NZL Sailing Team- Junior and Murdoch move up in 2013 Finn Gold Cup

by Jodie Bakewell-White on 28 Aug 2013
The 86-strong fleet competing on day two of the 2013 Finn Gold Cup in Tallin, Estonia was again challenged with light, tricky winds of 7-8 knots.

23 year old kiwi campaigner Josh Junior had a much better day despite the testing conditions scoring a second and an 11th in the two races sailed today. The results see him climb up to 15th overall after lying 37th at the outset of day two, and he is pleased;

'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 11th 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.'

Matt Coutts is now lying 18th after finishing 43rd and then 37th on the water today.

NZL Sailing Team’s Andrew Murdoch has also improved his position, from 26th to 23rd after racing today; 'A slightly better day today and have moved up to 23rd. Still a long way to go and feeling fired up for tomorrow, one race at a time.'

Great Britain’s Andrew Mills has stepped out from the pack extending a 17 point lead over the fleet after only four races.

Robert Deaves of the International Finn Class Association describes the day; '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.'

Racing runs for six days from Monday 26th – Saturday 31st August when the medals and the Finn World title for 2013 will be decided.

New Zealand to host the 2015 Finn Gold Cup - in the lead-up to racing in Estonia it was confirmed by the International Finn Class Association that Takapuna Boating Club on Auckland’s North Shore will host the 2015 Finn Gold Cup.

2013 Finn Gold Cup New Zealand’s current standings

15th Josh Junior (Worser Bay Boating Club) (33, 38, 2, 11)
18th Matt Coutts (Murrays Bay Sailing Club) (4, 7, 43, 37)
23rdAndrew Murdoch, NZL Sailing Team (Kerikeri Cruising Club) (35, 21, 35, 16)