Medals decided as no more racing at Mar Menor Finn World Masters
by Robert Deaves 16 Oct 2021 16:36 AEDT
8-15 October 2021
The 2021 Finn World Masters on Mar Menor, Murcia, Spain, concluded on Friday with no more races possible. With a difficult forecast the fleet was sent out in the hope of one final race, but after a brief hope was dashed, racing was abandoned for the day.
Valerian Lebrun, from France, had already secured the championship but went out anyway as he 'was here for fun'. The 2019 European Masters Champion, Filipe Silva, from Portugal secured second overall, while the top home nation sailor, David Terol, placed third. These three were also the top three Masters for 40-49 year olds.
In the Grand Masters category, Laurent Hay, from France took the title he last won in 2017, from the Dutch pair of Peter Peet and Bas de Waal.
Greg Wilcox, from New Zealand, upgrading his old Finn for a modern charter boat this week, performed beyond his expectations to win the Grand Grand Masters, from France's Marc Allain des Beauvais, from France, and former double World Masters Champion, John Greenwood.
Another former World Masters Champion from way back in 1988, Hans Fatzer, from Switzerland, won the Legends category in an incredible 35th overall for the over 70s, from Henk de Jager from The Netherlands and Filip Willems, from Belgium.
The greatest cheer was again reserved for the Super Legends. Richard Hart, from britain retained the title he won in 2019. Former Super Legend Champion, Pedro Jiminez Meifren, from Spain, was second with Joop Wuijts, from The Netherlands, third.
At a difficult time for sporting events, the local organisers have put on a spectacular show on and off the water. The seven races sailed were amazing, and the after race socials were extremely popular and quite special. The mid week dinner produced an incredible atmosphere of celebration respect and fun that everyone enjoyed and appreciated. The 108 sailors from 20 nations who made their way here experienced a beautiful week of sailing and hospitality and were more than happy they made the effort, with many going home full of enthusiasm for the next one.
The Finn Masters are extremely thankful that Murcia stepped in to host the event at short notice and look forward to coming back in the near future. To say it was a special event falls some way short. It was insanely fun and special.
Next year the Finn World Masters travels to Finland for the first time ever to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Finn's first appearance at the Olympic Games. It will be another great party for sure.
Overall Results: (top ten, 7 races)
1 FRA 111 Valerian LEBRUN MasterM 12pts
2 POR 21 Filipe SILVA MasterM 29pts
3 ESP 7 David TEROL MasterM 32pts
4 FRA 75 Laurent HAY Grand MasterM 35pts
5 NED 148 Peter PEET Grand MasterM 53pts
6 NED 29 Bas DE WAAL Grand MasterM 67pts
7 SUI 59 Simon BOVAY MasterM 81pts
8 GBR 74 Lawrence CRISPIN Grand MasterM 81pts
9 SUI 7 Christoph BURGER MasterM 86pts
10 NED 41 Karel VAN HELLEMOND MasterM 90pts
Full results available here.