2019 Finn Gold Cup at Melbourne, Australia

2019 Finn Gold Cup at Melbourne, Australia - Day 2

by Robert Deaves 17 Dec 2019 23:34 AEDT 16-21 December 2019

Josh Junior - 2019 Finn Gold Cup day 2 © Robert Deaves

New Zealand's Josh Junior has taken a 14-point lead at the top of the Finn Gold Cup in Melbourne, Australia, after another solid day on Port Philip with a fifth and a first. Nenad Bugarin, from Croatia, is up to second with Andy Maloney, from New Zealand, down to third. The first race of the day was won by defending world champion, Zsombor Berecz, from Hungary.

The fleet was held ashore an hour to wait for the wind and once everyone got on the water it was only 6-8 knots southerly for the first race before the wind died down again, causing another wait between the two races of the day. The sailors only got back ashore at seven p.m. but managed to get two races in.

The first race of the day, Race 3, got away cleanly at the third attempt under black flag. Nils Theuninck, from Switzerland, led at the top from Sweden's Johannes Pettersson and Berecz, who gradually moved through the fleet to take the race win while, while Sweden's 2017 world champion Max Salminen finished second with Pettersson crossing in third.

With the wind dropping after race one, sailors had to wait for over an hour before the wind returned. But patience was rewarded with a solid 8-10 knot breeze and some nice waves.

Race 4 got under way on the second attempt after a general recall following a change in the wind direction. It turned into a Kiwi-British affair. Brit, Ed Wright led the charge ahead of the Kiwi pair of Maloney and Junior. Junior took the lead downwind and was never really threatened for the win, while Maloney passed Wright on the second upwind. They finished in that order.

Ed Wright - 2019 Finn Gold Cup day 2 - photo © Robert Deaves

Olympic champion, Giles Scott from Britain, had a difficult first day but two fourth places have moved him up to fifth overall.

He explained the day, "The forecasts here seem so hard to predict what we will get. The chat in the morning was 15 knots booming sea breeze but it didn't really come and we had a pretty soft 6-7 knots, which came up to 8 or so in the second. I was a bit more consistent today which was good."

"Yesterday, I had two clangers off the start. I managed to fill my boat up with water in the first start which isn't really the way that you want to start a world championship, though I managed to pull through the fleet reasonable well which was good."

"The Kiwis have been really consistent, especially JJ, though Andy had a bit of a wobble in one of them today. They have been good for a long time and have a good thing going, but I come to world championships to try and win."

Giles Scott - 2019 Finn Gold Cup day 2 - photo © Robert Deaves

Heiner moves up to fourth after a 7th and a 5th.

"It was another lovely, tricky day. After everything I think we ended up with up to 12 knots after a postponement earlier this morning. Really nice sailing conditions and I think I managed today well again. But I need to step it up a little as the Kiwis are on fire, but pretty happy with the racing so far."

"I think it's a big change going to come tomorrow with the northerly wind and the 40 degrees, and the flies have already arrived, but I'm looking forward to the rest of the week and it's good fun racing here."

Theuninck is up to seventh overall after a better day than Monday. "I had a more difficult day yesterday. Today was better, with two top sevens, so I am pretty happy with that."

He has benefited from training alongside Heiner. "I have been training a lot with the Dutch at the beginning of this winter, in Scheveningen, and that was good. We came here end of November for three weeks training, along with some other guys, so that's been really good as well."

What has he learned? "That I have to push really hard if I want to beat him."

"Only four races in and six to go, and the medal race if I qualify, but still a long way to go and I think here it is much more important to learn lots and take everything that I learn here to Genoa for the Olympic qualifier."

Nils Theuninck - 2019 Finn Gold Cup day 2 - photo © Robert Deaves

The talk all week is of some extreme weather arriving mid week. Scott explained "We've got heaps of heat coming and I think we could see 40 degrees tomorrow, though I don't know if that is a good thing for the sea breeze or not. The days we've had that in the past during training, more often that not we've just hidden and not gone out, so it's going to be a tough day tomorrow if that does come through."

The ten race opening series continues until Friday, with the final race and medal race scheduled for Saturday 21 December.

2019.finngoldcup.org

Results after Day 2:

Pos	Helm	Sail No	Bow No	R1	R2	R3	R4	Pts
1	JUNIOR Josh	NZL24	13	1	5	5	1	12
2	BUGARIN Nenad	CRO10	34	8	2	9	7	26
3	MALONEY Andy	NZL61	4	5	1	19	2	27
4	HEINER Nicholas	NED89	2	13	3	7	5	28
5	SCOTT Giles	GBR41	28	16	6	4	4	30
6	MUSCAT Alejandro	ESP7	24	2	9	11	13	35
7	RAMSHAW Tom	CAN18	11	4	11	12	14	41
8	BERECZ Zsombor	HUN40	14	23	8	1	16	48
9	THEUNINCK Nils	SUI1	17	18	19	6	6	49
10	VUJASINOVIC Milan	CRO369	22	7	4	8	31	50
11	PETTERSSON Johannes	SWE11	26	15	18	3	19	55
12	LILLEY Jake	AUS1	10	19	14	16	11	60
13	TEPLY Ondrej	CZE5	12	12	28	10	12	62
14	CARDONA MÉNDEZ Joan	ESP26	7	3	15	18	30	66
15	MULLER Luke	USA91	18	26	10	22	8	66
16	PIC Fabian	FRA17	33	6	7	23	35	71
17	KAYNAR Alican	TUR21	8	9	26	26	17	78
18	TWEDDELL Oliver	AUS261	60	22	17	24	15	78
19	KOHLHOFF Max	GER25	25	24	12	27	21	84
20	LOBERT Jonathan	FRA112	15	27	13	15	29	84
21	WRIGHT Ed	GBR11	23	33	30	21	3	87
22	MUHONEN Oskari	FIN8	6	10	34	17	26	87
23	KASUESKE Phillip	GER259	19	30	25	13	20	88
24	PAINE Caleb	USA6	20	20	16	32	23	91
25	WETHERELL Henry	GBR71	27	17	35	31	9	92
26	GUITIAN SARRIA Pablo	ESP17	31	38	22	29	10	99
27	SALMINEN Max	SWE33	5	21	24	2	61	108
28	MARTIN Kyle	CAN2	30	11	33	36	28	108
29	OLUJIC Josip	CRO1	16	29	32	20	27	108
30	GILHAM Lachlan	AUS91	29	31	20	34	24	109
31	LEBRUN Valerian	FRA111	41	25	29	28	32	114
32	DEVINEAU Antoine	FRA93	42	61	23	14	25	123
33	ZARIF Jorge	BRA109	1	28	27	30	40	125
34	MITAKIS Ioannis	GRE77	9	32	21	61	18	132
35	MCCLELLAND Oisin	IRL9	40	34	36	40	22	132
36	GORGELS Simon	GER595	32	36	31	33	46	146
37	CALVERT Jock	AUS32	21	41	38	25	44	148
38	PEDERSEN Anders	NOR1	3	14	37	61	37	149
39	GOROSTEGUI Víctor	ESP57	45	35	39	37	41	152
40	ANDERSON Eric	USA14	35	42	41	35	36	154
41	NISHIO Yuki	JPN7	37	37	42	41	38	158
42	EVANS Rockal	BER9	46	43	40	38	39	160
43	BRAKE Lewis	AUS41	55	40	43	46	34	163
44	MCAULLAY Harmon	AUS4	56	46	47	44	33	170
45	MOISIO Waltteri	FIN118	44	44	50	42	42	178
46	FUJIMURA Yuji	JPN3	38	48	46	39	48	181
47	WHITLEY Marcus	AUS110	62	47	44	45	47	183
48	KOKUMAI Hajime	JPN6	39	39	48	54	43	184
49	BEVIS James	AUS296	48	49	49	47	45	190
50	KYLÄNPÄÄ Jesse	FIN99	43	45	45	52	50	192
51	SATO Yoshiki	JPN8	36	50	53	43	51	197
52	JACKSON Mark	AUS61	53	51	51	48	49	199
53	WALLACE Peter	AUS302	65	52	54	53	53	212
54	HARRISON Jay	AUS68	52	55	55	49	55	214
55	CLARK Greg	AUS7	64	53	56	55	54	218
56	SPENCER Kerry	AUS45	68	54	58	51	56	219
57	ELLIS David	AUS303	58	61	61	50	52	224
58	RAU Ajay	AUS255	63	57	52	56	61	226
59	SHALLVEY John	AUS9	67	56	57	58	57	228
60	LICHTER Robert	AUS277	59	58	59	57	58	232