Rafal Szukiel (POL) takes Finn Gold in Kiel

by Corinne Rolland-McKenzie IFA on 25 Jun 2009
Leading on the opening day of the event, Rafal Szukiel overcame close competition to win the Medal race at Kieler Woche and narrowly took his first victory ever in a Grade one event.

Szukiel who has been a long time campaigner in the Finn class, is starting to put his mark on the fleet. Second place overall goes to the Semaine Olympique Française winner, Croatian Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic. Deniss Karpak (EST) who has stepped on the Finn early this year after competing for many years in the Laser is steadily improving to place third overall after leading the fleet before the Medal race. At the age of 22, Karpak is a confident sailor with his eyes set on a podium at the London Olympic Games.

Ed Wright (GBR) recovered from his 19th place scored on the first day to place sixth overall. With a further 15 points added to his ISAF Sailing World Cup standings, he is unbeatable before the last event in Weymouth and is the first sailor across all classes to pretend to this new title.

Tomas Vika (CZE) is the first Junior sailor in 14th place. Vika is among a group of five Czech Juniors trained by four times Olympian Michael Maier. Maier decided this year to help these five young sailors, to boost the Finn class in his country and pass his knowledge to the younger generation. The Junior team has sailed all the main European regattas so far and will be a strong team for the future Junior World Championship on Balatonfured, Hungary, starting on the 30th of July.

The next main event in the Finn class is the Finn Gold Cup sailed from the Vallensbaek Yacht Club near Copenhagen, Denmark from the 3rd to 11th of July. The six days racing will be filmed and footage available for TV and website on an ftp site. All boats will carry a tracking device to bring racing close to everyone worldwide. With 98 entries from 30 countries, it promises to provide a real show on the water!

Class website: www.finnclass.org
Event website: www.kieler-woche.de