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Finn
European Championships 2006 - Preview
The 2006 Finn European Championship opens in Palamós in
Spain this weekend with a line-up of 86 Finn sailors from 28 countries.
The pre-entries include former European Champions Emilios Papathanasiou
(GRE) and Luca Devoti (ITA) as well as current World Champion Jonas Hoegh-Christensen
(DEN).
The recent Qingdao International Regatta highlighted the
fact that most Finn sailors are still some way behind current Olympic
champion, quadruple world champion and last year’s European Champion, Ben
Ainslie. His 9 wins in 11 races in China stunned his fellow Finn
sailors as well as the rest of the sailing world, but with a return to his
America’s Cup team, the Finn fleet in Spain can breathe easy for a while,
and try again to up their game.
As well as the Senior European Championship, the regatta
also includes the Finn Junior European Championship. Between 19th and
21st, the junior sailors have access to a junior regatta and clinic to
prepare them for the following week. This is a new initiative for the
International Finn Class, setting the groundwork for next year’s Junior
World Championship in Moscow.
The top contenders this year would have to include Hoegh-Christensen,
Papathansiou and Rafael Trujillo (ESP), who will be sailing on home
waters. The Athens Silver medallist was clearly the fastest in the breeze
at this year’s Finn Gold Cup in Split, but a few bad results in light
winds cost him dearly. If the breeze holds in Palamós he could prove hard
to beat.
Other sailors who could pose a threat are Edward Wright (GBR)
after an impressive bronze at the Gold Cup, Daniel Birgmark (SWE) who
seems to improve every regatta and Ivan Kljakvic-Gaspic (CRO) who won a
race at the Gold Cup and finished in 8th overall.
This year also sees some old faces back in the Finn. Luca
Devoti won the Europeans back in 1997, the year they were held in Split.
He hasn’t competitively raced a Finn since 2004, but after watching most
of his +39 team mates compete in this year’s Gold Cup, has presumably
decided he can do better! The sole competitor from South America, Jorge
Zarif (BRA), surprised everyone by winning a race in the 2004 Gold Cup.
Now 22 years after representing Brazil in the Olympics (Long Beach in
1984) he is back again. Some people just can’t get enough of this class.
There are also some new faces, among them former Laser sailor Brendan
Casey (AUS), who jumped in at the deep end for the Qingdao International
Regatta, and although only finishing in 12th, produced some
good results in the mix.
Any one of 10 or so other sailors is capable of winning
races, so the championship should be open and competitive. Other names to
key an eye on are Gasper Vincec (SLO), Anthony Nossiter (AUS), Matt Howard
(GBR), Chris Cook (CAN), Pieter-Jan Postma (NED), Waclav Szukiel (POL),
Guillaume Florent (FRA) and Johan Tillander (SWE).
The championship officially opens on Friday 22nd September
with measurement and registration. Nine races will be sailed between
Monday 25th and Saturday 30th September to decide the 2006 Senior and
Junior Finn Europeans Champions.
Event website:
www.cvpalamos.org/finneuropean
Day 1
World Champion opens the
score
The 2006
Finn European Championship was declared open last Sunday in Palamos.
This is the first major Finn championship staged in Palamos after the
Finn Gold Cup in 1977. Twenty nine years ago, the event was dominated by
two of the best Spanish sailors, Joaquin Blanco who took the title and
Jose-Luis Doreste in second place.
Sixty
nine sailors from 22 countries have come to Palamos to contest for the
European Championship titles in the Senior and Junior divisions.
Ben
Ainslie, busy with
America’s
Cup commitments, and Ivan Klakovitch Gaspic (CRO) now 22 years old, will
not be defending their title.
The 2006
Finn European championship is the first Finn major event where a revised
version of the “new” Olympic format will be sailed. Nine races are
scheduled as usual but the last race will be split in 2 groups: a Medal
race for the top 10 and another “normal” race for the rest of the fleet,
with only the Medal race being not discardable and counting double
points.
Measurement and registration was a smooth affair in the hands of a very
experienced team put together by Regatta Director, Carlos Palomares
(Christmas race organiser). Lisa Camos, well known in the international
circuit for the Christmas race, the Princesa Sofia Trophy as well as the
ISAF Worlds in
Cadiz, used her usual
kindness and efficiency to deal with every situation, only 6 weeks away
to give birth to her first baby son! Coming all
the way from
Cadiz, Rafael Serrano (Luky) will lead
the racing Committee team after officiating as PRO during the last Finn
Gold Cup in
Moscow. IFA International
Measurer, Juri Saraskin received the help of Paco Carrasco to prepare
the measurement area, and of Paul Maes to measure the sails.
Everything was ready on Sunday evening, all but the weather that had
been providing heavy rain and erratic winds for the last 3 days.
However, it is common knowledge that the weather before an event is
never the same than during the regatta. Luckily this proved once again
to be true…
Sunshine
and steady breeze welcomed the sailors on the first day of racing in
Palamos. The first race was started with a 14 to 16 knots Northerly wind
after a clear start. Australian and French sailors dominated the front
of the fleet on the triangular course. The Oscar flag was raised
allowing free kinetics until the last upwind to the finish when the wind
dropped under 10 knots. Some of the leaders dropped back a few places.
Guillaume Florent (FRA) maintained his lead to win the first race of the
championship, in front of Ed Wright (GBR) and Anthony Nossiter (AUS).
The
first race finished just on time, allowing the wind to operate a radical
rotation. The racing committee had to reset the course to the new
direction and the second race started on a triangular course and under
Oscar flag. Rafael Trujillo was obviously more familiar with the new
wind configuration, leading the fleet from start to finish: “I have
never performed well in a European Championship”, declared the Athens
Silver medallist before the regatta,”I won medals at world and Olympic
regattas, but never at Europeans!” This victory on the first day is
probably the first step to better results at Europeans.
Jonas
Hoegh-Christensen (DEN) took the second place in front of Gasper Vincec
(SLO).
Strong from winning the
2006 World Championship, Jonas Hoegh-Christensen is leading the overall
scoreboard with 7 points. Ed Wright is second on equal points (8) with
Gasper Vincec. Regatta favourite Emilios Papathanasiou (GRE) had to
withdraw soon after the start of the first race. “My knee is hurting and
after such a long season it might be better to rest and recover.”
Mark Andrews, scored the
best results in the 10 boats Junior division with a 25th and
a 22nd. He is in 26th position overall. Piotr Kula
(POL) is the second Junior in front of Andrew Mills (GBR).
The sailors were greeted
on the shore with fresh fruits, pancakes, and drinks.
Two races are scheduled
for Tuesday.
Event website:
www.cvpalamos.org/finneuropean
Day 2
Ed Wright takes the lead
in the breeze
Finn sailing at its
best: Athletic, physical and fun!
The conditions today
in Palamos provided some great sailing. The sun was out, the
Tramontana was blowing from 18 to 26 knots, small choppy waved
combined with a forming swell made racing exciting.
Ed Wright made the
most of the day winning the first race and placing 3rd in
the second. The Skandia team GBR sailor is now in the lead of the
championship distancing current World Champion Jonas Hoegh-Christensen
(DEN) by 6 points on the overall classification. It has been a great
day as well for Anthony Nossiter (AUS) who enjoyed the gruelling
conditions. The team +39 sailor warmed up in the first race with a 5th
place before winning the second in style, crossing the line 40 seconds
in front of Spanish hope Rafael Trujillo. “I trained a lot in
Valencia
in my Finn” explained Nossiter, a broad grin on his face,” but only in
light weather. It is a good change to have these strong breeze, that’s
more like
Australia!”.
Averaging 22 knots in
the first race and gusting to 26 the wind was making racing tough at
times. In the second race it went down to 16 knots, however Soren Holm
(DEN) saw his mast brake and fall while on the first beat.
With four sailors
winning a race each so far, the championship remains open half way
through the opening series. The absence of Emilios Papathanasiou, who
went back to
Greece
today after hurting his knee while racing on the first race yesterday,
opens the games even more.
Mark Andrews is
increasing the gap in the Junior division after a 7th in
race 3. He gains 5 places in the general classification in 21st.
Andrew Mills is 34th and Piotr Kula 3rd Junior
in 38th place.
Principal race
officer, Rafael Serrano, advised the coaches during the daily debrief
that there could be two races tomorrow. The weather forecast is
announcing 3 knots of breeze for the next days.
Event website:
www.cvpalamos.org/finneuropean
Day 3
Ismael Bruno masters
light conditions
2006 FINN European Championship-
27/09/2006
Today’s only
race gave the first victory in a European championship to Frenchman
Ismael Bruno. “I had a great feeling this morning that today I could
win a race” declared the sailor from Martinique. With a discard coming
into play, Bruno remains into 8th place overall. Ed Wright
conserves the lead of the fleet despite crossing the line in 42nd
place today!
The weather
forecast was right and very little wind was present in Palamos on
Wednesday morning. Regatta PRO, Rafael Serrano “Luky”, went with his
team to the racing area at 10 AM to be ready for the wind. The
question was which one! Predictions were for fewer than 8 knots but
the direction was highly unpredictable.
In the end,
the wind decided to reinforce with 6 knots from the East and the
warning signal was finally given at 3.30PM.
Two general
recalls forced the racing committee to display the Black flag which
disqualified 4 sailors on the line: Daniel Birgmark (SWE), Henry
Bagnall (GBR), Rudolf Lidarik (CZE) and Harles Liiv (EST).
The wind was
patchy with different pressure on the race course. Ismael Bruno (FRA)
followed by Spanish sailors Miguel Fernandez Vasco, Diego Fructuoso
and Pablo Arrarte went for more pressure on the right side of the beat
to round the mark in front of the fleet. Junior sailor from Hungary
Marton Belicsay passed the mark in 4th position. On the
other side, some regatta favourites like Jonas Hoegh-Christensen (DEN)
and Ed Wright (GBR) found less pressure and rounded the top mark in
difficult position.
The wind had
changed again on the run providing more pressure on the opposite side
(the right of the run). While Ismael Bruno increased his lead to the
leeward mark, other sailors gained precious places. Florian Raudaschl
(AUT), Guillaume Florent (FRA), Gasper Vincec (SLO) and Tim Goodbody
caught up to the leaders, while best improver was Marin Misura (CRO).
“I rounded the top mark in the 20’s and gained nearly 15 places on the
run.” explained the Croat. “I went to the right end side of the run
which had more pressure.”
With the wind
starting to drop, the Racing Committee had decided to shorten the
course and lay the finish line at the top of the second beat. “We had
to take a fast decision” explained Luky during the daily Coaches
debrief after the race. “The wind was around 4 knots and we thought it
would either die totally or come from another direction.”
The second
beat was dominated by Ismael Bruno and Florian Raudaschl marking each
other. Meanwhile Marin Misura kept gaining more places. The French
Caribbean sailor got the gun with the Austrian close behind in second
and Misura third.
The first
Juniors across the line were Krysztof Dabkowski from Poland in 26th
position and Marton Belicsay (HUN) 31st.
Despite
a bad race discarded today, Ed Wright is conserving the lead of the
Championship. However, the podium is now more open than ever.
Jonas Hoegh-Christensen (DEN) is only 6 points behind while 3 sailors
are on equal points for third place, 2 points from the Dane! Guillaume
Florent takes the third position from Marin Misura (4th)
and Gasper Vincec (5th) thanks to his bullet on the first
race. Spanish Silver medallist, Rafael Trujillo is in 6th
position, 3 points from the podium!
Mark Andrews,
the leading Junior has suffered from the light conditions today. He
keeps the lead in the Junior fleet despite scoring his worth result
(47). “Can I please have some more strong wind?” Junior doesn’t mean
small in the Finn class and close to 2 meters, the young Scott has
proven he prefers the breeze!
Event website:
www.cvpalamos.org/finneuropean
Day
4
Second
bullet for Ed Wright
2006 FINN European
Championship- 28/09/2006
By
winning his second race in the Finn European championship, Ed Wright is
comforting his lead in the 69 boat fleet.
There was little hope
for sailing this morning with unsettled light wind over Palamos. The
sailors left the club around
11AM while the
racing committee was measuring the wind on the race course. Reported to
be stabilised at 6 knots from the North, the course was set along the
shore and the warning signal was given at
12AM. The first 2
attempts to start were quickly aborted by the shifty wind. After a
general recall on the third start followed by a change of course and
another general recall, the Black flag was hoisted to give the fleet a
clear start on the 5th attempt.
Race 6 has probably been
one of the trickiest in the championship with light winds and currents.
“Every tack had its importance” explained Rafael Trujillo, first at the
windward mark. “I went to the right side of the course that seemed to
have more air. I was followed by Sander Willems (NED). I went a bit
further while Sander tacked sooner. This was enough to place some boats
between us.” The Olympic Silver medallist lost places on each leg to
finish the race in 7th position in front of Piotr Mazur (POL), first
junior across the line, and Sander WiIllems (NED).
Ed Wright passed the
Spaniard on the run, distancing the fleet on each leg. Marin Misura (CRO)
showed once again his speed climbing from 11th at the first
top mark to 2nd in the race and the Championship. First top
10 result for Canadian Chris Cook who places 3rd in the race
in front of Guillaume Florent. The French keeps his third place in the
overall classification while Jonas Hoegh-Christensen loses 3 places from
2nd to 5th after adding 13 points to his score
today.
Tomorrow’s weather
forecast is for light wind again. The chances to sail 2 races appear
slim. Racing on Friday will determine the top 10 sailors that will get
access to the Medal race.
Event website:
www.cvpalamos.org/finneuropean
Day 5
Second
Victory for Guillaume Florent
A 7th
race, on the penultimate racing day in Palamos, won by French
Guillaume Florent , has confirmed the ten sailors that will sail in
the Medal race Saturday.
The
racing committee saved the day’s only race by shortening the second
beat and placing the finishing line at the top of the beat. Starting
with 8 knots from the North-East the wind had rapidly weaken to 6
knots and by the end of the second beat it was close to 4! The light
conditions have made racing very hard and added unwanted points to the
score of some regatta favourites.
Marin
Misura (CRO) who had so far only scored top ten results has placed 25th
and lost a place in the general ranking to third. Spanish Olympic
Silver medallist Rafael Trujillo has suffered in the light wind
crossing the line in 43rd and is ranked 6th
overall, while Ismael Bruno (FRA) has narrowly conserved his spot on
the Medal race after scoring 33 points today. He is on equal points
with Chris Cook (CAN) who is the unlucky 11th. The Canadian
had put his last efforts on this race to secure a place in the Medal
race. Leading from the start after going on the left of the course,
Cook lost the lead of the race only 50 meters away from the finishing
line when Guillaume Florent won his second race in the Championship.
The French, 6th in the Finn Gold Cup in
Split this year, has
climbed to the second place in the overall classification 8 points
from regatta leader, Ed Wright (GBR) who finishes in 4th
position today.
Only
the top 5 sailors can get a place on the podium while the Championship
title will either go to Ed Wright (GBR) regatta leader, Guillaume
Florent (FRA) or Marin Misura (CRO).
The
best performing Junior today is Mark Andrews (GBR) finishing 9th
and placing 22nd overall. He is also celebrating his 21st
birthday! The second Junior across the line and overall is Piotr Kula
(POL) in 36th position, 1 place in front of Andrew Mills (GBR).
The
weather prediction for Saturday is for an 8 to 10 knots south-westerly
wind.
The
Warning signal for the Medal race is scheduled for
12 AM and will be
followed with the last race for the rest of the fleet.
The
Finn sailors have decided, after lengthy discussions, to amend the
Sailing Instructions used at the Olympic test event for the Medal
race. The third “yellow flag” penalty under rule 42 will give an
automatic 10th place to the sailor. In
Qingdao, 2 or 3 “yellow
flags” gave the same penalty (DNE = 22 points). A large majority of
sailors and the IFA executives have preferred to give higher penalty
to a boat infringing rule 42 for the third time. The International
Jury panel, lead by John Doerr (GBR) had to amend the Sailing
instructions in this regard.
Other
discussions among the sailors addressed the weighting of the Medal
race. Here again a large majority of sailors declared to be satisfied
with the current scoring and were worried to see any change in the
weighting of the medal race so close to the Olympic event.
Event website:
www.cvpalamos.org/finneuropean
Final day:
Ed Wright
crowned Finn European
Champion.
“Just about time!” declared Ed
Wright. The new Finn European Champion has made a rocket debut in the
Finn class. Starting the Finn only 18 months ago (with two 3rd
places in Miami and Hyères) the Team Skandia GBR sailor has demonstrated
throughout the regattas his skills but also his determination to go
further in his achievements. This year Ed Wright won the French Olympic
Week in Hyères, place 2nd in the Holland regatta and 3rd
in the Finn Gold Cup in Split!
In Palamos, Ed Wright has taken
the lead of the regatta from the second day. Despite a 43rd
scored in the first light air race, Wright has sailed at his best in all
conditions scoring 7 top 6 results and winning 2 races.
Second in the Championship is
Guillaume Florent. The French has come back to sailing after one year
break that proved positive. Florent finishes in 5th place in
Hyères, 6th at the Finn Gold Cup in Split. This is his
highest achievement in a Finn major event after a Bronze medal in the
2004 European Championship in La Rochelle. “I am extremely satisfied
with my results” declared the French while packing his boat. Florent has
demonstrated his skill in all range of conditions, won 2 races in the
breeze and light wind and only placed in the top 13 in every races!
The Bronze medal in the
championship goes to Marin Misura. “After my bad results in the Finn
Gold Cup in Split, I am really happy. This is like winning for me!” The
24 years old Croatian had a good start this year after placing 2nd
in Hyères and 3rd in Kiel. However, he missed his chance to perform at
home ranked 26th overall in the 2006 Finn Gold Cup.
The medal race was blessed with
good and steady wind that reached 13 knots at the start. Johan Tillander
(SWE) took a rocket start in the middle of the line and sailed the first
beat in front of the fleet on the left side of the course. Gasper Vincec
after starting on starboard to the right tacked straight away to go also
to the left of the course. Among the top 5 sailors (the medal
potentials), Jonas Hoegh-Christensen was the only one to chose the right
of the course. “We had
some practice before the race and
all the time the right side was better with more pressure!”
Unfortunately for the Dane, the boats coming from the left came in front
at the top mark with Johan Tillander leading the group made of Gasper
Vincec (SLO) and Guillaume Florent (FRA) closely followed by Ed Wright
who didn’t loose sight of his direct opponent during the all race! The
placing didn’t change much. The start and the first choice on the beat
are preponderant in a 30 minutes race. The ten finalists were supported
and cheered up by the rest of the fleet who had convened around the race
course waiting for the start of their last race that will determine
placing from 11th onward as well as the Juniors European
title.
Mark Andrews
add the Finn
Junior European title to his recent World Junior title.
After celebrating yesterday his 21st
birthday, Mark Andrews (GBR) places 14th in the championship
last race to climb to 21st overall. He will be awarded the
Nikos Kouklelis trophy for best Junior in the Finn European
Championship. Piotr Kula gets Silver and Andrew Mills the Bronze. There
were 10 juniors competing in the regatta.
The regatta has ended in Palamos
with an 8th race for the sailors not selected in the Medal
race. Racing started soon after the end of the medal race with 11 knots
from the south. The left was favoured allowing Peter-Jan Postma (NED),
and Italians Davide Bortoletto and Riccardo Cordovani to get the lead at
the top mark.
The run was the same story with
sailors gaining ground on the left of the course (right of run).
Canadian Chris Cook climbed to second behind Peter-Jan Postma while
Rafal Szukiel (POL) followed in third place. The trio conserved their
position until the finish.
Chris Cook, who is celebrating his
birthday tomorrow has shown is full potential at the end of the
championship to score a 3rd and two 2nd in the
last 3 races. He is placed in 11th place overall.
Racing in Palamos proved to be
very interesting and of high quality with different range and direction
of winds experienced. Rafael Serrano “Luky”, the Principal Race Officer,
and his team made the most of the conditions, adapting the course and
length to the situations, anticipating the weather that proved
capricious in the middle of the Championship to provide great racing for
the sailors competing in the 2006 Finn European Championship.
The Jury
composed of John Doerr (GBR) as Chairman, Ana Sanchez (ESP), Pat Healy
(USA), Jan Stage (DEN), Luiz Ferrandiz (ESP) and National Judge Paco
Quinonero (ESP), provided fair racing
Event website:
www.cvpalamos.org/finneuropean |
