Finn Gold Cup at Takapuna Boating Club, New Zealand - Overall
by Robert Deaves 29 Nov 2015 22:46 NZDT
21-29 November 2015
Lobert and Zbogar secure long awaited Finn Gold Cup medals in Takapuna
Jonathan Lobert (FRA) and Vasilij Zbogar (SLO) secured their first ever Finn Gold Cup medals today after a tough medal race in Takapuna, New Zealand, which closed the 2015 Finn World Championships on the Hauraki Gulf. With Giles Scott (GBR) already the runaway winner, the focus on Sunday was the two minor medals and the fourth 2016 Olympic qualification place.
The forecast was the worst of any day so far this week, and at the morning briefing the PRO Ian Clouston emphasised the race committee's policy of "a fair race or no race". The fleet was sent out on time, only to be sent back in an hour later and then back out later for a 14.00 start. However in spite of an 8-10 knot wind in place by then, it was still looking patchy so after a short postponement, the decision was taken to send in the fleet and send out the top 10 for the medal race.
This meant that the fourth place available here for Rio 216 went to Uruguay and Alejandro Foglia (URU). Foglia is a recipient of Finn development programme funding and also a member of the newly established FINNTEAM. "When I came here the objective was to qualify the country. That objective is accomplished, so I am very satisfied. It is very important for Uruguay because I am the fifth athlete to qualify in all sports, so it means a lot for me for all my family, my friends, my coaches and the people who support me in this career. It was a difficult year for me because I had two injuries and had to quit two major regattas, but I managed to come back to be strong here and prove to myself that I can do it and be in the front with these top guys, so I am very happy with that."
The wind stabilised for the medal race and was an incredibly close fight, which the fleet crossing the finishing line in an overlapped group that was hard to separate. Tapio Nirkko (FIN) led at the top, but Vasilij Zbogar (SLO) took the lead downwind and led up the second beat. At that point everything changed with the Oscar flag raised for free pumping as the wind went over 10 knots. Ed Wright went more to the right, and when he crossed back was ahead of the fleet, but it still wasn't over with Pieter-Jan Postma (NED) taking the lead in the final moments to cross ahead of Wright and Ioannis Mitakis (GRE).
Lobert had managed to hang onto the silver medal with a fourth place finish, which Zbogar stole the bronze from Andrew Murdoch (NZL) on virtue of a better medal race score, both sailors ending up on equal points.
Lobert said, "The medal race is always lot of tension. I had to take care with Murdoch, because I knew he would be good in light winds, and also that Vasilij or Max didn't pass me. My strategy was quite clear. I tried to play the wind and the shifts because I couldn't control all of them. It went quite well because I was on top of the fleet at the first mark and I managed to have a good downwind and then I was just trying to secure the position. In the end I finished second to Giles and I am very pleased with that because I have been three times on the podium before the medal race and I lost it, so this time I'm very happy to secure the silver."
Murdoch was taking the positives from his performance. "The medal race didn't go so well for me and I ended up losing third on countback. It was a tough race with lighter air conditions and with a short course like that it was always going to be tough and the fleet never really spread out at all and crossed the line more or less next to each other. I'm gutted to have missed out being on the podium here but working forward to Rio it's encouraging how I have gone. I'd like to close the gap on Giles, that's for sure."
On the sailing this week, "We've haven't had typical conditions here for this time of year but it's actually been really good sailing and it's been awesome having the Finn fleet down here in new Zealand for a change. I hope everyone enjoyed themselves. I certainly did and it was great to sail in front of the home crowd and for our national fleet the chance to sail against the best in the world."
As well as Uruguay, the other three nations qualifying for Rio next year are Greece, Estonia and The Netherlands.
Postma described the day, "Amazing tense medal race here on the last day. For the guys tied up in third and fourth it was super stressful. For me it was good. I came out with a win. But it was really close racing and only on the last downwind I went from second to the win, so happy about that."
On his regatta he said, "I came here to get a medal. I didn't do that, but half way through the regatta I was 25th and then we said we need too change something. And we changed the tactics and a little bit of speed. I didn't have the good speed yet, but the tactics worked and I am happy about the second half of the regatta. It was a solid second half."
On the Olympic qualification. "I wasn't worried about that but it needed to be done and it's still a relief. It was a relief to get that out of the way but congrats also to the other guys already now looking forward to the Olympics."
Qualifying Estonia, Deniss Karpak (EST) said, "Today I can officially say that Rio is a real thing. Before it was only an aim, a project, but I finally qualified my country and basically won the national qualification system too. The wind was quite good for me and I was fast in light wind and not so fast in strong wind, but average points were good. Anyway I didn't make the medal race but am happy with my 11th. It was good for me especially after not such a good season in Europe."
Third place went to Zbogar. "The medal race was quite nice. I had a good position because I was fifth and I couldn't lose so much but I could get up to third, so I could risk a bit more. I had a good start and a good second upwind and was sailing extremely well apart from the last downwind which was free pumping. I tried hard to the end and had just enough points to move up to third place. It's of course for me a very important moment because I was waiting for so many years to get a medal at the worlds. I was many times close but finally I did it so I am super happy."
Summing up the week he said, "We had a a really nice regatta. Of course there were many ups and downs for many of the sailors, apart from Giles who is definitely ahead of the game. It will be hard to catch him in any regatta, especially at the Olympics. But we try to move forward. He has another level of sailing in the Finn so everyone is now trying to push hard to try and catch him. For sure 10-15 sailors are trying to beat him. He's unbeatable, but anything can happen at the Olympics. Everybody will be really ready for it and we'll see what happens."
Summing up his week Scott said, "I am very happy with the way this week has gone. I think it's been one of the better regattas I have sailed this year. I've managed to stay very consistent which has been hugely important here, and to be able to wrap up the championship with two races to spare, no one could ask for a better way to win a championship that that. The medal race was slightly odd for me. It's always a bit of an odd sensation when you have already got the title wrapped up. I could certainly sense there was a lot of stake for the other guys, so I was very fortunate to be carefree and cruise round to a certain extent. We got a good race in but it was pretty stress free for me."
On sailing in Takapuna. "Takapuna has been great. I think we've been incredibly fortunate with the weather. We've a brilliant mix of conditions. Light days, strong days, shifty and steady, it has been a real mix and to be successful here you've had to be able to master all those conditions. I think the class as a whole is certainly pleased with what Takapuna has had to offer and I am sure the Finn fleet will be back here soon."
On defending next year in Italy. "At the moment the plan is to do the Gold Cup next year. Everything is still a bit fluid working out exactly what we want to get done in our calendar before the Olympic Games as that is the priority but at the moment we plan to go to Gaeta and I'll be trying to do it again."
Overall Results: (medal race in brackets, full results here)
1 GBR 41 Giles Scott 48 (8)
2 FRA 112 Jonathan Lobert 93 (4)
3 SLO 573 Vasilij Zbogar 112 (6)
4 NZL 16 Andrew Murdoch 112 (9)
5 SWE 33 Max Salminen 113 (7)
6 NED 842 Pieter-Jan Postma 119 (1)
7 BRA 109 Jorge Zarif 125 (5)
8 GBR 11 Edward Wright 135 (2)
9 GRE 77 Ioannis Mitakis 140 (3)
10 FIN 218 Tapio Nirkko 14 (10)
Light wind medal race for Finn Gold Cup finale (from Lindsey Bell, RYA)
Ed Wright secured a top eight finish on the closing day of Finn Gold Cup racing in Takapuna on Sunday (29 November), while Giles Scott could sail a stress-free medal race having secured event victory a day in advance.
Bournemouth's Wright, who won the World Championship title in 2010, finished second in the medal race to elevate his overnight position one place to eighth overall, while Scott finished the final ten-boat race in eighth, already safe in the knowledge that he'd be taking the esteemed Gold Cup home with him again after a dominant display on the Hauraki Gulf this week.
With a light wind forecast for the sixth and final day of competition, there was some initially some doubt as to whether the fleet would see any racing at all on Sunday.
The one scheduled race for those outside of the top ten came to nothing in shifty conditions and a strong tide, but the race team managed to get the medal racers underway in the 6-8 knot mid-afternoon breeze.
Wright hailed it his 'best result of the week', finishing second in the finale after a penalty at the start left him at the back of the pack and fighting.
"I wanted to go out and win the race and also keep an eye on the guys that I needed to beat," said Wright afterwards. "I wasn't going to take them out, but I wanted to go and have a good race."
"It was pretty light. I had a penalty at the start which was a bit upsetting but it just made me work a little harder and I got through to second in the end."
"I'd kind of geared up everything towards a windy regatta," Wright reflected, having started the regatta with the intention of adding a world title to his 2010 crown.
"I didn't really want to focus too much on the light winds and they're not predominant here. That's probably a mistake I made there, but I sailed pretty well in the light early on in the week, in the medium I struggled. In the one big shift per beat scenarios I was struggling to pin those down.
"My downwind speed wasn't as good as Giles's, who was able to just sail really consistently. A great regatta for himself, sailing fast, starting well and picking through the downwinds. It was really impressive to see him so consistent in such tricky conditions," said Wright of his teammate, who adds a third World Championship win to his victories in 2011 and 2014.
Portland-based Scott himself remarked that the medal race was held in tricky conditions. Already with gold in the bag, silver went to France's Olympic bronze medallist Jonathan Lobert with Vasilij Zbogar overtaking the host's Andrew Murdoch in the medal race to claim the third step of the podium.
"It was looking pretty marginal as to whether we'd race or not," Scott said. "They had a good go of it for the fleet race this morning and they canned them early. We got out there and got our medal race in in 6-8 knots.
"[It was] pretty shifty conditions and it would have been a tricky one had the points been different, that's for sure. It was quite nice to have it all squared away beforehand."
"I've been really happy with the way I've been sailing. I managed to put together a very consistent series, which is kind of what this sort of racing is all about," the 28-year-old continued.
"We're certainly in a good place, but I'm still very much aware that we're geared towards Rio. It's great to have won a third Gold Cup and it's a huge honour, but ultimately it's all about next year."
Exmouth's Ben Cornish, who trains alongside Scott, was happy to finish his second Finn Gold Cup in 13th place overall.
"I think my expectations probably got the better of me part way through the week. I put myself inside the top ten for a lot of the week so I raised my expectations and wanted to stay there," the 24-year-old explained.
"I went out a little bit confident yesterday that I could stay there – maybe that was the right or wrong way of looking at it, but still it's a good result. I'm happy to come away with that."
"It's huge benefit to be able to line up with Giles," Cornish continued.
"We can see from his performance here that he's ahead of the game. For me to be able to line up every day that we go training and compare where I'm at and how I'm progressing against him is invaluable and I think everyone in this boat park would want that opportunity. I'm really fortunate."
James Hadden concluded what was his final Finn regatta in 46th.
Murdoch misses 2015 Finn Gold Cup podium on narrowest of margins (from Yachting New Zealand)
Andrew Murdoch has finished fourth at the 2015 Finn Gold Cup missing out on a podium finish by the narrowest of margins.
Placing 9th in today's medal race, which got underway just after 3pm in an eight to ten knot northerly breeze, Murdoch finished the regatta on equal points to Vasilij Zbogar of Slovenia.
The visitor had the better medal race finish (sixth) and he claims the bronze medal denying the kiwi his moment on the podium in front of a home crowd. Giles Scott was awarded the gold medal and closed the regatta 45 points ahead of Jonathan Lobert of France, who won silver.
Murdoch was clearly disappointed. "I'm pretty gutted. Tied third on points but on count back he beat me in that last race and he gets the third. Not what I set out to do today. I'm bloody disappointed," he said after racing.
"But there has been some really good things come out of this week. I'll just have to take all of the learnings out of this medal race."
Murdoch couldn't pin today's medal race result on any one thing; "I felt a little bit sticky upwind, a little bit slow at times. In saying that it was quite patchy and quite light so it's hard to know if it was speed or where you are on the race course. It was a really difficult one, it wasn't straight forward. That's the way it goes."
"I've just got to keep pushing hard from here. It's good to post a good result at this stage of the cycle. There is still plenty of time for me to make some improvements and cut down that gap that Giles has got on us all at the moment. He's sailed really well this regatta."
33 year old Murdoch is a two-time Olympian in the Laser class having represented New Zealand at Qingdao China 2008, and also at London 2012 placing 5th both times.
He has been on the podium at the Laser World Championships four times with a silver medal in 2007, and bronze in 2005, 2010 and 2011.
Murdoch switched classes in 2013, and at last year's Finn Gold Cup (decided at the 2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships in Santander, Spain) he placed 6th. Murdoch grew up sailing in Northland, and he now represents the Tauranga Yacht & Powerboat Club and the Kerikeri Cruising Club.
Race organizers made commendable attempts to start the final race for those outside the top ten taking them out to the course area twice when wind crept in. However, at this morning's briefing the Principal Race Officer advised that he would hold "a fair race, or no race," and in the end it was determined that the final race be cancelled at around 2:30pm.
This meant that New Zealand's Josh Junior, lying outside the top ten at the end of the penultimate day was denied the chance to improve his final placing and he wraps up the 2015 Finn Gold Cup with 14th as his result.
The NZL Sailing Team's younger Finn campaigner, 25-year old Junior, also switched classes from the Laser to the Finn to campaign towards Rio 2016. Since transitioning Junior has regularly placed within the top five at the major international regattas and he won a silver medal at the 2015 Finn European Championships in Weymouth.
The Wellington raised sailor represented New Zealand at the 2015 Rio Test Event where he placed 5th.
Disappointing 2015 Finn Gold Cup for Australian Sailing's Finn Sailors (from Australian Sailing)
Australian Sailing's Finn sailors Jake Lilley (QLD) and Oliver Tweddell (VIC) have finished the 2015 Finn Gold Cup, the Finn Class World Championship, in Takapuna, New Zealand ranked 19th and 22nd respectively.
Lilley and Tweddell, coached by US Olympic silver medallist John Bertrand, both missed out qualifying for the medal race after finishing outside of the top ten at the conclusion of yesterday's (Saturday, 28 November) final day of fleet racing. Today's final race scheduled for boats ranked outside the top ten was cancelled due to the lack of wind. Yesterday's rankings stand as the final World Championship result.
Queenslander Jake Lilley made up for a week of average results by posting two top ten finishes over the last two days, which saw him climb up from 23rd into 19th on the last day and finish the event three spots ahead of his team mate Oliver Tweddell.
For both sailors it was not the result World #2 Jake Lilley and World #6 Oliver Tweddell had hoped for in the 75-boat fleet and consequently the disappointment was high.
"We've been having tricky conditions in Takapuna. Fortunately we had a bit more breeze yesterday, still a lot of shifts and with all the ups and downs we've had it's been a really tough week of racing. I've had a really tough week, actually it's been a bit of a nightmare," a disappointed Jake Lilley said.
"Yesterday morning I woke up and was channelling a bit of Jimmy Spithill and Tom Slingsby and had to do some form of come back and try my best and move up on the overall results ladder. I got to 19th, which is still very disappointing and it has highlighted what we need to go away with and work on."
"In the lead up we were sailing really well and were very happy with how things were going and had high expectations. 19th is not where we wanted to be and it was disappointing again that the final race didn't happen with no additional chance for a come back."
Australian Sailing Squad's Oliver Tweddell (VIC) had been leading over his teammate for most of the week and went into the final race day ranked 15th, but a 38th and 39th saw him drop down the ranks to finish the event in overall 22nd.
"Yesterday was a pretty rough day for me. I came into it in quite a decent position and within strike of the medal race and then just didn't sail very well at all. I had two really deep races, which dropped me miles out of the leader board so it was a rough day," Oliver Tweddell said self-critically.
"Up until then I was quite happy with my sailing. I made a couple of mistakes, which resulted in some deep races, but up until today I was quite happy and after that final day I'm obviously quite gutted."
"That's sailing unfortunately. It doesn't always go your way. Very unfortunate too to miss that last race today with no opportunity to bounce back and to get myself into a decent position."
Oliver Tweddell will contest the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Melbourne from next week (9 – 13 December 2015), while Jake Lilley will be heading to Rio de Janeiro for a training event.
Jake Lilley secured country qualification for the Finn class for Rio 2016 at last year's ISAF Sailing World Championships in Santander, Spain. But who will be representing Australia in the class is yet to be decided with selection ongoing.