Finn Gold Cup challenge awaits GBR sailors

by Matt Carter on 22 Aug 2013 Britain’s heavyweight Finn sailors will hope to continue the success of the British Sailing Team at the prestigious Finn Gold Cup when racing gets underway in Tallinn, Estonia (23-31 August).

The past ten years have seen British sailors reign triumphant at the World Championship regatta an impressive eight times, with Ed Wright, Giles Scott and Sir Ben Ainslie etching their names on the trophy over the past decade.

However with a new breed of British sailors beginning to make their mark on the single-handed heavyweight Finn class, and with last year's winner Ben Ainslie leaving the class and the 2011 world champion Giles Scott sailing on America’s Cup duty with Luna Rossa in San Francisco, the Pirita waters on Tallinn Bay could be the perfect stomping ground for one of the British Sailing Team’s Podium Squad sailors to add their name to the esteemed Gold Cup roll of honour.

Seven British sailors, who have won all the major multi-class events in the early part of the year, have made the trip out to the 1980 Olympic regatta venue for the opening day of racing on Monday (26 August).

Leading the charge for the British Team is the inform 2013 European silver medallist Ed Wright. The 35-year-old won the event back in 2010 in San Francisco, USA, clinched bronze a year later at the 2011 regatta in Perth, Australia and more recently sealed silver at the 2012 event in Falmouth.

Standing in Wright’s way of a fourth straight podium finish will be Slovenia’s Vasilij Zbogar who he narrowly missed out on European gold to in Warnemunde, Germany last month, while Olympians Greg Douglas (CAN), Jorge Zarif and Bruno Prada (BRA) will also be looking to make their mark at this 58th Finn Gold Cup.

Meanwhile, the 27-year-old Largs sailor Mark Andrews will be looking to bounce back to winning ways after a frustrating week at the Europeans in Germany. Andrews won the past three EUROSAF Champions Sailing Cup regattas in Holland, Kiel, and on home waters in Weymouth and Portland at the Sail for Gold Regatta, and will be bidding for his first taste of Finn Gold Cup success when he lines up against the other 97 sailors from 30 nations.

Hyeres World Cup winner Andrew Mills will also be pushing for further British podium glory, as will the British Sailing Team’s recent Junior European Champion Peter McCoy who will come up against Jorge Zarif (BRA), who won the Finn Junior world title in July.

Matt Howard, British Sailing Team Finn Coach, commented: 'The venue itself has all we need, and should provide a great Championships. The waters are tricky, with an almost closed bay and the wind generally comes off the land, very shifty and at times difficult to read. With 100 boats and a one nautical mile minimum first beat, the leverage combined with the shift range could make for some exciting racing.'

To read the full blog from Finn Coach Matt Howard on the Finn Gold Cup visit volvo sailing website

For further event information, visit Finn Gold Cup website

For the latest news and information from the British Sailing Team visit British sailing team website