Finn Europeans 2008

Finn Europeans 2008 - Club Nautico Scarlino, Follonica, Italy

For high resolution photos and video contact Tessa Wiechmann at ufficiostampa@clubnauticoscarlino.com

Online video footage available at www.sailrev.tv

Preview - Finn heroes gather in Scarlino

The final international Finn class championship prior to the Olympic regatta later this summer is due to take place at Scarlino in Italy next week, from May 2-10. Despite most countries having already finalised their trials for China, there are 93 pre-entries from 30 countries. As is traditional the event also features the Junior European Championship and this year the growth of the junior fleet continues with 19 sailors from 11 countries taking part. The line up also includes a growing number of new sailors finding their footing in the Finn class with an encouraging four entries apiece from Serbia and Ukraine and five from Russia, including six juniors.

The racing is being hosted by the Club Nautico Scarlino. This modern club is located in the La Marina di Scarlino, a brand new marina in the Gulf of Follonica, Maremma, Tuscany. This venue is about half way between Rome and Pisa on Italy's western coastline. The course area for the championship is within spitting distance of the famous Bonaparte retreat, Elba, but the sailors will not be taking prisoners this year, but rather looking to stamp their authority at a crucial point in the campaign for gold in China.

In the final race of the Gold Cup earlier this year in Melbourne, Ben Ainslie (GBR) had the unusual pleasure of having to actually race in order to win the series. In doing so he narrowly beat Dan Slater (NZL) to take his fifth Finn world title, the first person ever to do so. A few weeks later it was back to business as normal though after he had wrapped up the Princess Sofia Regatta before the final race. Having skipped Hyeres, Ainslie will be looking to take yet another title in Italy and further demoralise his fellow sailors. However to do that he will have a hard battle ahead, and I would venture again to say that it is not a foregone conclusion. Although Ainslie is the obvious choice for headline material, there are plenty of others with hatchets in hand ready to knock the Brit off the top spot. There are many possible contenders.

Ainslie's vanquished arch rival for the Qingdao berth and the 2006 European Champion, Ed Wright (GBR) is back for more. Clearly not discouraged by losing out to Ainslie this time, he has already seemed to have refocussed on 2012 and his second place in Hyeres proves he has lost none of his edge.

Despite recently completing two years at the top of the ISAF World Ranking List, Jonas Høgh-Christensen (DEN) has won few major events in that time. A bronze at this year's Finn Gold Cup is the closest he has got to a major title since winning that event in 2006. However a win in Hyeres last week must be a useful confidence boost just before a major title is at stake.

The defending champion is of course Eduard Skornyakov (RUS). However he has never really reproduced the form that made him the surprise winner last year on Lake Bataton, and had to wait until this year's Finn Gold Cup to perform sufficiently well to qualify Russia for a place in China. He managed a 14^th in Hyeres, and that is really his best results since last year's Europeans.

Other likely contenders include second in Palma, Ivan Kljakovich Gaspic (CRO), third in Hyeres Gasper Vincec (SLO), Pieter-Jan Postma (NED), Slater and 2004 silver medalist Rafael Trujillo (ESP), although such is the depth of the Finn fleet at the moment, that any of another 20 sailors is quite capable of winning individual races. However, many sailors have reduced their sailing weight in expectation of light winds in Qingdao, so if next week proves to be windy, there could be some interesting results.

In the juniors, the current World Junior Champion Giles Scott (GBR) looks set to be absent, while the 2007 Junior European Champion Michal Struinski (POL), 2007 silver medalist Frederico Melo (POR) and bronze medalist Piotr Kula (POL), as well of course as the 2007 World Junior Champion Jan Kurfeld (GER) will provide a high level of competition. In addition there are a lot of new names sailing the Junior championship this year, so this will be interesting to watch.

The practice race is scheduled for Monday 4^th May at 14.30, with the first points race the following day at 12.00. An eight race opening series is planned with up to two races each day and a medal race for the top ten and a final race for the rest on Saturday 10^th May.

[top]

Flag parade opens Finn Europeans

For countless years, Scarlino Castle in the Grossetto region of Tuscany acted as a stronghold against enemies and pirates landing at nearby cities. On Sunday night, the ancient fortress played host to the magnificent opening ceremony of the 2008 Finn Open and Junior European Championships.

Following a welcome by local dignitaries and event organisers, a parade of flags ensued with local and visiting children - each one waving the flag of a competing nation - being announced onto the stage accompanied by Beethoven's 'Ode to Joy'. After all 30 flags representing the 30 countries competing had arrived on stage, the championship was officially declared open and guests and competitors were treated to a lavish buffet dinner in the castle's hilltop grounds, offering stunning sunset views over the surrounding Tuscany hillside, the coast and the shadowy shape of Elba sitting on the horizon.

The opening ceremony followed on from the practice race, in which 50 of the 84 official entries to date took part. In winds of 6-8 knots from the south-south-west, the Chairman of the Race committee Carlo Tosi laid a windward/leeward course. Ben Ainslie (GBR) led round the first loop followed by Zach Railey (USA) and Jonas Høgh Christensen (DEN). Ainslie extended his lead on the first downwind and then as usual on the second upwind, most of the fleet started to head back to the marina, leaving fifth placed Italian Finn Class Secretary Marco Buglielli (ITA) to take the race win.

On Saturday night, the International Finn Association held its AGM, which was very well attended and a number of significant proposals were discussed and agreed. The class President Balazs Hajdu reported on the excellent health of the class with increasing nations taking part, increasing junior numbers and the success of numerous development and marketing initiatives over the past year. He said, “Finn sailors are true heroes, sailing one of the most tactical and at the same time athletic sailing boats of the present time. There is a huge amount of fraternity, sportsmanship and fun involved in the life of our class. These are values that all contribute to the growing media interest and that is why we have focussed on the sailors' voice because personalities and our own stories are those things that really appeal to the public.”

Dr Hajdu specifically drew attention to the first all colour and the first online FINNFARE (see http://viewer.zmags.com/showmag.php?mid=fwqdq), video footage on the website, the ongoing success of the FIDeS initiative, new production of Finns in Brazil and the ever expanding Masters fleet which has attracted 280 pre-entries to its World Championship, to be held next week in Medemblik.

He summed up by saying, “The Finn class has always managed in the past to successfully combine tradition with state-of-the-art technology. This is one of the key reasons we are still on the Olympic programme. New issues will be dealt with in the same way.”

For the future, one of the key decisions was finalising venues for European championships over the next few years. First, the popular location of Split in Croatia beat three other excellent bids to run the 2010 Europeans and then the 2011 event was assigned to Helsinki in Finland.

Following its unsuccessful bid for the 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships, Helsinki put together a new package to attract all Olympic classes to Finland for an Open European Championships in July 2011. The Finn class is one of the first classes to official confirm its inclusion in this major initiative, which is fully backed by the City of Helsinki as part of its “150 years of Organised Sailboat Racing in Helsinki” celebration.

The only major rule change proposed – apart from administrative or editorial amendments - was to allow the introduction of limited function digital compasses from next year. The assembled national representatives also sent a strong signal that they wanted the removal from the required equipment of the bailer and the paddle, a traditional rule harking back to the start of the class in Sweden in 1949 when safety cover was not at the level it is today. Other main decisions included changing the major championship course requirement to remove the final upwind leg and to have an offwind finish.

On the water here, the Finn sailors couldn't ask for more. The picturesque setting of the Club Nautico Scarlino has over the past week also brought perfect weather with blue skies, normally steady 10-15 knot winds and temperatures into the mid-20s. Today however, on Monday morning, that has all changed. As this goes out it is raining, cloudy, very little wind and colder with little prospects of much change this morning.

However, the preparations are over and everyone is ready and waiting for the first race of the 2008 Finn Open and Junior Championship here in Scarlino. At 12.00, with a bit of luck, the first start gun of the regatta will be fired. The racing will commence.

Event website: www.eurofinn2008.it

Class website: www.finnclass.org

For high resolution photos and video contact Tessa Wiechmann at ufficiostampa@clubnauticoscarlino.com

Day one - First race goes to Ainslie

After a three hour delay to wait for the wind to arrive, the 2008 Finn Open and Junior Championship got underway in Scarlino, Italy with a single race in 6-8 knots of patchy breeze. Ben Ainslie (GBR) made his intentions quite clear, with a clean race win, after leading at each and every mark. Piotr Kula (POL) was the best of the juniors finishing in 11^th place.

Following last night's spectacular opening ceremony and yesterday's fantastic weather it was with some disappointment that sailors arrived at the Club Nautico Scarlino this morning to find intermittent showers, and very little wind. However by 13.00 the rain had started to dry up and by 14.00 the sun was trying to break through the low cloud and a light breeze was starting to develop. The fleet was sent afloat at 14.15 for a single race at 15.30. A double windward/leeward course was set.

Conditions were quite trying for some with a flat sea and a light wind that tended to reward the middle left. On the first beat a large difference in pressure across the course left those on the right stranded and brought the left to the front. However, right in the middle of the pressure in the middle left was Ben Ainslie (GBR). After a clear start near the favoured pin end he led round the first mark by 50 metres from Guillaume Florent (FRA), Piotr Kula (POL), Ismael Bruno (FRA) and Jonas Høgh-Christensen (DEN).

On the first downwind, the majority of the fleet favoured the right with little chance of any comebacks. Ainslie extended his lead to nearly a minute at the first leeward gate, and there was very little place changing behind him. During the second upwind, Ainslie played the middle ground again, taking little gains with each tack. At the top mark he had extended his lead to one minute 20 seconds. Florent maintained his second place, but behind him Daniel Birgmark (SWE) had moved from around 20^th at the first mark to 11^th at the gate to third place at the second windward mark. Also making a sizable gain was Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO) who went from 9^th to 4^th on the second upwind.

The last downwind produce few changes as by now the fleet was quite well spread out. Ainslie gradually extended his lead to win by nearly two minutes from Florent and Birgmark. These three were followed across the finish in the dying wind by Kljakovic Gaspic, Høgh-Christensen and Italy's 1992 Olympic representative, Emanuele Vaccari (ITA), making a comeback for this regatta.

After the race, Vaccari, who finished 14^th in the 1992 Olympic Regatta said, “This was the kind of race where even the amateurs can have their say because of the light winds. It was great for me to come back into the world of international sailing and kick it off with this kind of a race. It truly made me happy and I'm ecstatic. I stopped sailing in 1996 and I think I can definitely say that I've had my moment of glory here, although I hope to keep on sailing this way.”

Ainslie commented, “It was great to finally get a race after the light winds. It was actually a very difficult race with the breeze shifting about and a long one at that. I managed to pick the right side of the course and kept the lead throughout the race. Having been here for a few days, I know this is not the typical weather conditions for here, so we are hoping for a stronger breeze to return in the days to come.”

Last year's Junior European bronze medalist Piotr Kula (POL) had a great race rounding the first mark in third but finally dropping to 11^th at the finish. The junior sailors here are expected to fight as hard for the Junior title as the seniors are for their event, and it is always encouraging to see juniors challenging for the front of the fleet. Second placed Junior today was Tomas Hrncal (CZE) in 29th and third placed was Viacheslav Sivenkov (RUS) in 30th.

Two races are scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday, and the forecast is for the 10-15 knots breeze that welcomed the sailors to Scarlino and the Gulf of Follonica, Maremma to return. Many are hoping that it does.

Results

[top]

Day two - Long day afloat but two great races

The glorious Tuscany weather returned for the second day of racing at the Finn Open and Junior European Championship in Scarlino, Italy. However, again, the wind didn't make things easy. It took four hours waiting for the wind to stabilise and three general recalls before racing could finally start. When it did, race wins went to Gasper Vincec (SLO) and Pieter-Jan Postma (NED) with a number of favourites picking up high scores.

The moderate north-easterly offshore wind in the morning created some early problems for the race committee as a shifting wind produced two general recalls before the race committee decided to wait for the thermal breeze from the sea. They waited for an hour and nothing changed so decided to start race two in the offshore wind. This got away first time with Zach Railey (USA) starting at the committee boat, taking a short hitch to port before crossing right across to the left and leading round the first mark. He was still leading at the leeward gate, but soon after the wind disappeared and three guns sounded from the committee boat.

The fleet then had to wait a further hour and a half before the next start was attempted at 15.40. By then a 6-8 knot breeze and arrived from the west. After one general recall, the fleet set off to a black flag at 16.00 and was let go, but with numerous boats disqualified for being OCS.

The fleet was very spread out on first upwind where there were lots of shifts and pressure changes. This left a lot of favourites struggling mid-fleet. Eduardo Couto (BRA) made the best of the beat to lead round the top mark followed by Gasper Vincec (SLO) and Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO). Overnight leader Ben Ainslie (GBR) rounded back in 45^th.

Couto extended his lead on the first downwind as the breeze increased, but then lost some ground on next upwind to Chris Cook (CAN) and Gasper Vincec (SLO). Couto rounded third with Guillaume Florent (FRA) in fourth.

On final downwind to the finish, the top four had a nice gap on the bunch behind. Cook and Couto went to the left while Vincec and Florent went to the right. The right paid and Vincec took the win followed by Florent and Cook. Couto was yellow flagged on the final approach but only lost a place to Cook, however he was one of the 16 boats picking up an OCS. Notable casualties also included Peer Moberg (NOR) and Daniel Birgmark (SWE).

Race three got underway almost immediately at 17.20. The wind had by now stabilised and strengthened further to 10-11 knots. The fleet again got away to a black flag and Pieter-Jan Postma (NED) starting near the committee boat, controlled the first upwind to round the top mark with a small lead over Zach Railey (USA) and Tim Goodbody (IRL).

The wind increased to 14 knots on the run and Postma excelled in these conditions to take a commanding lead by the leeward gate. At that gate, the Oscar flag was raised to indicate unlimited pumping. Behind him, Cook had moved up to second ahead of Railey and Ainslie had moved into fourth. The final upwind produced few changes, except Ainslie moved up to third.

On the downwind leg to the finish the sailors were allowed unlimited pumping and clearly enjoyed the conditions. Vincec rounded the top mark in fifth, but took the right side of the leg and moved past Railey and then Ainslie to take third place. Cook was comfortable in second, while Postma extended his lead to win by 50 seconds.

Zach Railey (USA), after a 64th place yesterday, scored a 6^th and 5^th today and is currently in 19th overall, became the new International Finn Association Vice-President Development at the class AGM on Sunday. In doing so he takes charge of various development initiatives around the world. Railey is particularly passionate about introducing younger sailors to the Finn and giving them a useful step up into international sailing. One such initiative is underway in the United States, where a new scheme has just been established to encourage sailors into the class. The USA Class Association is planning to buy a new Finn and offer it on loan for periods of up to one year to suitable candidates, who have to apply for its use. Railey stated, “The objective is to get one new sailor into the class each year through this initiative, probably a talented sailor from another class or someone who has got too big to sail a Laser.”

This ties in well with the IFA's FIDeS initiative to encourage development across a range of nations, that was started two years ago by outgoing Vice-President Michele Marchesini (ITA), who had the vision to create a programme that is benefiting Finn sailors worldwide.

The USA initiative is one of a growing number of Junior development schemes initiated by various national associations and individual sailors, including in Denmark and Germany, to really focus on and develop Junior Finn sailing as a viable and rewarding alternative introduction to top-flight international competition.

In the Junior European Championship this week, Piotr Kula (POL) is leading the field after a 10th and a 41st today and stands in 15th place. Second placed junior is Jan Kurfeld (GER) in 21st while Andriy Gusenko (UKR) lies third in 29^th place overall.

In the overall standings, after three races Gasper Vincec is leading on 10 points with Guillaume Florent also on 10 and Chris Cook in third on 19 points. Two more races are scheduled for tomorrow at 12.00.

Results after three races

[top]

Day three - Florent flies into the lead at Finn Europeans

Guillaume Florent (FRA) has yet to make a mistake at the 2008 Finn European Championship. A first and third today moves him into the overall lead. Chris Cook (CAN) won the second race to move up to second overall, just one point behind the Frenchman.

After yesterday's long, hard day on the Gulf of Follonica, the Finn sailors arrived at the La Marina di Scarlino hoping for a less wearing day on the body and mind. Conditions were the same as the previous day, so rather than wait on the water, the race committee postponed onshore until 13.30 while the wind gradually died and then shifted to a sea breeze of 6-8 knots.

Race four was started at 14.40 with the pin end favoured and the fleet got cleanly away first time. Several favourites including yesterday's race winner Pieter-Jan Postma (NED), Jonas Hogh-Christensen (DEN) and Ben Ainslie (GBR) all started next to the pin and tacked across to the right after 200 metres. However the right was paying well and Guillaume Florent (FRA) built up a useful lead into the first mark over Tapio Nirkko (FIN) and 2005 World Junior Champion, Jan Kurfeld (GER). Hogh-Christensen rounded in 7^th and Ainslie in 14^th.

On the first downwind the left side paid, Guillaume extended his lead on the right, while Ainslie moved up to 5^th by the bottom mark, just behind Nirkko, Kurfeld and Chris Cook (CAN). Most of the fleet went right up the second beat and Florent controlled his lead from this side. Nirko split tacks to play the middle and lost some ground on Cook, while Ainslie moved up to 4^th.

On the final downwind, Florent looked under pressure as Ainslie overtook Cook and then Nirkko and started closing in on Florent. However Florent just had a large enough gap to take the win, followed about 10 boatlengths behind by Ainslie, Cook and Nirkko.

Last year's European Champion, Eduard Skornyakov (RUS) finally had a better race, placing 10^th, after a poor start to the regatta. The overnight leader Gasper Vincec (SLO) recovered from a poor first upwind to finish 13^th.

All this week, Sailing Revolution will be on the water filming the action. Today they recorded the entirety of race four including Ainslie's comeback from 14^th to second place. This is available as a free download at www.sailrev.tv. After only one day of racing the site had already received more than 3,000 download requests.

Race five started almost immediately at 16.05 with the wind now slightly increased to 10-12 knots and followed a similar pattern. The right side paid again, with Cook sailing clear of the pack to lead round the first mark followed by Florent, Ismael Bruno (FRA) and Nirkko. Meanwhile Ainslie had set himself another comeback challenge rounding the top mark in the early 30s.

The 'O' flag was raised for unlimited pumping allowing Cook to stretch out his lead. Also enjoying the downwind was Postma who moved up to 4^th and Ainslie who made the largest gain to about 16^th. On the final upwind of the day, most of the fleet again favoured the right. Cook controlled from the front, playing the shifts on the final approach to the layline and keeping the clever Florent in his sights. However the danger was now coming from Postma who had moved up to second.

Round the top mark it was Cook, Postma, Florent, Zach Railey (USA) and Nirkko. Ainslie had moved up to 11^th and was closing in on the bunch just behind the leaders. The wind had dropped slightly by now so flag 'R' went up to restrict the unlimited pumping.

Cook was now the one under pressure as both Postma and Florent started to close in. However by the finish the positions hadn't changed and Cook took a well deserved win followed by Postma, Florent, Nirkko and Railey. Ainslie continued his comeback tradition and finished 8^th to keep his title chances alive, although he has been making hard work of it so far.

Florent said, “I was really happy about how I sailed today. In the first race I was very fast and I picked the right hand side of the course and managed to stay well ahead of the fleet and in control. I was extremely happy with the race committee's decision to wait on shore this morning. The course was good and the winds were steady and I am getting to know them now. This really is a great place to sail.”

Cook agreed with Florent's thoughts but added, “For me it was a pretty difficult day. In fact if I had to sum it up I would say it was very stressful. I kept on putting putting myself in bad positions on the start line and had a tough time getting across all the bows, but finally managed to pull away. In the second race the free pumping was really fun and it was great to be able to stretch out.”

After five races, Florent leads on 8 points with Cook just one point behind him. Ainslie is lying in third on 15 points.

In the Juniors, Jan Kurfeld had the best day with an excellent 7^th in race four followed by a 27^th in race five. However Piotr Kula (POL) is still the leading Junior in 15^th overall with Kurfeld in 23^rd and Tomas Vika (CZE) in 36^th.

Racing continues tomorrow, Thursday at 12.00.

Results

[top]

Day four - Mixed fortunes for Ainslie, but Florent still leads

How do you respond to someone who is proving reliably consistent and not making any mistakes? Simple. You go out and win the next two races. And that is exactly what Ben Ainslie (GBR) did today at the 2008 Finn Open and Junior Championship in Scarlino, Italy. However, it got complicated as Ainslie was protested for a start line incident and was disqualified from race seven.

It was all change in Scarlino this morning. The strong offshore wind that has been a feature of the past two days had given way to a light onshore wind. By 11.00 this had started to kick in so the fleet was sent out for a first start at 12.45 in 10-12 knots from the west and gloriously brilliant blue skies.

After one general recall, race six started under the black flag. Ed Greig (GBR) started two boats up from the pin end, sailed to the left hand side, tacked on the corner and rounded the windward mark with a 10 boat length lead ahead of the rest of the British team. Ben Ainslie (GBR) rounded second followed by Andrew Mills (GBR), Ed Wright (GBR) and Mark Andrews (GBR).

On the downwind Ainslie gybed immediately to port and was soon in the lead which he extended all the way to the leeward gate. On the next upwind he played the shifts up the middle with Greig maintaining second place. However the largest gain was made by Anthony Nossiter (AUS) who moved from outside the top 15 to third place at the top mark.

On the downwind to the finish Ainslie stretched out a significant lead to win the race by just under a minute. Behind him, second placed Greig received a yellow flag and dropped to fifth doing his penalty turns. Wright recovered from fourth at the top mark to cross the finish line in second with Nossiter third and Daniel Birgmark (SWE) in fourth.

As yesterday the race was recorded on film by Sailing Revolution and this race along with a series of interviews, as well as the rest of the action this week, is available free online at www.sailrev.tv. It's well worth a look

Race seven was very much the same with those favouring the left hand side looking rosy while those sailing to the right suffered severely. Starting 10-15 boats back from the pin end, Wright sailed to the left hand corner to build a useful lead round the first mark. Ainslie started beneath him but got buried and had to tack off and duck transoms. He managed to find a clear lane and worked up the middle to round the top mark just behind Wright. Third round the mark was Jonas Høgh-Christensen (DEN), who started right on the pin and also went to the left.

The leaders split gybes on the first downwind with a separation of up to 200 metres at one point. Wright and Ainslie took the right while Høgh-Christensen and Gasper Vincec (SLO) took the left. At the gate, Høgh-Christensen had moved in front and rounded the port mark and sailed on few a few hundred metres before tacking back to the left. Ainslie rounded the starboard mark right in front of Wright and both sailed out to the left. When the three crossed again near the top of the beat, Ainslie was clear ahead and has a useful gap on Wright in second. Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO) rounded just ahead of Høgh-Christensen.

On the final downwind, the wind started to drop significantly but Ainslie managed to extend his lead to finish some 50 seconds ahead of Wright.

In a bizarre twist, Chris Cook (CAN) second placed going into today, protested Ainslie for a start line incident, but both sailors were disqualified for separate incidents at the start. In addition, Wright was scored OCS, so this left Kljakovic Gaspic as the race winner, with Høgh-Christensen in second. Then Gasper Vincec (SLO) was disqualified after a top mark incident with Zach Railey (USA), leaving Railey with the third place finish, after crossing the line 6^th.

Yesterday's overnight leader Guillaume Florent (FRA), who placed 12th and 8^th today holds a 10 point lead over Ainslie. Yesterday's second placed, Chris Cook (CAN) also had a bad day scoring a 11^th and a DSQ, and is placed third on 34 points.

Meanwhile, the battle for the Junior title is hotting up with Jan Kurfeld (GER) reducing the points gap to the current leader Piotr Kula (POL) to just 11 points. Third placed Tomas Vika (CZE) is some 77 points off the lead so will be looking to maintain his 31 points lead over fourth placed Junior Andriy Gusenko (UKR).

Ainslie commented, “The breeze is very consistent around here, although today it was further from the south, and the waves were a little different. Yesterday I made life hard for myself but today I chose the right side of the course and managed to take advantage of the left hand shift. I've never been here before but it really is a beautiful place. I got to see some of it while we were training but of course when we are racing we are 100 per cent focussed on the competition. I haven't cruised in a while, but this would be a great place to come and do some.” The Gulf of Follonica is located in the heart of the Tuscan archipelago with the islands of Montecristo, Elba and Giglio a quick sail away.

Tomorrow will be a crucial day as the final qualification race will be sailed to decide who will sail in the medal race on Saturday. There will also a 9^th race for the rest of the fleet.

[top]

Day five - Trujillo win race 8

At la Marina di Scarlino tension is building for tomorrow’s Medal Race. Ace Ben Ainslie will have to make up 8 points to beat French Guillaume Florent. The international sailors are enthusiastic about Maremma’s race course and weather conditions.

Maremma, Marina di Scarlino May 9^th 2008 – Tomorrow’s Medal Race will be crucial to determine the European Finn Champion. The eighth race took place today under sunny skies and a 8 to 11 knot southwesterly breeze. Olympic silver medallist (Athens 2004) and main trimmer on +39 Spaniard Rafael Trujillo won, followed by Irish Timothy Goodbody in second position and Swede Daniel Birgmark in third.

A large spectator fleet was a witness to yet another example of Ben Ainslie’s extraordinary sailing: after rounding mark 1 somewhere after 40^th, he wrapped up the race in 8^th place capturing 4 points from French Guillaume Florent, the provisional leader of the scoreboard. Yesterday Ainslie had been disqualified after having won race 7.

Tomorrow’s Medal Race will be a make or break one. The top ten will face off in the crystal blue waters of Maremma’s sea beginning at 12 p.m. The course will be a short one, the race will last about 30 minutes, and there will be a double point system. The rest of the fleet will compete in race 9 after the Medal Race. The prize giving ceremony will be held immediately thereafter, closing this fantastic European Finn Championship which saw the best athletes of this Olympic class race in Maremma just a few weeks before Qingdao.

The athletes are happy with the organization at la Marina di Scarlino and the race courses set in the Gulf of Follonica, considered by many among the best in the world.

Today’s winner Rafael Trujillo speaks for everyone when he says: “I am truly happy to have raced here in Scarlino, Maremma. This is a perfect spot to hold races at the highest level and I hope that other events of this importance will soon be organized here. The surroundings are breathtaking and I really loved the food and the wine! Today I performed well and qualified for tomorrow’s Medal Race, an important step that allows me to develop the consistency I need for the Olympic Games.”

[top]

Day six - Ainslie wins gold in thrilling medal race

After a week of drama and ups and downs, Ben Ainslie (GBR) secured his fourth European title in a decisive manner by first hunting down his main opponent Guillaume Florent (FRA) and then going on to win the medal race by over one minute. Florent dropped to the bronze medal position after placing eighth while Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO) snatched the silver medal after a second place. In the Junior championship, Jan Kurfeld (GER) took the title away from Piotr Kula (POL), who had led the championship from the opening race.

With wind from 240° at 10-12 knots, the medal race was a superb show on the water. The 30 minute race in Maremma’s crystal blue waters was dominated by Ben Ainslie (GBR). To win the title he had to beat the leader Guillaume Florent (FRA) by four places. The pre-start was a nail biter with Ainslie hunting down Florent from the preparatory signal. Ainslie managed to corner the Frenchman into the left hand corner during the pre-start and in the last minute was able to have a penalty inflicted on his opponent, but also collected one himself at the same time. Having offloaded the penalty, Ainslie started in the centre of the line with good speed. All this happened in under a minute.

The remainder of the race was history. At 14.15 after the wind had finally settled from the south-west, the Race Committee presided by Carlo Tosi fired the start gun. Ainslie sprinted away, keeping the fleet and his direct opponent Florent in check. Florent ended the race in 8^th place, while Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO) placed second to secure the silver medal. Florent ended up with the bronze. Throughout the championship Ainslie was one of the few sailors who managed to comeback from mistakes, and several times made up 20 or more places to turn a poor first beat into a keeper of a race.

Ben Ainslie talked about the start of the race, “The wind came in very quickly and so did the start. My plan was to give Guillaume (Florent) a hard time in the pre-start as I needed to get a few points on him. We had a few incidences where I was on starboard and he on port, but the Jury decided to give me a penalty as well. In the end it worked out fine because it distracted him and I was able to start in the middle of the line with good speed.” Ainslie then spoke about the week in Maremma stating, “On the whole it was a great week, but with very shifty and changing conditions. It was good training for what the situation in Qingdao will be like.”

After the medal race the rest of the fleet competed in Race 9 and Peer Moberg (NOR) was the winner.

In the Junior European Championship, Jan Kurfeld (GER), the 2006 Junior World Champion, won the gold medal after placing consistently higher than Piotr Kula (POL) in the closing races. Kula, the 2007 Junior European Championship silver medalist, had led the Junior title race from the first race, but lost the title to Kufeld by just seven points. Bronze medalist Tomas Vika (CZE) was some distance behind the these two.

The 2008 European Championship closed as it began, with a race win for current Olympic and world champion Ben Ainslie. With just 90 days to go before the opening of the Olympic sailing regatta in Qingdao, who would now bet against him taking his fourth Olympic medal?

Those who want to see the medal race can view it online via www.sailrev.tv, where there are also videos of many of the other races from the week, as well as interviews with the sailors.

[top]