions were light and shifty and we were racing very close to shore which made the going tough,' he said. 'It was tricky but I like light winds and seem to be OK in them at the moment. I’m looking forward to the rest of the week if it stays light like this.'

Brendan Casey finished the opening day in 23rd position, with the London 2012 Olympic Games representative 21st and 33rd from the first two races.

Joe McMillan is currently in 69th position following a 68th and a 59th, with Jake Lilley just behind in 72nd after a 57th and a 72nd.

While the light winds in Estonia made for a slow day on the water at the Finn Gold Cup, over in Ireland a complete lack of breeze led to the cancellation of the first day of the 2013 IFDS World Championship.

Australia has four crews entered in the event, with three in the single person 2.4mR, Matt Bugg, Neil Patterson and Mark Durnan, and one in the Sonar, Colin Harrison, Jonathan Harris and Russell Boaden.

'It was a disappointing start to the regatta with racing cancelled due to a lack of wind,' said Harrison. 'The Race Committee kept us on shore which saved everyone from a two hour tow to and from our race course. Tomorrow’s forecast is not looking much better but everyone is hoping.'

Rank		Sail No	Helm Name	R1	R2	Total	Nett
1		GBR85	Mills Andrew	60	30	90	90
2		GBR11	Wright Edward	50	50	100	100
3		NZL1	Coutts Matt	40	70	110	110
4		POL13	Jodlowski Michal	100	100	200	200
5		AUS261	Tweddell Oliver	10	220	230	230
6		FRA112	Lobert Jonathan	30	200	230	230
7		ITA146	Paoletti Michele	140	90	230	230
8		EST2	Karpak Deniss	80	170	250	250
9		TUR211	Basegmez Alican	120	140	260	260
10		HUN40	Berecz Zsombor	70	230	300	300
11		FRA29	Le Breton Thomas	170	160	330	330
12		ITA117	Poggi Giorgio	280	60	340	340
13		RUS1	Selivanov Alexey	310	40	350	350
14		EST11	Väinsalu Lauri	250	120	370	370
15		CZE1	Maier Michael	190	190	380	380
16		CRO69	Vujasinovic Milan	380	20	400	400
17		POL1	Wojewski Milosz	260	150	410	410
18		BRA9	Zarif Jorge	440	10	450	450
19		IRL4	Hamilton Ross	160	290	450	450
20		NED842	Postma Pieter Jan	20	450	470	470

Full results from the 2013 Finn Gold Cup can be found here.