Dan Slater - Leather medal at ISAF Palma World Cup - Finn class

by Dan Slater on 10 Apr 2011
NZL Sailing Team member, Dan Slater, reports from the ISAF Palma World Cup event in the Finn class.

Today we sailed the medal race in 8-10 knots and although I could gain third place overall I needed to get five boats between the Frenchman and myself.

I rounded the first mark in 5th one place behind the Frenchman who I needed to beat. Down the first run not much changed then on the second beat I lost a little and then gained it back but I was still behind on the final run to the finish. Down that run I tried to work to the left of the three boats in front to try and beat them to the gybe and in doing so lost 2 more boats to the finish so it really was not a great race.
Overall I still finished 4th and am happy with the way the regatta went. I still have lots of things to work on that will improve my performance.

The class is seeing some changes in rigs, sails and even boats as the guys who are doing development in these areas have already moved forward. This regatta saw some new rig concepts that showed they were faster and higher than the standard rigs which is a bit scary.

I would like to thank Hamish Wilcox for his help today as my coach for the medal race as I have been without a coach all week and his support was appreciated.

I will now go to Valencia for 10 days where we will do a bit of training with 5-6 other Finn sailors before the next World Cup in Hyeres France.

Dan
HIGH PERFORMANCE SAILING