Double bullets for Slater on Finn Gold Cup Day One

by Rob Kothe on 23 Jan 2008
New Zealander Dan Slater won the first two races in the 2008 Finn Gold Cup today.

Slater has been up with the contenders over the last 12 months, but today he signalled that he has what it takes to climb onto the podium in Qingdao.

Last year Slater started with a fifth at Miami OCR and a third in Hyeres. He won the Holland Regatta, was third at Kiel Week, but then stumbled to 16th place at the ISAF Worlds in Cascais. He finished eight in the Qingdao test event, but with the best result of any sailor in the last four races. Last week at the Grade One Sail Melbourne regatta he finished eighth overall. Today he switched to turbo.

In the boat park Slater spoke to Sail-World.com

‘I did not have a great start in the first race, I tacked onto port from the Committee boat; fortunately the breeze went a little right and I was able to get back in the game and work away at catching the leader.

‘In the second race, I had a better start. I was confident about the right. I did not bang the corner but was right of the bulk of the fleet, and with the shift I was second to the top mark.

‘I've always been a bit average downwind ... never been a downwind specialist, always been much better upwind. Usually where I am at the top mark is where I finish but today was much better. I've been working on it a lot.

‘Today I got to lead in both races down the last run. I managed to get into sync with the waves. I'm really happy.

‘For the last three years I’ve been working hard with Southern Spars and Norths Sails developing my own mast and sails.

‘Pretty good to have a day like today when you’ve been working hard and its come together.

‘But there is a long way to go in this regatta. I was lucky today with the wind shifts, but I guess sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.’

Slater enjoys a six point margin over the second placed competitor, Aimilos Papathanasiou (GRE), with Giorgio Poggi (ITA) in third. 87 sailors from 33 countries are competing in this, the World Championship for the Olympic Finn class.

The next race is scheduled for tomorrow.

2008 FINN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Series Results [Elapsed Time] for Fleet up to Race 2 (Drops = 0)

1		NZL1	ASB	Dan Slater	NZL	04		2.00	1.00	1.00
2		GRE7	NA18	Aimilios Papathanasiou	GRE	05		8.00	2.00	6.00
3		ITA117	HARKEN	Giorgio Poggi	ITA	44		10.00	7.00	3.00
4		DEN2	HEMPEL-DONG	Jonas H Gh-christens	DEN	01		12.00	4.00	8.00
5		NED842	-	Pieter Jan Postma	NED	02		14.00	3.00	11.00
6	5.0S	NOR1	JEPP	Peer Moberg	NOR	47		15.00	10.00	5.00
7		SWE736	NA33	Johan Tillander	SWE	57		15.00	6.00	9.00
8		GBR3	RITA	Ben Ainslie	GBR	28		17.00	13.00	4.00
9		AUS221	DUGONG	Anthony Nossiter	AUS	55		25.00	15.00	10.00
10		GBR111	TECH ADVANT	Edward Wright	GBR	03		32.00	11.00	21.00
11		GBR41	NA11	Giles Scott	GBR	33	Jnr	33.00	5.00	28.00
12		CAN41	CAN41	Chris Cook	CAN	17		34.00	19.00	15.00
13		ITA101	NA22	Riccardo Cordovani	ITA	66		36.00	18.00	18.00
14		CRO524	NA6	Ivan Kljakovic Ga P	CRO	06		38.00	12.00	26.00
15		AUT3	WOLF	Florian Raudaschl	AUT	15		39.00	22.00	17.00
16	2.0S	CYP19	NA7	Haris Papadopoulos	CYP	20		45.00	43.00	2.00
17		RUS9	NA4	Eduard Skornyakov	RUS	53		45.00	33.00	12.00
18	7.0S	FIN218	PORT OF HELSINKI	Tapio Nirkko	FIN	68		51.00	44.00	7.00
19	16.0S	GBR88	TEVA	Mark Andrews	GBR	29		51.00	35.00	16.00
20		FRA73	PANTAENIUS	Guillaume Florent	FRA	26		51.00	31.00	20.00
21		SWE11	SKF	Daniel Birgmark	SWE	07		53.00	20.00	33.00
22		IRL5	DOLMEN STOCKBROKERS	Timothy Goodbody	IRL	41		54.00	29.00	25.00
23		UKR21	NA36	Oleksiy Borysov	UKR	60		55.00	21.00	34.00
24	9.0S	GER174	NA16	Matthias Bohn	GER	36		56.00	9.00	47.00
25		POL7	NA30	Rafal Szukiel	POL	49		56.00	24.00	32.00
26	16.0S	ESP100	MARAJA	Rafael Trujillo	ESP	08		58.00	16.00	42.00
27		FRA69	NA10	Jonathan Lobert	FRA	27		58.00	34.00	24.00
28		GBR625	NA13	Ed Greig	GBR	31		60.00	38.00	22.00
29		POL12	NA28	Waclaw Szukiel	POL	87		64.00	45.00	19.00
30	17.0S	NZL21	NA27	Nik Burfoot	AUS	18		65.00	17.00	48.00
31	27.0S	CHN11	NIKE	Tianyu Ren	CHN	78		65.00	27.00	38.00
32		ITA925	NA24	Michele Paoletti	ITA	43		65.00	30.00	35.00
33		IND1	NA20	Nitin Mongia	IND	65		66.00	53.00	13.00
34		SLO5	FINN	Gasper Vincec	SLO	09		68.00	14.00	54.00
35	26.0S	FRA972	AQUARELLE	Ismael Bruno	FRA	25		70.00	26.00	44.00
36		CHN1	NIKE	Peng Zhang	CHN	79		70.00	40.00	30.00
37		CRO25	NA34	Marin Misura	CRO	80		72.00	58.00	14.00
38		CZE1	MAJCUS	Michael Maier	CZE	22		73.00	32.00	41.00
39	8.0S	GBR634	NA14	Andrew Mills	GBR	32		74.00	8.00	66.00
40		CHN226	NIKE	Bo Liu	CHN	77		74.00	51.00	23.00
41		CZE9	PK OIL S.R.O.	Michal Hruby	CZE	21		78.00	47.00	31.00
42		POL17	NA29	Piotr Kula	POL	48	Jnr	80.00	37.00	43.00
43	29.0S	NED41	NA26	Karel Van Hellemond	NED	45		85.00	56.00	29.00
44	2R	USA4	NA39	Zach Railey	USA	63		85.00	39.00	46.00
45		RUS14	NA31	Dmitrii Tereshkin	RUS	54		85.00	46.00	39.00
46		POR5	NA3	Frederico Melo	POR	50	Jnr	88.00	23.00	65.00
47		GBR99	NA15	Henry Bagnall	GBR	30	Jnr	90.00	50.00	40.00
48		HUN5	ANDREA	Tibor Pallay	HUN	39		93.00	66.00	27.00
49		ESP1	NA8	Diego Fructuoso	ESP	81		94.00	41.00	53.00
50		IND11	NA21	Nachhatar Johal	IND	40		95.00	28.00	67.00
51		HUN6	NA19	Gaszton P L	HUN	38		97.00	25.00	72.00
52		TUR211	SENSEY	Ali Kemal T Fekci	TUR	59		99.00	42.00	57.00
53		TUR7	NA35	Akif Muslubas	TUR	58		103.00	54.00	49.00
54		EST7	NA9	Harles Liiv	EST	70		104.00	52.00	52.00
55	45.0S	AUS226	BILLS BOAT	Michael Williams	AUS	13		106.00	61.00	45.00
56		CHN7	NIKE	Lei Gong	CHN	76		106.00	55.00	51.00
57		GER771	NA17	Jan Kurfeld	GER	37	Jnr	107.00	71.00	36.00
58		UKR5	NA37	Andriy Gusenko	UKR	61	Jnr	108.00	49.00	59.00
59		NED80	FLEURIE	Sander Willems	NED	46		109.00	36.00	73.00
60		CRO11	NA1	Josip Olujic	CRO	19	Jnr	110.00	73.00	37.00
61		USA9	NA40	Ian Cook	USA	62		112.00	57.00	55.00
62		AUS223	SPRUCE GOOSE	James Paterson	AUS	56		117.00	48.00	69.00
63	50.0S	BUL24	NA5	Mihail Kopanov	BUL	16		119.00	69.00	50.00
64		AUS241	XTSEA	Brendan Casey	AUS	10		119.00	63.00	56.00
65	59.0S	CHN563	NIKE	Aiming Chen	CHN	75		121.00	59.00	62.00
66		VEN1	VEN1	Johnny Bilbao	VEN	90		121.00	60.00	61.00
67		AUS2	SHAKE AND BAKE	Rob Mcmillan	AUS	34		127.00	67.00	60.00
68		ITA40	FINN	Marko Kolic	ITA	85		128.00	65.00	63.00
69	58.0S	NED29	NA25	Bas De Waal	NED	86		130.00	72.00	58.00
70		AUS243	TBA	Warwick Hill	AUS	24		130.00	62.00	68.00
71		ITA70	NA23	Francesco Lubrano	ITA	72		139.00	68.00	71.00
72		AUS234	SQUID INK	Christopher Pratt	AUS	74		141.00	64.00	77.00
73		GER262	HEIMATLIEBE	Uwe Barthel	GER	35		146.00	76.00	70.00
74	70.0S	224	SORCERER	Geoffrey Francis	AUS	23		149.00	70.00	79.00
75		AUS3	AUS3	John Shallvey	AUS	12		149.00	75.00	74.00
76	64.0S	ITA1	SONATA	Luca Devoti	ESP	42		152.00	88.00C	64.00
77		AUS8	MATCHBOX	Anthony Wood	AUS	14		152.00	74.00	78.00
78		AUS228	DARK SECRET	Dirk Seret	AUS	11		154.00	79.00	75.00
79		SVK11	NA32	Robert Poor	SVK	71		158.00	78.00	80.00
80		AUS203	NA12	Edward Thorburn	GBR	83		159.00	77.00	82.00
81		AUS233	LONGBOARD	Brian Reynolds	AUS	64		161.00	80.00	81.00
82		POR310	TUBA V	Rodrigo Quina	POR	51		164.00	88.00C	76.00
83		235	THE DECK	John Condie	AUS	73		176.00	88.00C	88.00C
83		GBR1	SPUNKMEISTER	Sander Kooij	GBR	82		176.00	88.00C	88.00C
83		ITA941	SHAMBOLA	Paolo Cisbani	ITA	84		176.00	88.00C	88.00C
83		USA2012	NA38	Philip Toth	USA	89		176.00	88.00C	88.00C
83		49	NA2	Egor Larionov	RUS	88	Jnr	176.00	88.00C	88.00C