NZL Sailing Team- Josh Junior wins Silver at 2015 Finn Europeans

by Jodie Bakewell-White, Yachting NZ on 19 May 2015 New Zealand’s Josh Junior has won silver at the 2015 Finn European Championships which concluded with an exciting medal race late Sunday in Split, Croatia.

After the penultimate day just two points separated NZL Sailing Team’s Josh Junior and local Croatian sailor Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic, with a wide points gap back to third, setting the scene for a dramatic final race battle between the two front runners.

Light winds kept the top ten ashore until late in the day and the medal race finally got underway just before the deadline with a 10 knot breeze.

“The title was between Kljakovic Gaspic and Junior,” says the official report. “Initially Junior had the upper hand, but then let the Croatian escape and when they came back together at the top, Kljakovic Gaspic had a very small lead that he capitalised on to cross in fourth to take the title. Junior finally crossed in eighth to take the silver.”

Split, Croatia provided a range of conditions across the six day regatta, and Junior sailed with consistency throughout. Three race wins and more top ten race finishes on his score-card over the opening five days put Junior in with a good shot at the overall title, however Kljakovic Gaspic, a local Croatian and three time Finn European Champion, had the better performance today.

This result cements what has been an excellent start to Junior’s 2015 European campaign. Gaining valuable top quality medal race experience he placed seventh at 2015 Princess Sofia Regatta in March, then eighth at ISAF Sailing World Cup Hyeres in April.

Hailing from Wellington’s Worser Bay Boating Club, Junior switched from the Laser class to the heavy-weight Finn during 2012, and one of his best previous results in the class was a fifth at the 2014 Finn World Championship.

Fellow kiwi Andrew Murdoch finished the regatta in 11th overall, narrowly missing out on the top ten, and today’s medal race.

Later this year the Finn class will contest their 2015 World Championship – known as the Finn Gold Cup – here in New Zealand with Takapuna Boating Club set to host the world’s best in the Olympic heavy-weight dinghy class.

The regatta runs from 22-29 November 2015.