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Gold Cup 2004 - Rio de Janeiro - Day 2
Monday 16th February
Day two belongs to Sander Willems
Consistency is something that few here in Rio are managing
to find. One person who did find it today was Sander
Willems (NED) who scored a second in race two and then
won race three in very tricky conditions to lead the
championship overnight. Second overnight is Jonas Hoegh-Christensen
(DEN) who scored a 10th and a 9th, while lying third
is reigning champion Ben Ainslie (GBR) who scored a
17th and a 3rd.
Speed was the crucial element today, at least speed
in the right direction. For many it was just a drag
race to the corner and those who didn't come in drag
ended up looking at far too many transoms. Today's races
were sailed outside Rio Harbour with a magnificent view
(when the cloud cleared for long enough) from Sugar
Loaf Mountain down the coast along Copacabana Beach
and onto Ipanema, and proved a testing time for all
concerned with light and variable winds and a strong
current across the course that caught many out. The
windward leeward loop course was used.
Race two started after a postponement in 3 to 5 knots
of breeze. Most of the fleet favoured the left on the
first beat, although in general the leaders emerged
from the right. It was a long slow beat against the
tide, with many again fouling the weather mark. First
round the weather mark was Gasper Vincec (SLO) followed
by Richard Clarke (CAN), Guillaume Florent (FRA) and
Karlo Kuret (CRO).
On the run the fleet went left, with Jonas Hoegh-Christensen
(DEN) leading a group to the right. However the left
was paying and Florent lead round the bottom mark followed
by Sander Willems (NED), who had moved up from 6th at
the top mark, and a group of others tightly bunched
including Sebastien Godefroid (BEL). By now the wind
was up to 8 to 10 knots and virtually everyone was following
the right hand side of the course and Florent maintained
his lead to win the race on the following run followed
by Willems and Godefroid.
The tide was even stronger for race three but the breeze
had gone back to a fitful 4 to 6 knots, and in spite
of an adverse tidal set on the start line, there were
still two general recalls before the race got underway.
Waclaw Szukiel (POL) made the best of the start to tack
away immediately to the right and to round the first
mark just behind Sander Willems (NED), Matt Howard (GBR)
and Othmar Mueller van Blumencron (SUI). Waclaw took
the lead on the run to lead through the downwind gate.
On the final upwind leg, everyone headed inshore out
of the tide, but an increase in pressure and backing
in direction left those inshore scuppered. Willems regained
the lead and led to the downwind finish to score an
impressive win. The race was overly lengthened due to
the wind gradually decreasing and the strong tide and
made for some very frustrating racing for some.
Proceedings were slightly livened up by a bulk carrier
deciding to cross the course area. The Chairman of the
Jury Ralph Roberts tried showing it the yellow flag
in an attempt to keep it off the course, but after a
360 degree turn, the captain decided to come through
anyway!
It was certainly a tricky day's sailing with patchy
and fitful breezes and a strong tide to content with.
Many big names are well down the results list and very
few people are finishing any sort of consistency.Only
Jonas Hoegh-Christensen has managed to score all top
10 results and most of those inside the top ten have
a high scoring race.
Winner of race two Guillaume Florent commented, "In
the first race there was a bit more breeze and I was
sailing fast in the right direction. I went right on
the first beat and centre right on the second and it
paid both times. Then for some reason I tried something
completely different in the second race today, and it
didn't work at all." Florent had a shocker in race
three, finishing 53rd.
Defending Champion Ben Ainslie was relatively pleased
with his day. A 17th in race two was out down to having
the wrong rig settings after the breeze increased, but
the speed returned for race three when he finished third.
He commented, "A good day overall, as most people
are having trouble here, so to get a third is good,
but perhaps I didn't go hard enough right. In the first
race today, apart from lack of speed, I kept getting
forced left when the right paid and there wasn't much
I could do about it. It was a very tough day out there."
Team mate Andrews Simpson, who finished 3rd in Cadiz
today scored a 36th and 16th, concurred, "Boy it
was hard out there. Even when you thought you were going
the right way, things could turn against you. Just look
at the results and see how many big names were finishing
way down. But there's always tomorrow."
And tomorrow the racing continues with two more races
and a better wind forecast.
Copyright 2004
Robert Deaves - International Finn Association.
Reproduction in full or part welcomed with credit to
author.
Class website: www.finnclass.org
Event website: www.atividade.com.br/finn
Photos: www.cob.org.br (click on noticias then banko
de imagens and
follow instructions)
For
more info: www.icrj.com.br
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