Finn World Masters at PuntAla, Tuscany, Italy - Day 2
by Robert Deaves 12 Jun 2024 05:24 BST
7-14 June 2024
World No. 1 Laurent Hay has taken the lead at the 2024 Finn World Masters at PuntAla Camp & Resort in Italy after two more races on Day 2 brings the championship to the halfway stage. He is on equal points with Martijn van Muyden, with Nanno Schuttrups down to third.
After a short delay on the beach to wait for the wind the fleet was sent out in a building breeze and scorching hot sunshine.
On the South course area, Red and Green groups had the best conditions of the day as well as the shortest day. Defending Masters Champion, Filipe Silva led his group from start to finish and followed that up with a third, after a challenging day on Monday, while Hay picked up a second race win ahead of van Muyden. In the second race, European Masters champion, Peter Peet took the win in Red while van Muyden turned the tables to win Green group ahead of Hay, keeping it very close at the top.
The North course area, with Yellow and Blue groups, proved to be a challenging and long day with the boats not back on the beach until early evening. An unstable wind, multiple recalls and many black flags delayed start after start, such that in the final race the breeze was starting to die and made for a long race and a long sail home. Roberto Benamati took both wins in the Blue group while the Yellow group belonged to the Dutch with wins for Thierry van Vierssen and Bas de Waal.
Silva said of the day, "It was good, I came back after a disappointing first day of the championship. I am more confident for tomorrow, hopefully we will have good winds, to deliver another race. Conditions were great, we had 12 knots and two races, everything went well. This is my first time in Puntala, the place is beautiful and obviously the company, with the other Finn sailors, is great."
Finland's Ville Valtonen is in 49th after two top tens today. "We had a nice day today. It was breezier than yesterday. I was here in 2011 and this is what I was looking forward to. I think I had two top ten results so I am happy with that. The fleet is very competitive, I've been around for over ten years and it's getting more and more competitive, people are getting better. Nothing is to be taken for granted."
Just one race is scheduled for Wednesday, at 13.30, after the Annual Masters Meeting in the morning and the famous Masters dinner in the evening. Four races remain in the championship which concludes on Friday.
More photos on flickr here