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Trofeo S.A.R. Princesa Sofía MAPFRE
Videos of interviews with Finn sailors
and the racing in Palma will be posted on the Finn Class dedicated YouTube
Channel. The Finn Channel at
http://www.youtube.com/TheFinnChannel
Results at :
http://www.trofeoprincesasofia.org/result.php?miclase=FINN
Finn focus at Palma – Sunday 5 April
Finland's number one Finn sailor Tapio
Nirkko (FIN) took the overall lead in the Finn class at the Trofeo S.A.R.
Princesa Sofía MAPFRE in Palma after two testing races in around 8-10
knots of north-westerly thermal breeze, which produced 'medium sized
shifts'. Starting at or on the pin end of the line in both races, Nirkko
showed good pace throughout to post a 5th and a 2nd
to lead overnight after day one.
Nirkko is one of just seven 2008
Olympic sailors present in Palma. After finishing a disappointing 18th
in Qingdao, he has started his 2009 season in the best possible way. A
recent win in the 80 boat Cannes International Regatta has given him a
welcome confidence boost that appears to be holding.
Second overnight is Andrew Mills (GBR),
a member of Great Britain's development squad, which has been doing a lot
of training in Palma over the winter months. Mills, who has shown a lot of
potential at recent regattas, said, gMy plan for race two was to
consolidate on my 8th place in race one with another top 10. I had good
pace up first beat and rounded third at the top mark. Then the right side
paid on the second beat and I lead from here till the finish.h
Mills, who also won races in Cannes, is
one place ahead of fellow British sailor Ed Wright (GBR). Wright spent
most of the winter on the other side of the Atlantic which culminated in
wins at the Rolex Miami OCR and the US Mid-Winters, beating 2008 Olympic
Silver medalist Zach Railey (USA) and 2004 Olympic Silver Medalist Rafael
Trujillo (ESP) in the process.
While Railey is not present in Palma,
Trujillo is lying in sixth after a 6th and 10th, on
equal points with Marin Misura CRO) and Gasper Vincec (SLO). Deniss Karpak
(EST) was provisionally in fourth place after placing a consistent 7th
and 5th, but lost a protest in race 2 and now lies in 24th
place.
Finn
focus at Palma – Monday 6 April
 Wins for
Bryan Boyd (USA) and Rafael Trujillo (ESP) on day two in the Finn class at
the Trofeo S.A.R. Princesa Sofía MAPFRE in Palma shuffled the leaderboard
somewhat as the sailors enjoyed near perfect sailing conditions in the
seabreeze off Mallorca.
Boyd, the
only non-European Finn sailor competing in Palma won the first race of the
day, sailed in 11-13 knots of wind. It was close racing throughout, but
Boyd passed race leader Trujillo on the approach to the finish to take a
well deserved win. The two were followed over the line by Ed Wright (GBR),
Giles Scott (GBR) and Piotr Kula (POL). Overnight leader Tapio Nirkko
(FIN) placed a lowly 22nd.
For Boyd
it was his first win ever at this level. “I had a clear start at the pin
end, which was surprisingly uncrowded. The left side has been working
really well the past two days with a bit more pressure and some shift off
the headlands. The breeze was coming up, and I was able to lead the left
side back across about two thirds of the way up the beat. Rafa and Ed were
pushing me quite hard to keep hiking, and I managed to round the top just
in front of Rafa. There was a bit of separation to the top three and we
had a good battle downwind with Rafa rounding the leeward mark just ahead
and Ed and I splitting the gates to share second.”
“All
three of us have been training together through the winter, so it was nice
to have some mates to motivate each other up the last beat. It was again
mostly left up the beat with a few tacks at the top trying to just edge
ahead. Rafa squeaked ahead, I was second and Ed third, all bow to stern.
The run was quite difficult, as the waves were a bit confused and finding
the groove was on again, off again. Rafa and I found some nice waves and
pulled out a bit on Ed at the bottom. The last 200 meters at the bottom
was quite intense, with Rafa and I crossing paths more than once. At the
finish I had Rafa by about a mete efor the win. It felt really nice to
notch my first race win at a World Cup event, and move into the top ten
overall.”
In race 4,
Trujillo went one place better, winning from Nirkko and second placed
overnight Andrew Mills (GBR). Scott, the 2008 Junior World Champion
rounded off an excellent day with another fourth place to add to his
fourth place in race three. Equally consistent was Piotr Kula (POL), who
after some poor results yesterday, posted another fifth place to move up
to 15th overall.
Trujillo
said later, “It was typical seabreeze conditions from Palma. The wind came
mid afternoon and went from 8 to 14 knots. It was perfect conditions for
the Finn, especially for the second race. The Oscar flag was up and we had
great pumping and surfing conditions with big waves!”
After four
races, Trujillo has taken the overall lead from Wright, Mills, Scott and
Nirkko.
One of the
new sailors present in Palma is Deniss Karpak (EST). Having won the Laser
bronze medal at the 2007 ISAF World Sailing Championships in Cascais, he
finished 24th at the Olympic Regatta in Qingdao last year. He
said, “Last season I was thinking about my sailing future. I wanted to
sail in the Finn. My results in Qingdao led me to make the right choice.
I'm a tall guy, so the Finn is my perfect class. I actually bought the
boat in Qingdao.”
“After that I competed in a little Ukrainian regatta with 7 Finns in
September, then no sailing until December, when I was training with my
friend Gasper Vincec (SLO) and then a lot of training here in Palma. In
total I have only done three months of Finn sailing. Not much for the
battle with the Finn top sailors such as Rafa...and others.”
Yesterday Karpak was very pleased with his 7th and 5th,
even though he lost a protest in race two and was disqualified. “Today I
did two normal races at my normal level...twice 18th due to so little Finn
experience and the first time in my life I have done free pumping. That
was really hard, so I need to work at that. But I like to sail Finn, it's
cool”
Finn focus
at Palma – Wednesday 8 April
After
excellent sailing conditions for the first two days of the regatta, the
Trofeo S.A.R. Princesa Sofía MAPFRE in Palma turned into a waiting game,
with no racing for Finns on Tuesday and only one race on Wednesday as the
breeze refused to co-operate. In that race Rafael Trujillo (ESP)
reinforced his position at the top with his second race win of the series,
beating Ed Wright (GBR) by the narrowest of margins.
However, Wednesday's racing was nearly a no show. The
Finn fleet was held on shore until 16.00 and then a start an hour later
was abandoned shortly into the race due to a large wind shift on the
course area. A new start was attempted at 17.30 local time and this time
the fleet got away.
Trujillo's second win leaves him 5 points clear of second placed overall
Wright (GBR), while an amazingly consistent Giles Scott (GBR) has now
posted four fourth places in a row to move up to third overall. A 10th
for day one leader Tapio Nirkko (FIN) was enough to climb one place to
fourth, while Andrew Mills (GBR) scored his worst place finish so far and
drops to fifth.
A 5th
for Gasper Vincec (SLO) moves him up to sixth overall, while yet another
British sailor, Mark Andrews (GBR), the 2006 Junior World and European
Champion, placed third in the race to climb to seventh overall. With four
boats in the top 10 in a Grade 1 event, the British sailors are certainly
making their presence felt.
So, with
one day of qualification races left – with a possible three races still to
be sailed – the top 10 looks like this.
1 ESP 100 Rafael Trujillo 10
2 GBR 111 Edward Wright 15
3 GBR 41 Giles Scott 16
4 FIN 218 Tapio Nirkko 19
5 GBR 634 Andrew Mills 22
6 SLO 5 Gasper Vincec 26
7 GBR 88 Mark Andrews 29
8 CRO 25 Marin Misura 31
9 USA 1140 Bryan Boyd 37
10 FRA 69 Jonathan Lobert 38
Follow Friday’s medal race live at:
http://www.tractrac.com/trofeoprincesasofia
Finn focus at Palma
– Thursday 9 April
The British Finn squad are cautiously optimistic after two great races off
Mallorca on the final day of the opening series at the Trofeo S.A.R.
Princesa Sofía MAPFRE, and now occupy the top three spots going into the
medal race on Friday.
With winds starting at 9 knots and building to 14 knots by the end of the
day, the sailor's enjoyed a great day's sailing. Though Michael Maier (CZE),
the winner of race one on Monday, led to the first mark in both races,
Giles Scott (GBR) was close behind and passed him on the first downwind in
each race. The Oscar flag went up at the first leeward mark, and the
sailors were able to stretch out and enjoy the offwind sailing.
Scott said, “I have trained a lot this winter, and one
week per month in Palma. Today I had very good starts, good speed, though
I still lack a bit of strength downwind.” Today was Scott's first ever
race win at this level, and to repeat the result in the second race of the
day is something special, not often seen in a fleet of this quality.
Both Scott and team mate Andrew Mills (GBR)
clearly found the conditions to their liking today,
placing first and second in both races. Ed Wright (GBR) didn’t have quite
so good a day placing 10th and 5th,
but it was enough to hold on to third overall.
Mills said later, “It was a good day's racing. The lines were always
slightly committee boat biased, but generally the left hand side paid
slightly up the beat. I think the secret was getting a bit of line bias
while managing still to get to the left as well as general boatspeed. I've
been generally going well in the breeze in training, but perhaps not so
well to expect to get a couple of seconds.”
The GBR coach and ex-Finn sailor Matt Howard said of his squad, “They are
all having a great week.” The fourth member of the squad, Mark Andrews (GBR)
is in eighth place. “They are sailing smart, have all worked hard through
the winter and deserve now to see some results. Their attitude has become
more professional, with more attention to detail.”
Unfortunately for him, overnight leader Rafael Trujillo
(ESP) couldn't keep his consistency and placed 9th
and 10th, which drops him to 4th
overall and some 10 points off the gold medal, though with double points
for the medal race, it is still wide open.
Two sailors having a better day were Rafal Szukiel (POL) and Thomas Le
Breton (FRA). Szukiel placed third and ninth, while Le Breton, one of the
many new faces to the class after having converted from the Laser, placed
fourth and 14th,
his best results of the week and not bad for his first Finn major.
Tapio Nirkko (FIN)
is in fifth place overall after a seventh and a fourth today. He said,
“Today it was tricky but still nice racing conditions. We had two physical
races with free pumping, which made it really fun racing today. You had to
be in right spot all the time to stay up there even if you got yourself in
front. I managed to keep my decision making conservative all day and had
results good enough to keep the game open for the medal race. It will be
very interesting tomorrow as there are only four points between second and
fifth and winner of the regatta is also open. I'm really looking forward
to medal race!”
So the medal race
line up looks like this.
Giles Scott – Laser
Youth World Champion in 2005, Current Finn Junior World champion and
winner of Skandia Sail for Gold at Weymouth in 2008. Clearly a talent for
the future.
Andrew Mills – member of Team GB’s development squad with little medal
race experience, though improving all the time. Sailing his socks off this
week.
Ed Wright – European champion in 2006, third in the worlds same year. Won
Rolex Miami OCR earlier this year. Proven performance in winning medal
races under pressure.
Rafael Trujillo –
Silver medalist in Athens Olympics, World Champion in 2007, but struggled
to make the top 10 in Qingdao. Seems to be back on form so has to be one
of the favourites for the race if there is breeze, but a lot of points to
catch up on.
Tapio Nirkko – best results are 12th
in 2007 Finn Gold Cup and 11th
in 2008 Finn Gold Cup but often struggles with consistency. This week he
has put together his most consistent performance in a major regatta so
could well medal.
Gasper Vincec – Best result was third in the 2007 world championship.
Finished 7th In Qingdao. Seems to go best in lighter conditions.
Marin Misura (CRO) – Lost selection for Qingdao to Ivan Klakovic Gaspic.
Has won races at world championship level, but hasn’t performed well in
medal races so far.
Mark Andrews (GBR) – Junior world and European Champion in 2006. Not much
medal race experience to speak of. Better in the breeze.
Jonathan Lobert (FRA) – First medal race for the young French sailor. Lost
last year’s selection process to the eventual Silver medalist Guillaume
Florent and is improving all the time.
Ivan Kljakovic
Gaspic (CRO) – placed 8th in Qingdao. Best results include second at the
2007 Europeans.
There will be two
races on Friday for the 10 sailors in the medal race. The top five will be
competing for the medals, with an outside chance for Vincec. The bottom
four will be competing for World Cup points.
Follow it live online with individual boat tracking at:
http://www.tractrac.com/trofeoprincesasofia
Finn
focus at Palma – medal race
It was
always going to be a good Friday for some and not for others, but in the
final race of the Trofeo S.A.R. Princesa Sofía MAPFRE in Palma, the
chocolates were reserved for the British sailors who filled all of the top
four places in the race and ultimately all three medal positions.
Giles
Scott (GBR) has displayed his full potential here this week. Apart from a
mishap in the first race, he never placed less than fourth in the opening
series, quite something in a fleet of this standard. Another fourth place
in the medal race was quite apt and was comfortably good enough to take
the regatta win by three points from Ed Wright (GBR). Scott didn't get off
the to best of starts though, starting mid line, rounding the top mark in
eighth place and having to make up ground to make sure of gold. He made
his move on the second upwind to finish fourth and that was enough.
Wright
appears to have the knack of winning medal races, most recently taking the
Rolex Miami OCR by winning the medal race. Unless Scott was outside the
top six boats that wasn't going to happen here but after rounding the top
mark in third, he pulled up to second by the last windward mark and took
the lead on the downwind to the finish after going slightly further to the
left than anyone else. This moved him up to the silver medal position as
well as giving him a clear lead in the ISAF Sailing World Cup rankings
after three regattas.
Team mate
Andrew Mills (GBR) has also performed exceptionally well this week. A
third place in the medal race was enough to stay in the medals, though he
dropped one place to Wright to take the bronze. He started one down from
Wright at the committee boat and led the race to the left to finally round
the top mark first. He maintained his lead until half way down the final
run when he was attacked by Wright and the fourth British sailor in the
race, Mark Andrews (GBR). Andrews finished second in the race to move up
to seventh overall.
Though it
is still the first major of the season, the fact that this team can get
four boats into the top 10 bodes well for some great racing over the next
four years as these sailors battle for the home country place in Weymouth
in 2012.
With a
fourth place finish overall, young Tapio Nirkko (FIN) has clearly improved
over the winter training and is now producing the kind of consistent form
he needs to become a regular medal contender. Though he placed eighth in
the medal race, he jumps one place in the overall positions after the
early regatta leader Rafael Trujillo (ESP), and arguably one of the
favourites, finished in last place. Trujillo got buried out of the start
and a last beat gamble on the right didn't pay off and he finished some
way behind the fleet.
Final top
ten results
1 Giles
Scott (GBR)
2 Ed
Wright (GBR)
3 Andrew
Mills (GBR)
4 Tapio
Nirkko (FIN),
5 Rafael
Trujillo (ESP)
6 Gasper
Vincec (SLO)
7 Mark
Andrews (GBR)
8 Marin
Misura (CRO),
9 Ivan
Kjlakovic Gaspic (CRO)
10
Jonathan Lobert (FRA)
While
there were some notable absentees from Palma this year, the standard of
the fleet has clearly improved with many of last year's Olympic sailors
struggling against a lot of new young talent coming through. It will be
fascinating to watch this develop over the coming months and to see who
else comes through the rankings to make a serous challenge to the pecking
order. The circuit now moves onto Hyeres in France for the fourth leg of
the 2009 ISAF Sailing World Cup. We'll be back. |
