Delta Lloyd Regatta Finns - Down to three but who will win?

by Robert Deaves on 29 May 2011 The Delta Lloyd Regatta Finn competitors had a no-race day for the second time this week.

Standings from day four will now determine who goes into the medal race. European Champion Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO) will take a three point lead over World Champion Ed Wright (GBR) and a nine point lead over Brendan Casey (AUS) into the medal race.

Only these three can win the regatta, but positions down to sixth could steal a podium place.

The weather didn't improve much for day five with stiff 17 to 20 knots winds early in the day, before rising to more than 30 leading to a postponement and eventual abandonment for the day.

So far this week it has largely been a battle between Ed Wright and Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic. Brendan Casey could easily spoil their day though, just nine points back. He has a 16 points lead over fourth placed Gasper Vincec (SLO), so it would need a major upset to change the medal winners, though the colour each will get is the biggest question
Some new names also appear in medal race with Greg Douglas (CAN) sailing his first Finn medal race in ninth, while Piotr Kula (POL) has had an excellent week so far to start the final day in sixth place overall.

One sailor who perhaps, could have, should have been in the medal race but for two black flags was Dan Slater (NZL), who has had four top 10 placings including one race win in his new boat. He described the key to his results, 'If you are able to have options up the first beat then you can sail the shifts, but so often it's easy to get blocked by other boats and have no options.' How important was it for him to do well here? 'It's really just peace of mind as with two black flags I knew making the top 10 wouldn't be easy.'

The Finn medal race is scheduled to be second in the running order for Sunday, with a start at 9.40. Follow it live online at the Delta Lloyd Regatta TV website

Results after six races:

Results - FINN

Rank	Country	Sail Nr	Start Nr	Helmsman	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Points
1	CRO	524	1	Ivan Kljakovic Ga	1	2	2	9	1	3	9
2	GBR	11	5	Edward Wright	2	1	4	1	4	4	12
3	AUS	1	20	Brendan Casey	6	4	34	3	3	2	18
4	SLO	5	16	Gasper Vincec	3	13	6	4	14	8	34
5	SLO	573	15	Vasilij Zbogar	5	12	1	6	BFD	12	36
6	POL	17	19	Piotr Kula	7	14	35	2	7	6	36
7	NED	842	14	Pieter-Jan Postma	10	5	17	11	2	13	41
8	CRO	25	6	Marin Misura	8	10	18	5	8	15	46
9	CAN	5	64	Greg Douglas	4	6	12	8	40	18	48
10	POL	7	75	Rafal Szukiel	12	19	7	7	18	11	55
11	USA	619	68	Caleb Paine	42	11	5	13	5	35	69
12	CZE	1	41	Michael Maier	14	7	26	18	16	21	76
13	AUS	2	32	Rob McMilllan	21	18	22	33	10	7	78
14	BRA	109	39	Jorge Zarif	15	27	11	14	25	17	82
15	NZL	1	10	Dan Slater	BFD	3	3	BFD	9	1	83
16	CHN	8	36	Cheng Cheng Kong	25	20	33	24	6	10	85
17	UKR	1	51	Oleksiy Borysov	32	8	28	21	11	22	90
18	UKR	5	33	Gusenko Andrrii	9	30	36	17	15	19	90
19	NED	83	35	Timo Hagoort	17	23	24	BFD	22	5	91
20	AUS	235	26	Timothy Castles	16	24	15	16	20	29	91
21	CHN	1	25	Zhang Peng	13	22	55	10	17	30	92
22	CZE	52	34	Tomas Vika	11	17	21	22	24	25	95
23	TUR	211	42	Ali Kemal Tufekci	26	21	14	BFD	28	9	98
24	POL	1	71	Jakub Dumara	DNF	37	10	27	12	14	100
25	NED	841	55	Hein van Egmond	20	16	40	28	13	33	110
26	CHN	42	38	Ai Ming Cheng	18	34	13	32	31	24	118
27	CHN	6	24	Gong Lei	19	31	53	34	19	16	119
28	EST	11	47	Lauri Vainsalu	29	38	30	15	29	20	123
29	AUS	261	29	Oliver Tweddell	54	9	8	BFD	27	26	124
30	TUR	21	43	Alican Kaynar	24	15	25	39	26	34	124
31	CAN	110	63	Martin Robitaille	46	25	32	25	23	23	128
32	TUR	7	46	Akif Muslubas	31	42	9	29	33	36	138
33	CHN	43	37	Li Zhen	40	39	16	12	45	32	139
34	HUN	6	28	Gaszton Pal	27	32	59	26	21	37	143
35	GER	64	44	Lennart Luttkus	23	28	27	30	38	40	146
36	DEN	46	50	Kaspar Andresen	22	33	42	31	30	31	147
37	NED	787	76	Nanno Schuttrups	45	48	23	19	35	38	160
38	USA	21	48	Gordon Lamphere	30	41	19	35	41	46	166
39	HUN	8	22	Marton Beliczay	38	36	44	23	44	27	168
40	AUS	11	30	Shaun Wells	28	44	20	36	46	47	174
41	IRL	4	31	Ross Hamilton	34	26	45	42	34	39	175
42	CAN	26	65	Paul Brikis	35	29	54	DNF	39	28	185
43	NED	29	72	Bas De Waal	33	35	29	40	DNF	48	185
44	NED	909	59	Simeon Tienpont	39	40	37	45	32	DNF	193
45	NED	7	73	Cees Scheurwater	51	51	48	20	43	45	207
46	GBR	18	23	James Hadden	47	47	41	49	37	42	214
47	HUN	10	61	Richard Hirschler	37	50	49	44	49	41	220
48	GRE	41	54	Panagiotis Kotsovos	43	43	56	37	DNF	43	222
49	NED	54	69	Joos Bos	50	46	38	47	42	DNF	223
50	DEN	262	49	Bo Teglers	36	45	61	48	53	44	226
51	BUL	855	74	Dimitar Vangelov	41	53	64	38	50	50	232
52	GER	501	45	Fabian Lemmel	48	49	43	41	54	53	234
53	GRE	71	53	Panagiotis Davourlis	52	54	31	BFD	51	49	237
54	GER	129	70	Walter Siemers	55	57	39	43	52	52	241
55	NED	724	58	Stefan Marechal	49	52	52	BFD	48	51	252
56	NED	50	67	Jan Zetzema	53	56	50	52	DNF	DNF	278
57	NED	835	27	Jaap Goede	DNF	DNF	51	55	55	54	282
58	NED	22	21	Peter Hubregtsen	DNF	DNF	57	51	47	DNF	289
59	NED	8	60	Rodrick Casander	DNF	DNF	46	46	DNF	DNF	293
60	USA	81	40	Joshua Revkin	44	55	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	300
61	NED	100	77	Arend van der Sluis	DNF	DNF	47	53	DNC	DNF	301
62	SVK	15	52	Slavomir Sopuch	DPI	DNF	63	50	DNF	DNF	314
63	NED	110	56	Diederik Sarels van Rijn	DNF	DNF	58	57	DNC	DNF	316
64	NED	941	57	Pim Mommersteeg	DNF	DNF	62	54	DNC	DNF	317
65	USA	56	62	Charles Heimler	DNF	DNF	65	56	DNF	DNF	322
66	USA	74	66	Henry Sprague	DNF	DNF	60	DNF	DNF	DNF	328

Delta Lloyd Regatta website