Finn Gold Cup - Mills extends lead in tricky day 2 conditions + Video

by Robert Deaves on 28 Aug 2013 On day two of the Finn Gold Cup in Tallinn, Estonia, Andrew Mills (GBR) has extended his lead after winning the second race of the day. Zsombor Berecz (HUN) moves up to second with Michele Palette (ITA) now in third. The first race of the day was won by Pieter-Jan Postma (NED).

In conditions very similar to Monday's races the fleet was again held on shore for two hours for the wind to build. The wind turned up again, but was still not more than 7-8 knots at any time and still very unpredictable, causing a string of high scores throughout the fleet. The results make for interesting reading with a huge number of different names near the top, with many of the favourites struggling down to mid-fleet.

Race three got under way after two general recalls. Starting right at the pin end and tacking straight across to the right side if the course. Pieter-Jan Postma ((NED) controlled race three from start to finish. He rounded the top mark ahead of Josh Junior (NZL) and Jonathan Lobert (FRA) and these positions remained the same throughout. Junior made some gains on the second upwind with Postma tacking right on top of him as they approached the top mark. However, Postma extended downwind to win from Junior and Lobert. Mark Andrews (GBR) recovered from the teens at the first mark to cross the line in fourth.

Regatta leader, Andrew Mills (GBR)) crossed in 15th after rounding the first mark well placed, as he slipped back slightly. However in the second race, he made amends, starting near the pin and tacking across to the right to lead at each mark for the whole race. He rounded the top mark ahead of Michal Jodlowski (POL) and Milan Vujasinovic (CRO). Many of the overall leaders were deep in the fleet again.

As Mills maintained his lead throughout Vujasinovic moved up to second at the downwind gate. Jodlowski was back in second at the final top mark and held it to the finish, only to find out he was one of seven boats black flagged at the start. So Vujasinovic picked up the second place with Jorge Zarif (BRA) had a great last leg to move up to third.

The list of black flagged starters also showed that Bruno Prada (BRA) had picked up his second black flag of the day.

Postma described his day, 'Before the start, the wind shifted a little bit left and so I went to the left side of the line and I won that side, and then I could take the shift and I was leading straight away. The fourth race was not a good race for me. Again the wind shifted left at the start but farther than the whole day so I started on the right side and I thought it would shift back but it only shifted more left so I was taking the long way and had a bad race.'

Junior scored a 2, 11 today and moved up to 15th overall. He said, 'Another glamour day with five knots and the shifts continued, but instead of the right paying like yesterday, the left paid. I was pretty lucky and found myself out on the left and managed to get a second in the first race and a 12th in the second, so I'm pretty happy. It's plenty tricky and it's really hard to predict what's going to happen as you can't really see the pressure, so all you can do is get a good start and play the percentages and work your way up.'

Mills said, 'Another tricky day. It was just about trying to get two consistent races, maybe top 10s. Light winds is not traditionally what I am good at but I seem to be doing OK here. But it's a long way to go, with seven races left.'

'The last race was tight, with a black flag and a lot of people pushing the line at the pin. I lined up with a few seconds to go and was perfectly covered and found a wave to surf out of the line. I hit that perfectly. From there I was well punched, tacked on the shifts and got a decent bit ahead. From there it was just sailing, as I was confident I was in the top two from five minutes out.'

After an indifferent Monday, Greg Douglas (CAN) had a better Tuesday with a 8, 13 to move up to 13th overall. He said, 'It was another lovely summer day in Estonia with a light, tricky breeze which made for some interesting racing. As always the boys were eager to get off the line so we had a few recalls which made for a slow start but we got away and had two great races.'

'Being consistent and keeping your head out of the boat really paid. There was more wind in the second race which stretched the fleet out a bit more, which was nice so the marks were less crowded and made the racing easier and more spread.

The man who brought the Finn Gold Cup to Estonia two weeks ago now finds himself 17 points clear at the top of the leader-board after four races. He is not taking anything for granted but in this high scoring regatta most of his main rivals have already collected two high scores. The forecast is for more of the same conditions in the coming days.

Racing continues at 12.00 on Wednesday. The opening series of ten races will be followed by the medal race for the top ten and the final race for the rest on Saturday, 31 August..

Kalev Yacht Club 23rd August to 31st August 2013, Estonia

Results as of 19:26 on August 27, 2013

Overall

Sailed: 4, Discards: 0, To count: 4, Entries: 86, Scoring system: Appendix A

Rank	SailNo	HelmName	HelmAgeGroup	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	Nett
1	GBR85	Mills Andrew		6.0	3.0	15.0	1.0	25.0	25.0
2	HUN40	Berecz Zsombor		7.0	23.0	7.0	5.0	42.0	42.0
3	ITA146	Paoletti Michele		14.0	9.0	11.0	8.0	42.0	42.0
4	CRO69	Vujasinovic Milan		38.0	2.0	5.0	2.0	47.0	47.0
5	FRA112	Lobert Jonathan		3.0	20.0	3.0	26.0	52.0	52.0
6	ITA117	Poggi Giorgio		28.0	6.0	18.0	6.0	58.0	58.0
7	GBR11	Wright Edward		5.0	5.0	28.0	21.0	59.0	59.0
8	EST2	Karpak Deniss		8.0	17.0	6.0	28.0	59.0	59.0
9	AUS261	Tweddell Oliver		1.0	22.0	9.0	33.0	65.0	65.0
10	BRA9	Zarif Jorge	Junior	44.0	1.0	24.0	3.0	72.0	72.0
11	EST11	Väinsalu Lauri		25.0	12.0	20.0	20.0	77.0	77.0
12	CZE1	Maier Michael		19.0	19.0	21.0	18.0	77.0	77.0
13	CAN5	Douglas Greg		29.0	32.0	8.0	13.0	82.0	82.0
14	NED842	Postma Pieter Jan		2.0	45.0	1.0	36.0	84.0	84.0
15	NZL24	Junior Josh		33.0	38.0	2.0	11.0	84.0	84.0
16	SLO573	Zbogar Vasilij		22.0	41.0	14.0	7.0	84.0	84.0
17	CRO524	Kljakovic-Gaspic Ivan		49.0	8.0	22.0	10.0	89.0	89.0
18	NZL1	Coutts Matt		4.0	7.0	43.0	37.0	91.0	91.0
19	POL17	Kula Piotr		13.0	39.0	38.0	12.0	102.0	102.0
20	FRA29	Le Breton Thomas		17.0	16.0	44.0	25.0	102.0	102.0
21	ESP7	Muscat Alejandro		37.0	18.0	26.0	24.0	105.0	105.0
22	TUR211	Basegmez Alican		12.0	14.0	32.0	49.0	107.0	107.0
23	NZL16	Murdoch Andrew		35.0	21.0	35.0	16.0	107.0	107.0
24	SLO5	Vincec Gasper		60.0	25.0	10.0	19.0	114.0	114.0
25	GRE77	Mitakis Ioannis		23.0	71.0	19.0	9.0	122.0	122.0
26	GBR88	Andrews Mark		56.0	50.0	4.0	14.0	124.0	124.0
27	RUS6	Kistanov Arkadiy	Junior	46.0	11.0	30.0	42.0	129.0	129.0
28	TUR21	Kaynar Alican		34.0	27.0	45.0	23.0	129.0	129.0
29	SWE6	Allansson Björn		15.0	67.0	12.0	39.0	133.0	133.0
30	RUS1	Selivanov Alexey		31.0	4.0	61.0	41.0	137.0	137.0
31	NED83	Hagoort Timo		69.0	36.0	33.0	4.0	142.0	142.0
32	USA6	Paine Caleb		63.0	40.0	13.0	29.0	145.0	145.0
33	CZE85	Vika Tomas		20.0	53.0	59.0	17.0	149.0	149.0
34	UKR5	Gusenko Andrii		32.0	24.0	40.0	53.0	149.0	149.0
35	AUS1	Casey Brendan		21.0	33.0	48.0	48.0	150.0	150.0
36	ESP161	Fernandez Vasco Miguel		9.0	48.0	51.0	45.0	153.0	153.0
37	IRL4	Hamilton Ross		16.0	29.0	47.0	61.0	153.0	153.0
38	USA21	Lamphere Gordon		39.0	49.0	29.0	38.0	155.0	155.0
39	ITA213	De Luca Umberto	Junior	58.0	51.0	34.0	15.0	158.0	158.0
40	ESP669	Guitian Sarria Pablo		11.0	55.0	53.0	40.0	159.0	159.0
41	RUS57	Terpigorev Egor		41.0	34.0	25.0	60.0	160.0	160.0
42	POL13	Jodlowski Michal		10.0	10.0	54.0	87.0 BFD	161.0	161.0
43	ITA123	Baldassari Filippo		24.0	28.0	27.0	87.0 RET	166.0	166.0
44	ITA66	Voltolini Enrico		45.0	26.0	49.0	47.0	167.0	167.0
45	GBR29	Mccoy Peter	Junior	55.0	44.0	42.0	27.0	168.0	168.0
46	ITA214	Bevilacqua Riccardo	Junior	42.0	13.0	31.0	87.0 RET	173.0	173.0
47	SWE33	Salminen Max		36.0	70.0	23.0	51.0	180.0	180.0
48	AUS41	Lilley Jake	Junior	57.0	72.0	17.0	35.0	181.0	181.0
49	FIN218	Nirkko Tapio		30.0	31.0	36.0	87.0 DSQ	184.0	184.0
50	RUS9	Skornyakov Eduard		50.0	30.0	62.0	43.0	185.0	185.0
51	GBR23	Briddon Harry	Junior	73.0	52.0	16.0	46.0	187.0	187.0
52	POL1	Wojewski Milosz		26.0	15.0	60.0	87.0 BFD	188.0	188.0
53	RUS111	Ianitckii Andrei		47.0	75.0	39.0	31.0	192.0	192.0
54	ARG2	Zabalua Agustin		43.0	69.0	50.0	44.0	206.0	206.0
55	POR5	Melo Frederico		27.0	87.0 BFD	41.0	55.0	210.0	210.0
56	GBR18	Hadden James		62.0	57.0	58.0	34.0	211.0	211.0
57	EST12	Kinkar Martti		66.0	54.0	37.0	54.0	211.0	211.0
58	CRO11	Olujic Josip		52.0	87.0 BFD	57.0	22.0	218.0	218.0
59	FIN99	Kylanpää Jesse		48.0	37.0	68.0	70.0	223.0	223.0
60	CAN17	Roney Jeff		59.0	66.0	75.0	30.0	230.0	230.0
61	POL8	Lesinski Lukasz		77.0	68.0	56.0	32.0	233.0	233.0
62	GBR87	Childs Paul		74.0	65.0	46.0	50.0	235.0	235.0
63	FRA89	Montagut Benjamin		54.0	58.0	67.0	59.0	238.0	238.0
64	RUS1117	Bill Andrew		18.0	87.0 DNE	73.0	62.0	240.0	240.0
65	FIN228	Kokko Harri		71.0	47.0	64.0	63.0	245.0	245.0
66	RUS5	Filippov Viktor		40.0	62.0	87.0 RET	57.0	246.0	246.0
67	CRO627	Lovrovic Dan		53.0	74.0	70.0	52.0	249.0	249.0
68	FRA99	Allain Des Beauvais Marc		65.0	43.0	74.0	71.0	253.0	253.0
69	AUS2	Mcmillan Joe	Junior	68.0	59.0	69.0	58.0	254.0	254.0
70	CRO7	Bilic Tudor		87.0 RET	35.0	77.0	56.0	255.0	255.0
71	CAN110	Robitaille Martin	Junior	51.0	87.0 BFD	55.0	65.0	258.0	258.0
72	NOR1	Pedersen Anders	Junior	76.0	46.0	52.0	87.0 BFD	261.0	261.0
73	LTU24	Felenderis Sarunas		79.0	60.0	71.0	64.0	274.0	274.0
74	DEN23	Boidin Martin		67.0	61.0	63.0	87.0 BFD	278.0	278.0
75	RUS777	Izmestyev Ivan		70.0	56.0	66.0	87.0 RET	279.0	279.0
76	FRA177	Pic Fabian	Junior	64.0	63.0	72.0	87.0 BFD	286.0	286.0
77	BRA1	Prada Bruno		72.0	42.0	87.0 BFD	87.0 DNF	288.0	288.0
78	EST3	Eesalu Heiko		78.0	64.0	78.0	68.0	288.0	288.0
79	USA975	Miller August		61.0	77.0	80.0	72.0	290.0	290.0
80	EST111	Raus Kristian	Junior	87.0 RET	76.0	65.0	66.0	294.0	294.0
81	FIN226	Partinen Jukka		75.0	73.0	79.0	69.0	296.0	296.0
82	GBR631	Hart Richard		80.0	78.0	81.0	67.0	306.0	306.0
83	BUL13	Nedyalkov Valentin		82.0	79.0	76.0	73.0	310.0	310.0
84	USA2	Heimler Charles		81.0	81.0	82.0	74.0	318.0	318.0
85	EST1	Idnurm Juhan		83.0	80.0	84.0	76.0	323.0	323.0
86	USA1213	Nady Andras		84.0	82.0	83.0	75.0	32

www.finngoldcup.org/2013" target="_blank">Finn Gold Cup website