2015 Finn Gold Cup - British sailor advanced to top of the leaderboard

by Lindsey Bell on 25 Nov 2015 Giles Scott advanced to the top of the leaderboard on a truncated second of day of Finn Gold Cup racing in Takapuna, New Zealand, on Wednesday (25 November).

The defending world champion won the only race of the two originally scheduled races in a light and decaying breeze to take the yellow jersey and a 16 point lead into Thursday’s third day of competition.

Ed Wright, the 2014 bronze medallist and 2010 Gold Cup winner, retained overall third with a tenth place from his race.

Light winds and a strong tide on the Hauraki Gulf provided a challenge for the race committee to get racing started, with boats struggling to stay behind the start line and giving rise to several abandonments and a general recall before the fleet finally got underway under the threatening black flag.

“That always puts a bit more pressure on the start,” remarked Scott.

“I managed to stay reasonably clear and had a half decent lane out to the right side which worked out reasonably well.”

“I think I was maybe around tenth at the first mark, but managed to sail reasonably smart from there to the finish. I slowly pulled my way back to the front of the fleet and managed to get the Greek guy just before the bottom gate to win.

“It was quite a tricky race with big tidal gains right and big shifts left halfway through, so there was an awful lot to manage but it came good for me in the end.”

Exmouth’s Ben Cornish earned his progression to the British Sailing Team’s Podium squad at the European Championships in May, and is racing just his second Finn class World Championship this week.

He’s 12th overall, with a 24th on the board today and is enjoying the different challenge that an 80-boat Finn Gold Cup start line brings about.

“As we expected it’s going to be a high scoring regatta with such a big fleet out there,” Cornish observed. “At the moment in the early stages it’s just about trying to avoid any disasters and making sure I get to Friday and Saturday somewhere in touch with the top ten.

“There are challenges there, there are big opportunities but there are also big opportunities for it to go wrong,' said Cornish of the larger fleet size tactics compared to World Cup series regattas.

'If you find yourself on the wrong side of the leverage from the start line, it’s quite a long way back to try and work yourself back towards the front of the fleet.”

“When it does go wrong, you just have to stay positive because there are always opportunities back. We’re racing big 1.2 mile beats and it’s pretty light breeze so far, so the race is long enough to try and find opportunities back if you stay in the game.”

“I’m just trying to avoid anything too drastic at this stage. I’m not taking too much and hopefully that will start to pay off towards the end of the week.”

British Sailing Team Podium Potential sailor James Hadden is currently 45th overall.

Organisers will attempt to catch up with the race schedule on Thursday (26 November) with three races planned from 1200hrs (local). The final medal race is planned for Sunday 29 November.

Overall Results

Rank	Flag	Nat	SailNo	Bow	Division	HelmName	Club	R1 24 Nov	R2 24 Nov	R3	Total	Nett
1st		GBR	41	3		Giles Scott	WPNSA	5	3	1	9	9
2nd		NZL	16	20		Andrew Murdoch	TYPBC	1	7	17	25	25
3rd		GBR	11	4		Edward Wright	Parkstone YC	4	13	10	27	27
4th		GRE	77	11		Ioannis Mitakis	YCG	3	27	2	32	32
5th		SLO	73	9		Vasilij Zbogar	Burja Izola YC	19	6	7	32	32
6th		CRO	69	22		Milan Vujasinovic	JK Split	6	15	15	36	36
7th		CRO	524	1		Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic	JK Labud Fantasica	10	10	16	36	36
8th		USA	6	7		Caleb Paine	St Francis YC	8	21	9	38	38
9th		BRA	109	23		Jorge Zarif		24	20	8	52	52
10th		NZL	24	5		Josh Junior	WBBC	29	9	14	52	52
11th		FIN	218	24		Tapio Nirkko	EPS	11	11	30	52	52
12th		GBR	91	14		Ben Cornish	Exe SC	7	23	24	54	54
13th		SWE	6	8		Bjorn Allansson	GKSS	43	1	12	56	56
14th		HUN	40	21		Zsombor Berecz	MVM SE	15	40	3	58	58
15th		SWE	33	16		Max Salminen	GKSS	22	24	13	59	59
16th		EST	2	15		Deniss Karpak	SK Karpak Sailing Team	14	42	4	60	60
17th		URU	301	44		Alejandro Jose Foglia	YCPE	2	38	21	61	61
18th		NED	842	10		Pieter-Jan Postma	Delta Lloyd	27	29	5	61	61
19th		AUS	261	6		Oliver Tweddell	Sandringham YC	17	12	39	68	68
20th		FRA	112	12		Jonathan Lobert	SNO Nantes	45	5	19	69	69
21st		CZE	5	30	J	Ondrej Teply	YCBrno	28	14	27	69	69
22nd		GER	259	34		Phillip Kasueske	VSaW	34	28	11	73	73
23rd		DEN	2	40		Jonas Hogh-Christensen	Royal Danish Yacht Club	23	30	20	73	73
24th		FRA	17	42	J	Fabian Pic	SRR	13	36	25	74	74
25th		ESP	2	26		Alex Muscat	Club Nautica Garraf	40	17	18	75	75
26th		USA	4	80		Zach RAILEY		26	18	34	78	78
27th		RUS	57	28		Egor Terpigorev	CSP Hlebnikovo, Fantastica, CSKA VMF	36	16	29	81	81
28th		CRO	52	47	J	Nenad Bugarin	YC Labud	20	41	23	84	84
29th		RUS	6	31	J	Arkadiy Kistanov		9	43	33	85	85
30th		RUS	2	67		Aleksey Borisov		25	26	35	86	86
31st		RUS	7	68		Vladimir Krutskikh	Fantastica	16	32	43	91	91
32nd		ITA	66	25		Enrico Voltolini		48	8	36	92	92
33rd		ITA	117	18		Giorgio Poggi	SVGDF	35	25	32	92	92
34th		CRO	1	56		Josip Olujic	JK Labud	18	45	31	94	94
35th		TUR	21	32		Alican Kaynar	FenerbahAgeSK	59	31	6	96	96
36th		CAN	110	33		Martin Robitaille	CVL/RCYC	30	44	22	96	96
37th		NOR	1	19		Anders Pedersen	DSSF	21	4	77 BFD	102	102
38th		AUS	41	2	J	Jake Lilley	RQYS	56	2	45	103	103
39th		ITA	123	27		Filippo Baldassari	SVGDF	41	39	26	106	106
40th		POR	5	37		Frederico Melo	Cncascais	32	35	41	108	108
41st		EST	11	29		Lauri Väinsalu	ROPK/TREV2	33	59	28	120	120
42nd		ITA	146	13		Michele Paoletti	SVBG	12	34	77 BFD	123	123
43rd		ESP	17	38		Pablo Guitian Sarria	C.N.ELCANO	50	37	38	125	125
44th		ITA	147	53		Simone Ferrarese	Circola Vela Bari	37	51	40	128	128
45th		GBR	18	46		James Hadden	WPNSA	42	33	54	129	129
46th		CHN	1225	51		He CHEN	Chinese YA	39	53	37	129	129
47th		POL	17	17		Piotr Kula		38	19	77 BFD	134	134
48th		DEN	24	54		Andre Hojen Cristiansen	SNV	47	52	42	141	141
49th		NZL	21	58		Nik Burfoot	TBC	46	50	46	142	142
50th		ARG	1	62	J	Fernando Sanjurjo	YC Argentina	44	48	52	144	144
51st		CZE	1	55		Michael MAIER	YCR	52	55	44	151	151
52nd		ESP	717	57		Victor Gorostegui	RCM Santander	53	46	55	154	154
53rd		NZL	8	82		Matt COUTTS	MBBC	31	47	77 BFD	155	155
54th		FIN	225	49		Mikael Hyrylainen	NJK	51	57	50	158	158
55th		CHN	1226	39		Lei GONG	Chinese YA	60	22	77 BFD	159	159
56th		CAN	2	36	J	Kyle Martin	Royal Vancouver	58	49	53	160	160
57th		NZL	111	60		Karl Purdie	WBBC	49	54	59	162	162
58th		AUS	22	41	J	Joseph McMillan	WSC	54	56	56	166	166
59th		FIN	99	65		Jesse KYLANPAA	RPS	55	67	48	170	170
60th		AUS	26	43		Ian Mckillop	R. Prince Albert YC	64	60	47	171	171
61st		USA	11	35		Philip Toth	USSTS	62	61	51	174	174
62nd		NZL	20	69		Chris Wells	NPC	61	62	57	180	180
63rd		NZL	7	61		Bradley Douglas	WBC	57	63	63	183	183
64th		FRA	42	79		Brendan MCCARTY		66	70	49	185	185
65th		NZL	19	83		Denis MOWBRAY	NPC	65	66	58	189	189
66th		AUS	10	48		John Condie	Yarra Bay 16' Skiff SC	68	64	60	192	192
67th		RUS	212	71		Lanfranko Cirillo	Fantastica	63	68	62	193	193
68th		NZL	88	74		Gerard Lelieveld	WYC	72	65	66	203	203
69th		NZL	22	66		Dirch Andersen	WYC	69	69	65	203	203
70th		NZL	9	59		Rob Coutts	RAYC	70	58	77 BFD	205	205
71st		NZL	10	64		David Hoogenboom	WYC	67	77 DNS	61	205	205
72nd		NZL	265	72		Mike Pearson	CBYC	71	71	64	206	206
73rd		NZL	23	73		Alan Dawson	WYC	74	72	67	213	213
74th		NZL	3	70		Ben Winters	CBYC	73	73	68	214	214
75th		NZL	193	87		Gerrit BEARDA	WYC	77 DNF	74	69	220	220
76th		NZL	2	63		Ray Hall	WBBC	77 DNC	77 DNS	77 DNC	231	231