Finn Silver Cup - No racing as big winds hit Hoorn

by Robert Deaves on 10 Jul 2014

2014 Finn Silver Cup, Day 4 Robert Deaves/Finn Class http://www.finnclass.org

No racing was possible on day four at the Finn Silver Cup in Hoorn as strong winds caused the abandonment of all racing. The fleet was sent out on time for the scheduled start at 12.00 but it soon became apparent that the wind was above sensible limits with many boats capsizing in the fierce gusts. After one postponement the race officer abandoned racing as the wind hit 31 knots and sent the fleet back to the harbour, where racing was eventually abandoned for the day later in the afternoon after the wind refused to moderate.

However the sailor's enjoyed the brief sail with a long taxing beat back to the club through some steep, short waves, as the photos show.

2014 Finn Silver Cup, Day 4 © Robert Deaves/Finn Class http://www.finnclass.org

The 2012 Junior World Champion, Martin Robitaille (CAN) reflected on his week so far. He is one of three Canadians here this week. 'We are three junior Canadians training together. We had some awesome training this spring. Two of the guys have only joined this year and they have made huge improvements and I'm really glad to be there to give them some advice on the Finn, but so far I'm pretty happy for them where they are. I have been having a bit of a hard time here this week. I'm still in the fight, so I just need more races, but I can't force it.'

'Kyle Martin (CAN) and Riley Finch (CAN) are still in High School, but they are both showing great potential. They are not going that quick here. I have been able to adapt better, but in training they are both a similar speed to me. They are both from the Laser, just 19 and 20, so both young, but still very big. We eat well in Canada.'

2014 Finn Silver Cup, Day 4 © Robert Deaves/Finn Class http://www.finnclass.org

This is Robitaille's last year as a Junior. 'Santander is coming up and some training probably in Valencia at the Dinghy Academy. I have made some huge improvements over the few months so the fight for Rio is going to be tight, but I just need to do some more racing I think. That's why I am happy to comeback to Europe and to train with more Finn sailors. I've already been in Valencia at the Dinghy Academy with Luca Devoti. Luca is great. He has a really good gig going for all the athletes. I have a lot of gratitude for what he does for all the athletes. It's really good.'

Coming to Hoorn, did he expect to regain the Junior World title he won two years ago. 'Yes, I believed I could. But I just had a hard start here. I can't change the past so right now I'm just looking to get the most, best races I can until the end of the event. Who knows what will happen. I broke my boom today, so it can be about things you can't control.'

2014 Finn Silver Cup, Day 4 © Robert Deaves/Finn Class http://www.finnclass.org

On the decision to abandon, 'I think it was a good decision. We are all Juniors we are all under very limited budget, so if we break a mast it's very hard for us to recover from that. I capsized today and I touched the ground. My mast was only five feet under the water. And I was walking beside my boat. So it was definitely the right decision.'

In the evening the sailors enjoyed the 'Captain's dinner' at the WSV Hoorn clubhouse attended by many local dignitaries including Cees Baas, Chairman of WSV Hoorn, Elvira Sweet of Provincie Noord Holland, Rob Franken of Watersportverbond (Royal Dutch Yachting Federation) and Ben Tap of Gemeente Hoorn, who expressed their pleasure at welcoming the young Finn sailors to Hoorn and how important it was to inspire the local youth to take up sailing to hold events of this nature.

While the forecast seems to be changing hourly, Thursday's weather is predicted to be a return to summer, with light winds and high temperatures in Hoorn. In a change to the schedule again, three races are planned from 11.00. The Finn Silver Cup will conclude on Friday 11 July.

2014 Finn Silver Cup, Day 4 © Robert Deaves/Finn Class http://www.finnclass.org

Results Finn
Scores take into account 1 discard

No	Sailno	Name	Scores	1	2	3	4	5	6
1	NOR 1	Anders Pedersen, Male	8,0	1	2	(22)	1	2	2
2	RUS 6	Arkadiy Kistanov, Male	10,0	2	(4)	4	2	1	1
3	CRO 52	Nenad Bugarin, Male	33,0	4	5	7	4	(13)	13
4	POL 16	Mikolaj Lahn, Male	35,0	15	1	(17)	11	4	4
5	DEN 5	Jacob Stachelhaus, Male	39,0	9	7	8	(14)	6	9
6	CAN 110	Martin Robitaille, Male	40,0	5	15	(bfd)	3	5	12
7	GBR 29	Peter McCoy, Male	40,0	10	13	6	8	(14)	3
8	CAN 2	Kyle Martin, Male	46,0	8	(19)	10	12	8	8
9	CZE 5	Ondrej Teply, Male	49,0	12	23	(24)	5	3	6
10	POL 111	Jakub Marciniak, Male	52,0	3	12	(18)	13	9	15
11	ARG 1	Santiago Falasca, Male	55,0	14	11	12	(16)	11	7
12	GER 259	Philip Kasueske, Male	56,0	7	16	16	7	(dsq)	10
13	DEN 31	Stig Steinfurth, Male	58,0	11	9	(19)	10	12	16
14	GER 595	Simon Gorgels, Male	59,0	6	8	(21)	21	7	17
15	ITA 214	Riccardo Bevilacqua, Male	59,0	17	6	(ret)	15	10	11
16	NED 972	Tobias Kirschbaum, Male	67,0	13	10	13	(18)	17	14
17	FRA 177	Pic Fabian, Male	69,0	19	3	(bfd)	9	dns	5
18	RUS 28	Artur Kotlyarov, Male	79,0	18	(32)	5	22	16	18
19	RUS 7	Anatoly Korshikov, Male	85,0	20	17	23	6	19	(ocs)
20	BUL 8	Dimitar Vangelov, Male	88,0	(24)	18	1	24	23	22
21	ITA 83	Matteo Savio, Male	90,0	22	20	14	(26)	15	19
22	AUS 22	Joe McMillian, Male	91,0	16	14	(25)	20	21	20
23	NED 963	Michael Kamp, Male	97,0	(27)	26	2	25	18	26
24	RUS 27	Denis Kotlyarov, Male	97,0	21	(29)	9	17	22	28
25	GBR 28	Jack Arnell, Male	111,0	25	22	20	23	(ret)	21
26	HUN 11	Elemer Peter Haidekker, Male	113,0	(29)	25	11	27	26	24
27	CAN 99	Riley Finch, Male	116,0	23	21	28	19	25	(30)
28	POL 22	Jeremi Zimny, Male	117,0	26	27	15	(31)	20	29
29	NOR 5	Lars Johan Brodtkorb, Male	121,0	28	24	3	(dnf)	dns	dns
30	POL 7	Matthew Kobylinski, Male	133,0	(31)	31	27	28	24	23
31	ESP 117	Carlos Ordonez, Male	138,0	(30)	28	26	30	27	27
32	ITA 53	Leoplod Starke, Male	144,0	32	30	(bfd)	29	28	25