Finn Gold Cup

2002 Finn Gold Cup - Athens, Greece

Details: Category: Finn Gold Cup; Published: Friday, 20 May 2011 21:28

Pos	Sail No	Helm	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	Pts
1	GBR 3	Ben Ainslie	6	2	5	1	1	2	2	8	19
2	POL 17	Mateusz Kusznierewicz	5	91	16	3	2	1	3	7	37
3	GRE 6	Emilios Papathanasiou	1	1	13	91	3	10	9	5	42
4	CRO 11	Karlo Kuret	7	4	15	6	7	5	7	11	47
5	ESP 100	Rafael Trujizo Villar	21	6	1	14	25	3	4	1	50
6	BEL 7	Sebastien Godefroid	3	19	7	4	18	11	1	6	50
7	GER 79	Michael Fellmann	11	33	6	2	17	13	6	12	67
8	FRA 73	Guillaume Florent	2	15	3	28	9	16	17	9	71
9	GBR 6	Andrew Simpson	12	40	8	7	24	26	5	2	84
10	FRA 17	Pascal Rambeau	25	14	9	15	4	7	16	37	90
11	GBR 541	Chris Brittle (J)	32	7	18	17	26	4	13	13	98
12	GBR 15	Charlie Cumbley	9	5	10	29	8	12	30	27	100
13	BRA 10	Joao Signorini	10	17	4	9	13	18	91	33	104
14	IRL 8	David Burrows	18	69	23	19	12	14	14	23	123
15	CZE 1	Michael Maier	49	3	38	13	39	6	10	16	125
16	SWE 7	Kristian Aderman	19	35	12	16	6	22	28	25	128
17	CRO 25	Marin Mizura (J)	20	8	28	20	19	23	11	29	129
18	NED 6	Stefan de Vries	13	18	17	12	14	21	38	36	131
19	USA 1176	Gregory Skidmore	31	11	27	91	5	9	23	28	134
20	CRO 14	Nenad Viali	8	37	33	25	37	19	12	4	138
21	AUS 221	Anthony Nossiter	14	9	41	10	66	40	8	19	141
22	DEN 7	Soren Holm	17	91	30	11	27	8	19	34	146
23	POL 12	Waclaw Szukiel	51	21	11	22	38	48	15	3	158
24	NZL 27	Clifton Webb	38	10	21	33	30	30	18	31	173
25	SWE 736	Johan Tillander	22	25	49	44	10	35	33	10	179
26	FRA 7	Sylvain Chtounder	27	22	22	30	91	34	22	26	183
27	GBR 577	Dave Mellor	46	20	50	5	56	29	20	18	188
28	SLO 5	Gasper Vincec (J)	91	24	29	21	11	36	35	35	191
29	BRA 109	Jorge Zarif	34	26	40	31	54	15	24	21	191
30	BRA 1	Bruno Prada	60	28	2	39	45	44	21	14	193
31	NED 785	Jaap Zichlhuis	4	12	31	8	23	25	91	91	194
32	POL 7	Rafal Szukiel	47	13	19	43	20	32	32	44	203
33	SUI 477	Christoph Burger	37	45	91	24	15	37	26	22	206
34	FRA 11	Mathieu Deplanque	26	41	14	26	48	20	34	56	209
35	USA 1161	Morrison Hart	15	16	24	41	31	43	41	53	211
36	USA 1170	Geoffrey Ewenson	24	36	25	91	32	28	39	38	222
37	SWE 734	Anders Nilson	28	71	39	32	29	24	40	30	222
38	GRE 12	Apostolos Karnoutsos	48	27	47	23	22	91	31	39	237
39	IRL 10	Aaron O'Grady	54	51	42	38	21	17	27	47	243
40	IRL 5	Youen Jacob	43	39	20	45	91	53	25	20	245
41	RUS 1	Vladimir Krutskikh	56	42	51	50	28	31	29	15	246
42	AUS 228	Josh Beaver	23	60	34	18	60	38	47	42	262
43	FIN 216	Tapio Nirkko (J)	44	23	36	48	41	47	37	48	276
44	USA 40	Bryan Boyd	39	48	43	49	16	35	51	73	281
45	GRE 8	Alexandros Dragoutsis	33	29	52	62	33	33	49	52	281
46	CAN 4	Mike Milner	30	59	35	37	53	41	45	40	281
47	GBR 2	Adam Cowling	40	38	26	35	34	65	52	66	290
48	RUS 7	Vladislav Kapitonov	63	32	45	42	44	45	36	46	290
49	GBR 550	Matt Howard	36	52	48	36	91	39	60	24	295
50	ITA 15	Michele Marchesini	58	43	32	52	75	27	53	43	308
51	TUR 7	Akif Muslubas	29	56	46	34	50	42	54	68	311
52	CZE 9	Michal Hruby	50	55	37	27	49	62	42	61	321
53	ITA 11	Walter Riosa	35	44	56	40	51	64	91	41	331
54	UKR 21	Sergey Kotov (J)	53	80	58	66	46	49	56	17	345
55	CAN 41	Christopher Cook	16	78	44	53	35	91	91	45	362
56	GBR 593	Edward Greig (J)	71	47	66	61	57	55	57	32	375
57	ITA 841	Filippo Caporali	57	61	60	46	36	60	91	55	375
58	BRA 100	Mauricio Bueno	66	49	62	91	40	52	44	63	381
59	GER 126	Paul Kessler	45	63	68	54	70	58	43	54	385
60	BLR 8	Vladislav Aleinikov	42	46	55	57	65	59	91	65	389
61	NED 80	Sander Willems	52	64	73	55	52	56	48	64	391
62	USA 78	Andrew Kern	69	54	91	47	62	70	46	49	397
63	DEN 9	Thomas Laursen	91	31	57	58	59	51	91	51	398
64	GER 81	JanDietmar Dellas	59	66	69	59	47	50	50	67	398
65	NED 784	Albert Jurgens	62	34	53	51	69	61	91	69	399
66	AUT 271	Florian Raudaschl	41	50	67	60	91	46	91	50	405
67	GER 121	Thomas Finke (J)	73	57	70	65	42	69	55	57	415
68	ESP 292	Miguel Santaursuca Vilas	64	70	64	64	63	54	59	58	426
69	GRE 11	Pachomios Papastefanou (J)	77	30	75	56	67	72	65	74	439
70	HUN 61	Tibor Pallay	65	83	59	63	61	57	63	72	440
71	POL 9	Piotr Zoltowski (J)	67	77	54	91	55	71	62	60	446
72	ITA 890	Iacopo Tacchino (J)	91	62	63	67	80	63	61	75	471
73	GRE 1	Aggelos Boubouras (J)	76	53	74	73	73	67	66	70	476
74	GER 150	Gunter Hoffmann	70	65	77	70	43	77	91	76	478
75	BLR 7	Ivan Korotkevith (J)	75	81	71	69	91	68	58	62	484
76	NED 804	Cees Scheurwater	61	68	91	72	74	66	64	91	496
77	GRE 71	Panagiotis Davourlis	82	76	65	74	68	73	91	59	497
78	POL 40	Robert Polczynski	55	74	61	68	64	91	91	91	504
79	NED 788	Pim de Visser (J)	68	67	82	77	72	79	68	79	510
80	NED 787	Nanno Schuttrups (J)	78	75	76	76	58	75	91	78	516
81	HUN 2	Peter Sipos	74	58	81	80	77	78	91	77	525
82	GRE 62	Kostantinos Mitropoulos (J)	79	73	84	75	71	81	69	91	532
83	RSA 468	Boris Miladinovic	84	85	78	79	82	74	67	80	549
84	AUS 223	Dean McAullay	72	79	72	71	91	91	91	91	567
85	HUN 30	Bence Sipos (J)	91	91	80	78	81	80	91	71	572
86	HUN 6	Pal Gaszton (J)	81	72	85	91	76	76	91	91	572
87	GER 92	Detlev Guminski	80	84	79	81	79	82	91	91	576
88	GER 12	David Guminski (J)	83	82	83	82	78	83	91	91	582
89	DEN 200	Jonas HoeghChristensen (J)	91	91	91	91	91	91	91	91	637
89	ITA 1	Luca Devoti	91	91	91	91	91	91	91	91	637

Finn Gold Cup 2002 Report

by Corinne Rolland-McKenzie.

The 2002 Finn Gold Cup was sailed in Athens, Greece from July 22 to 28 and provided Great Britain with its first World Champion for 26 years - and someone who had been in the class just six months.

Day one

Emilios Papathanasiou proved that he is the king at home after winning the first two races with ease. For everyone else it was a hard day. The capricious wind, favouring the right side of the course early afternoon, turned constantly to the left, with three major shifts during the afternoon. The first one cost the first race, cancelled as the leaders had the finish line in sight! Class newcomer, Joao Signorini from Brazil, had fought hard to remain in the lead, 100 meters from a race victory, but the checked flag was flown and great hope turned into bitter frustration. The 100 degrees shift that had hit the top of the course didn't leave any other option to the race committee. Emilios Papathanasiou, placed in the last 10, as well as many top Finn sailors who had taken a bad option, blessed the wise decision of the race committee and the PRO George Sklavounos!

The start of the first race was given again in light conditions and a small chop. The left side was again favoured. Jaap Zielhuis shared the lead with Nenad Viali until Emilios came from fourth at the last top mark to win the race. Guillaume Florent made his way back from a 15th place to second across the line in front of Sebastien Godefroid. First Junior was Marin Misura in 20th position.

The second race of the day started under Q flag and a triangle course after a clean first start. Emilios led all the boats going to the left. He increased his lead on the reaches and the last run. After the first leg to the windward mark, the wind decreased to 12 knots. The Q flag for 'free' pumping was unchanged until the bottom mark allowing the sailors to demonstrate their pumping skills!! The second major shift of the day happened on the second reach. The wind turned more drastically on the last beat. Ben Ainslie made the largest gain to finish second in front of Michael Maier and Karlo Kuret. Marin Misura, the Junior from Croatia, finished in 8th.

Day two

Ben Ainslie from Great Britain took the lead overall after two beautiful races. With no less than two Olympic Medals and World titles in the Laser class, the British sailors is making a brilliant debut in the Finn class. After placing fifth in the first race of the day, Ben claimed victory in the second. Early regatta leader, Emilios is now in 22nd place after two bad starts and breaking his rudder in the last race after a collision.

The wind had settled to a stable direction and varied only from 8 to 12 knots in a very choppy sea. The committee used the windward leeward course in both races and produced high quality and fair racing.

The first start was given under individual recall and as usual the pin end was crowded. Rafael Trujillo got clear on the left side of the course to lead the race, to the finish. Brazilians Bruno Prada and Joao Signorini placed in second and fourth places with Guillaume Florent from France in third.

Sebastien Godefroid, Ben Ainslie and Michael Fellmann fought to the finish to cross the line within two meters of each other! Following them, Christoph Burger made a last effort to catch a wave that cost him the race - he collected his second yellow flag from the jury!

Race four got under way with 20 boats fighting for a pole position at the pin end, Emilios hit another boat and had to start way back after taking his penalty turn. After a rocket start, Michael Fellmann rounded the top mark in front of Ben, Gregory Skidmore and Mateusz Kusznierewicz.

Ben passed the German on the second beat, only by a boat length. They entered the last run to the finish with a 30 second lead on Mateusz and Joao Signorini.

Day three

Ben Ainslie and Mateusz Kusznierewicz reigned on the third day of racing, winning one race each and placing second in the other. The two Olympic Medalists displayed great racing skills, especially on the downwind legs, under the watchful eye of the Jury. The Pole was now back in contention for the title after discarding a race disqualification following two yellow flags on the first day of racing.

The wind varied between 8 to 14 knots towards the end of the last race. The sea was flat with waves starting to appear on the last run.

The start of race five was given under black flag, after a general recall. The wind had settled since the previous day and minor shifts made racing tricky. Pascal Rambeau led to the top mark. "I started in the middle of the line and played with the shifts." He was soon passed on the downwind leg by Ben. Mateusz and Emilios closed the gap at the second top mark and passed the Frenchman on the run. Ben claimed his second victory followed across the line by Mateusz, Emilios, Pascal Rambeau and Greg Skidmore.

Danish Junior Jonas Hoegh-Christensen had to withdraw from the race and the Championship after getting a third disqualification by the jury for pumping upwind!

The second race of the day (race six) started with winds averaging 12 knots. The line was even and the wind shifting slightly across the course. Rafael Trujillo first at the mark, lost some ground on the run but kept the lead. The Spaniard entered the last run to the finish with Ben and Mateusz on his tail. A real show of downwind techniques was displayed with Mateusz winning the contest and the race. "I finally had some great fun downwind, the waves were big enough to allow good surfing." Ben took second place in front of Rafael Trujillo. British Junior Chris Brittle placed fourth.

Day four

After waiting several hours at the Olympiakos Yacht Club for a storm to pass over Athens, Finn sailors left for the seventh and eighth race of the Championship with a strong sea breeze.

After a general recall, the race started under black flag for an Olympic triangle and 'free upwind pumping'. A few sailors decided to go back to the yacht club after the wind increased to 20 knots and lift the sea to a 2.5 meter rolling waves.

Sebastien won the race in what he describes as being his favourites conditions: "It was great fun out there, I love these big waves, a pity there wasn't a second one!!." The start was slightly favoured at the committee boat. Andrew Simpson went to the left to reach the top mark in front of Sebastien and Mateusz. The wing mark was hidden by the big waves and the top sailors went too high. Sebastien and Mateusz were the first one to locate it and took the opportunity to pass Andrew. Ben and Sebastien passed Mateusz and Andrew on the second beat. Sebastien took the lead on the last run and Ben made the most of his 90kg to finish second in front of Mateusz.

Day five

The 90 sailors engaged in the Finn Gold Cup came into their last day of sailing with hope to finish the championship with two good races. The conditions were perfect with nice big waves and medium wind. After the end of race eight won by Rafael Trujillo, the sailors were sent back to the yacht club with a postponement. Still expecting to go out again to enjoy the good conditions for the last race of the championship, sailors and coaches were disappointed when the racing was definitely cancelled.

None of this will bring to disrepute the magnificent performance of Ben Ainslie and his fellow competitors, Mateusz who takes second and Emilios in third position.

The top three Juniors are Chris Brittle who has retained his title, Marin Misura and his training partner, Gasper Vincec from Slovenia.

The top nine countries to qualify for the 2004 Athens Olympics (under ISAF approval and protests) are: GBR, POL, CRO, ESP, BEL, GER, FRA, BRA and IRL

2001 Finn Gold Cup - Marblehead, USA

Details: Category: Finn Gold Cup; Published: Friday, 20 May 2011 21:26

1	BEL 7	Sebastien GODEFROID	2	3	10	[14]	9	1	1	2	28
2	POL 17	Mateusz KUSZNIEREWICZ	[17]	6	8	10	2	2	3	1	32
3	GRE 6	Emilios PAPATHANASIOU	1	10	6	[34]	3	4	4	7	35
4	GBR 541	Chris BRITTLE (JR)	3	14	14	3	[17]	13	7	11	65
5	TUR 6	Ali Enver Adakan	[25]	24	15	12	11	3	2	3	70
6	CAN 41	Chris COOK	13	21	7	2	5	[dns]	15	12	75
7	NED 701	Martijn Van Muyden	27	[dns]	3	20	4	6	12	5	77
8	CRO 11	Karlo KURET	[36]	9	22	17	6	5	13	8	80
9	GBR 15	Charlie CUMBLEY(JR)	18	1	2	8	[23]	17	23	14	83
10	AUS 221	Anthony NOSSITER	22	[26]	13	9	14	14	11	4	87
11	52 FRA 11	Mathieu DEPLANQUE	6	5	11	[29]	10	18	21	25	96
12	NED 785	Jaap ZIELHUIS	8	17	12	[31]	16	15	14	16	98
13	NZL 27	Clifton WEBB	9	[25]	16	11	18	16	16	23	109
14	USA 40	Russ SILVESTRI	14	[ocs]	4	4	13	11	ocs	6	110
15	GBR 6	Andrew SIMPSON	37	20	26	15	1	[dnf]	6	9	114
16	CAN 1	Larry LEMIEUX	7	30	5	1	22	28	28	[dnf]	121
17	FRA 1	Xavier ROHART	16	22	27	28	7	[dns]	9	15	124
18	USA 1176	Greg SKIDMORE	15	[ocs]	18	6	26	20	22	19	126
19	CAN 4	Mike MILNER	20	4	[30]	19	25	10	27	22	127
20	NED 765	Stefan De Vries(Jr)	28	18	[38]	33	20	12	8	10	129
21	GBR 550	Ian CLINGAN	4	27	17	24	[39]	24	20	18	134
22	GBR 577	Dave MELLOR	40	13	23	22	19	[dnf]	5	13	135
23	SUI 471	Christoph BURGER	[39]	15	37	18	15	9	25	21	140
24	USA 1170	Geoff EWENSON	19	36	1	7	[38]	26	26	26	141
25	SUI 1	Othmar Muller Von Blumencron	24	34	32	23	8	7	17	[dnf]	145
26	DEN 7	Soren HOLM	[38]	8	9	27	30	27	24	20	145
27	SWE 7	Kristian ADERMAN(JR)	23	23	25	13	29	23	18	[dnf]	154
28	UKR 21	Sergey KOTOV(JR)	5	12	21	[36]	31	36	33	27	165
29	GBR 537	Sergey Cowling Adam	[33]	7	28	25	33	25	30	29	177
30	AUS 222	Paul Mckenzie	26	[42]	40	35	28	19	19	17	184
31	USA 1140	Brian BOYD	11	41	31	16	21	32	34	[dns]	186
32	IRL 10	Aaron O'GRADY(JR)	31	11	[39]	38	32	30	31	24	197
33	POL 12	Waclaw SZUKIEL	10	33	24	21	34	21	[dnf]	dns	201
34	TUR 7	Akif MUSLUBAS	21	29	20	5	12	[dnf]	dns	dns	203
35	USA 1161	Mo HART	42	19	33	[43]	36	22	32	28	212
36	USA 1151	Darrell PECK	47	39	52	46	24	8	10	[dnf]	226
37	USA 78	Andrew KERN	29	28	19	39	41	31	[dns]	dns	245
38	CAN 7	Matt JOHNSTON(JR)	44	35	36	26	37	[dnf]	36	31	245
39	USA 1169	Andrew PIMENTAL	12	2	35	30	52	[dns]	dns	dns	247
40	GBR 8	Tim CARVER	51	48	29	41	27	34	29	[dnf]	259
41	IRL 5	Youen Jacob	30	32	47	37	44	42	35	[dnf]	267
42	USA 975	August MILLER	48	31	44	[49]	48	35	37	30	273
43	USA 1009	Louie Ady Louie	35	50	34	40	42	38	40	[dns]	279
44	GBR 9	Tim TAVINOR	49	16	49	51	40	29	[dns]	dns	292
45	NOR 1	Petter FJELD	50	38	50	48	35	33	39	[dns]	293
46	USA 11	Patrick WEAVER	45	40	45	42	46	40	38	[dns]	296
47	USA 1172	Fred SERAFIN	34	44	55	52	55	43	[dns]	32	315
48	NED 80	Sander WILLEMS(JR)	43	43	42	47	51	39	[dns]	dns	323
49	USA 74	Henry SPRAGUE	32	37	51	44	47	[dns]	dns	dns	327
50	CAN 44	Ross EMMANS	41	47	48	32	45	[dns]	dns	dns	329
51	USA 17	Tim SLATER	46	46	41	54	49	41	[dns]	dns	335
52	USA 151	Johnny GREENE	53	53	46	53	43	37	[dns]	dns	343
53	CAN 61	John AUDLEY	55	54	43	50	54	[dns]	dns	dns	372
54	USA 1087	Janusz PURWIN	57	49	56	45	[dns]	dns	dns	dns	381
55	USA 7	Bill UPTHEGROVE	52	45	54	56	[dns]	dns	dns	dns	381
56	CAN 1111	Dariusz IWANICKI	54	51	53	57	50	[dns]	dns	dns	381
57	USA 115	Joseph BURKE	56	52	57	55	53	[dns]	dns	dns	389

2001 Finn Gold Cup

Marblehead, USA

It took a lot of effort and determination from the organisers and sailors to make this Finn Gold Cup happen but finally after a week of indecision and struggle, the 2001 Finn Gold Cup produced a new World Champion and Junior World Champion after a testing week of variable conditions.

Indecision, as with the previous week's terrible events, the organisers and the class were balanced between safety, the unknown political future, the logistical problems due to transport of people and material and on another hand, half of the fleet already in the US for the National Championship, and the well-known optimism and focus of the Finn sailors.

Struggle as Stephen and Rogina Jeffreys, the organisers, Gus Miller and a few European sailors had to deal night and days with customs related problems, rescheduling flights, requesting special visas to Embassies, and trying to get equipment, sailors and officials in Marblehead before the regatta!

For some, it proved to be very easy, for others like Ukrainian, Sergey Kotov, nearly a miracle. It took numerous phone calls from the organisers and the help of US Sailing to obtain a visa on time for the young Ukrainian who arrived in Boston on the second day of measurement. His mast, lost on the way by the air company was recovered late on the Saturday night. For some other sailors, it was the generosity of Finn friends, lending masts, booms and other pieces of equipment, which made racing possible. Once again, and more than ever the true Finn spirit was operating!

And as a result, the 2001 Finn Gold Cup is counting 60 sailors from 18 countries!

The regatta officially started on the 21st of September with registration and measurement carried out by Juri Saraskin, John Koopman and their team. It rained all day, the Lamboley took next to an hour per sailor but everyone was happy to be finally here. The next day, the Lamboley was just a formality, the sun was out and more unexpected sailors arrived in Marblehead.

Day one

The first start was scheduled at 11 am on the Monday morning. A thick fog welcomed the sailors at the Yacht Club and stayed all day. Sailing was therefore postponed then cancelled by Peter Reggio, the P.R.O.

Finnsters took this opportunity to show their diverse skills. The British team kicked the soccer ball while some American sailors were reinventing 'Petanque' using Baseball rules on the Club front lawn. As for the Canadian sailors, they decided to entertain everyone with a Keg of beer. With big waves, strong winds and two races expected the next day (compliments of hurricane 'Humberto'), some other sailors decided to play it safe and have an early night!

Day two

When the sailors arrived at Eastern Yacht Club, there wasn't much hope of any sailing. The wind was good, the waves not too big, but the fog had decided to stay. Around the club the visibility didn't exceed 200 meters. Very wisely, the racing committee decided on a two hours postponement. The fleet was sent out at around noon after the sky lifted enough to see the surrounding coast. After a couple of attempts to start a race, the bad weather settled in with a fog thickening and walls of waters falling from a menacing sky stroke by lightning. Racing had to be cancelled for the day.

The spirit of sailors was lifted by a warm welcome, back at Eastern Yacht Club. Hot chocolate, pasta and M&M's made up for a frustrating day. It was a frustrating day in term of sailing but a very special day as well because Gus Miller was inducted into the Finn Class Hall of Fame.

Day three

The 57 sailors and the race committee showed their eagerness to go racing and everybody was ready well before starting time on the racing area, 1.5 miles offshore. The sea was flat with a little chop and swell. A very shifty wind between six to eight knots and a cross current made racing tricky.

Race one, scheduled at 11 am started with no delay or recall. Emilios Papathanasiou, coming from the right side of the course, rounded the top mark in front of Canadian, Larry Lemieux , Sebastien Godefroid, Mathieu Deplanque and Sergey Kotov. While the wind dropped to four knots on the downwind legs, the Jury started to discipline the fleet and penalise a couple of sailors for pumping and/or rocking. At the end of the run, Emilios had increased his lead to one minute over Sebastien Godefroid, now placed second in front of Larry Lemieux (the only sailor to bring his coach "Dooly" and his dog "Rusty" on the water!!).

The second beat again offered some chances and while Sebastien bet on the right side to win enough ground to take the lead, Emilios had gone to the left but had still enough speed to place second. The run was a real duelling for first place, under the careful eye of the Jury. Just behind them another battle for 3rd place opposed Chris Brittle to Ian Clingan. The contest was won by Emilios just before the leeward mark. The reach to the finishing line was just a formality. Sebastien took second in front of Junior sailor Chris Brittle.

For race two the starting line was a bit more biased and the committee boat was soon crowded with half of the fleet. A first general recall was followed by an individual recall that penalised Russ Silvestri, Greg Skidmore and Martijn van Muyden. Sebastien took a rocket start at the Committee boat while Emilios, in doubt, decided to come back and restart. Canadian, Mike Milner sailed up in the middle of the course to lead the fleet at the top mark. Sebastien was second in front of Charlie Cumbley and Andrew Pimentel.

Charlie Cumbley, played safe in the middle and right side of the course, but the winner of the beat was undoubtedly Andrew Pimentel. First at the top mark, Andrew had not sailed a Finn for the last 15 years! Charlie, in second place, took the lead on the run to win the race. Andrew Pimentel remained in second place in front of Sebastien Godefroid and Mike Milner.

Day four

Sailing was extremely difficult on day four. The sea was flat but the wind evolved from two to six knots, with lots of shifts and very localised pressure. The current played a big role as well. "What was hard out there," explained Mateusz Kusznierewicz, "was to be able to anticipate the shifts. There were no obvious signs." The very light wind didn't provide many chances either to make up for early bad choices.

The shifts seemed to be favouring the left side on the first beat and the right on the second. Those who didn't follow this pattern, had no chance of coming back!

Race three started after one general recall. After a pin end favoured start, Geoff Ewenson took the left side option to round the top mark in first position, closely followed by Andrew Simpson, Soren Holm, Emilios Papathanasiou, Greg Skidmore and Charlie Cumbley. While Geoff was sailing into a bigger lead to comfortably win the race, other positions were slightly upset on the run, where the fleet spread out to find more air. With more pressure coming from the right side of the course, places were gained and lost. Danish sailor, Soren Holm, second at the second windward mark lost 8 places on the last run while Larry had major gains. Across the finish line, Geoff took the gun with a one minute lead over Charlie Cumbley and Martijn van Muyden.

Race four started after a short postponement due to a major shift. Canadian "Rookie" Chris Cook, took the lead after hitting the left side. He was closely followed by Chris Brittle, Russ Silvestri. Akif Muslubas, and Larry. Chris Cook, remained in front until the second beat when Larry passed him. "I was between the centre of the course and the right. I knew the right side was favoured but I didn't want to play safe so I tried to control both sides. Larry went further to the right and gained enough ground to pass me." Chris finished the race in second position.

The top five sailors after four races show the diversity in the Finn class. Charlie Cumbley, first overall, and team mate Chris Brittle, in third, are both Juniors. Sebastien Godefroid in second place won an Olympic Silver medal in 1996. Mateusz Kusznierewicz in fourth place has an Olympic Gold medal and two World Championships, while Larry "The Legend" Lemieux in fifth place is 20 kilos lighter than his competitors and 25 years older than the regatta leader.

Day six

"Finally a day of sailing," declared Sebastien Godefroid who enjoyed two windy races on day six. The wind that didn't exceed 8 knots in the first 2 days of the Finn Gold Cup, came in force today with gusts up to 25 knots and big steep waves.

Not everyone enjoyed these gruelling conditions. While the fitter and stronger guys capitalised on this tough day, the "light weight" sailors suffered a bit. The wind took his toll hurting many legs and breaking a few masts!

The racing Committee postponed the first start for an hour waiting for the wind to strengthen and settle. After setting a triangular course, Race 5 started under 15 knots.

Andrew Simpson, took a rocket start from the middle of the line, port tacked the fleet, hit the right corner, rounded the top mark with a good margin to win the race. Second at the top mark was Chris Cook from Canada who finished the race in 5th place. The Canadian, with only 8 months of Finn racing, is now 7th overall, despite braking his mast in the second race of the day. Second and third across the finishing line were Mateusz and Emilios:

Sebastien easily won the second race: "I know that I have good speed in this kind of weather. So I planned on a conservative start and caught up on the fleet." In second position was Mateusz and Ali Enver Adakan fin 3rd. Othmar Mller von Blumencron, a Swiss sailor living in the US, had his best day of the regatta. After scoring a 8th in the first race of the day, Othmar, led the fleet around the course up to the second windward mark. "As in race 5, my legs got tired towards the end of the race and the fittest guys started to pass me." He still managed to finish in 7th place.

With the wind increasing to 20 knots and gusts of 25, many sailors capsized and masts started to brake. British sailor David Mellor was in second when the tip of his mast broke on the second beat. Chris Cook lost his mast on the reach while Xavier Rohart didn't have a chance to start the second race of the day with his mast snapping 3 minutes before the start. A total of 14 boats (25 per cent of the fleet) didn't start or finish race six. A special mention goes to Gus Miller and Louie Nady who finished both races today.

Day seven

It came down to the last day of racing to decide on the 2001 Finn Gold Cup Winner (World Champion) and Junior World Champion. With only four points separating the top three, the final day promised some interesting action. The wind was averaging 18 knots when the first race started, increased to a steady 25 knots with gusts reaching 28 knots in the second race. The sea was a two meters steep swell.

"Like yesterday, I was planning on a conservative start," explained Sebastien." I stayed with the others on the first start and decided not to push too hard." Sebastien rounded the top mark in 8th place, then gained a lot of ground on the reaches to place 3rd at the bottom mark behind Mateusz and Ali Enver, who had led from the start. "I was fresh on the second beat, as I had not hiked too much on the first one, and was then able to pass Mateusz," commented Sebastien. Once in second position, Sebastien started to go for Ali, while still controlling Mateusz. He passed Ali Enver just 50 meters before the finishing line. In the Junior contest, Chris Brittle got an advantage over Charlie Cumbley by finishing 7th, while Charlie finished 23rd.

The wind increased to 25 knots by the second race and 10 boats headed home! Mateusz gave it all in the final race, knowing it was his last chance to make it providing Sebastien would finish six places behind. The current World Champion and 1996 Gold medalist led the fleet to the top mark and conserved his lead until the second beat. In the meantime, Sebastien, 6th at the top mark, was gaining ground on the Pole to place 3rd at the leeward mark. Emilios Papathanasiou was 7th at the top mark and getting closer as well. On the second beat, Sebastien went more to the right of the course than Mateusz and Ali, in second position, to round the top mark ahead. The second downwind was a hard call between speed and control of the boat. The two leaders were often on the verge of capsizing. "When I passed Mateusz at the second top mark, I knew that I would have to try hard to stay in front of him on the run, we kept pushing each other to the limit until I decided it was better to come second in the race and win the Championship than risking a capsize and lose everything," commented Sebastien after the race.

Although Mateusz won the last race, the Pole could not add a third World title to his collection and had to be satisfied with a Silver. Sebastien Godefroid in 2nd position was declared World Champion! Emilios Papathanasiou, 2001 European Champion, finished in 7th place to get Bronze. "I am satisfied with my result as I know that I have tried my best" declared Emilios. "With a bad race early in the regatta, I couldn't take too many risks. Also I didn't have my own boat and the feeling was very different."

Chris Brittle finished in 11th place in this last race. The young British sailor not only won the Finn Junior World Championship title but also performed well by taking 4th place overall. First master is Canadian Larry Lemieux in 16th place.

Thank you to Eastern Yacht Club for a great Championship. We had a hard start with some sad events and two days without racing. Luckily we had a very efficient racing committee who made the most of a wide range of conditions. The work of the Jury and measurers was first class and all the sailors were happy with their decision to come and race in America.

2000 Finn Gold Cup - Weymouth, England

Details: Category: Finn Gold Cup; Published: Friday, 20 May 2011 21:24

1	POL17	Mateusz Kusznierewicz	3	2	3	2	1	2	21	13
2	BEL7	Sebastien Godefroid	7	1	2	1	8	19	7	26
3	GRE6	Emilios Papathanasiou	15	8	4	5	42	1	11	44
4	CAN11	Richard Clarke	11	7	5	90	4	16	4	47
5	CZE1	Michael Maier	14	11	11	18	7	3	12	58
6	CRO11	Karlo Kuret	8	37	6	9	10	8	20	61
7	GER79	Michael Fellmann	9	12	12	15	12	36	2	62
8	SWE7	Fredrik Loof	1	19	16	4	20	17	10	67
9	IRL8	David Burrows	6	15	13	20	5	10	18	67
10	TUR6	Ali Enver Adakan	5	16	9	14	21	33	8	73
11	ITA71	Massimo Gherarducci	16	5	19	26	25	7	9	81
12	GBR564	Andrew Simpson	25	25	7	3	19	28	3	82
13	SUI467	Peter Theurer	20	14	15	90	9	14	16	88
14	GBR577	David Mellor	2	20	23	10	16	18	75	89
17	SUI1	Othmar Muller Von Blumencron	15	9	36	21	15	25	13	100
16	NED701	Martijn Van Muyden	10	3	10	13	40	29	36	101
17	FRA1	Xavier Rohat	4	10	8	90	11	27	44	104
18	GBR54	Iain Percy	90	90	1	3.25	2	9	1	106.25
19	ITA14	Nenad Viali	26	18	22	12	34	5	29	112
20	AUS221	Anthony Nossiter	13	23	14	27	3	34	59	114
21	NZL27	Clifton Webb	32	21	18	35	31	6	19	127
22	HUN1	Balazs Hajdu	22	39	24	25	6	48	15	131
23	DEN143	Lasse Hjortnaes	19	42	28	30	17	11	26	131
24	ITA1	Luca Devoti	30	17	17	7	30	35	34	135
25	USA1074	Russ Silvestri	12	28	21	8	90	41	35	145
26	POL4	Dominik Zycki	34	51	20	6	23	22	43	148
27	GRE1	George Kontogouris (Junior)	90	34	33	41	24	4	14	150
39	GBR15	Charlie Cumbley (Junior)	28	40	27	17	27	45	5	155
29	SUI471	Christoph Burger	90	13	43	31	13	31	30	161
30	BEL2	Philippe Rogge	27	48	42	28	26	26	22	171
31	BRA9	Christoph Bergmann	21	29	31	19	35	37	46	172
32	GBR550	Richard Stenhouse	40	22	29	11	33	50	38	173
33	CZE9	Michal Hruby	43	30	26	40	53	15	23	177
34	BRA1	Bruno Prada	57	6	44	37	37	13	49	186
29	SWE27	Kristian Aderman (Junior)	35	31	39	90	45	21	31	196
36	BRA109	Jorge Zarif	35	38	48	23	51	23	33	200
37	FRA7	Sylvain Chtounder	28	4	41	33	43	69	58	207
38	AUS222	PAUL Mckenzie	90	35	25	16	32	39	71	218
39	TUR44	Akif Muslubas	36	36	53	45	28	61	25	223
40	NED7	Stefan De Vries (Junior)	18	33	30	44	44	55	66	224
38	GBR541	Chris Brittle (Junior)	41	90	32	34	14	58	52	228
42	GBR567	Dan Dixon	33	52	37	43	36	40	42	231
43	CAN4	Mike Milner	90	24	56	32	46	53	24	235
44	USA1026	Mark Herrmann	24	90	35	36	29	59	53	236
45	RUS8	Evgeny Tchernov	49	41	47	38	41	43	28	238
46	SUI465	Christoph Christen	31	46	50	29	39	62	50	245
47	RSA1	Ian Ainslie	23	26	90	90	90	20	6	255
48	ITA55	Walter Riosa	52	90	60	47	49	30	17	255
49	GBR12	Neil Macgregor	51	67	59	48	22	42	41	263
50	ESP260	Agustin Juarez	59	27	34	42	57	51	63	270
51	NED781	Jan-Willem Kok	53	57	90	24	56	47	40	277
52	EST8	Imre Taveter	44	54	40	46	54	70	45	283
53	RUS14	Michail Apuhtin	47	60	64	52	50	49	27	285
54	FRA111	Thomas Deplanque	72	65	66	57	47	12	39	286
55	NED744	Wiebe Schippers	63	53	54	54	48	24	90	296
56	AUT1	Hans Spitzauer	46	90	45	90	18	44	55	298
41	GBR8	Tim Carver	41	45	65	22	60	68	90	301
58	ISV1	Ben Beer	48	69	51	49	58	63	32	301
59	BRA106	Fabio Bodra	61	47	52	39	55	56	78	310
60	FRA11	Mathieu Deplanque	37	63	38	53	38	90	90	319
61	CHN1	Li Hong Quan	42	44	67	90	59	60	51	323
58	RUS7	Vladislav Kapitonov (Junior)	62	70	69	56	64	32	47	326
63	FRA14	Daniel Kurbiel	60	49	55	55	73	52	60	331
64	BLR7	Vladislav Aleinikov	45	90	49	50	72	54	64	334
65	UKR21	Sergey Kotov (Junior)	50	56	57	60	65	57	90	345
66	GBR560	Allen Burrell	64	32	62	67	67	74	56	348
67	AUT271	Florian Raudaschl	54	58	68	69	90	38	67	354
68	NED766	Ewout Meijer	73	72	71	71	71	46	37	368
69	GER81	Jan-Dietmar Dellas	62	50	46	58	70	82	90	368
70	NED757	Robert De Jong	67	59	63	78	52	65	62	368
71	GBR1	Sander Kooij	56	61	61	51	69	79	80	377
72	IRL10	Aaron O'Grady (Junior)	55	55	70	61	66	73	70	377
73	NED747	Thierry Van Vierssen	69	73	58	59	68	90	61	388
74	NED761	Cees Scheurwater	76	43	74	70	81	72	57	392
75	GBR13	John De Leeuw	65	77	72	63	62	71	65	398
76	JPN1	Takeshi Kuroda	71	74	66.6	65	75	75	48	399.6
77	ITA52	Franco Martinelli	66	62	75	68	61	76	68	400
78	EST3	Janno Hool (Junior)	74	68	90	73	74	67	54	410
79	UKR7	Tsypko Oleg	70	66	73	62	63	81	90	415
80	GBR4	Russell Ward	77	75	90	64	78	64	72	430
81	GBR10	Robert Deaves	80	71	76	66	79	78	69	439
82	NED730	Richard Tobe	78	64	79	74	80	66	79	440
83	ROM1	Dumitru Fratila	75	76	78	77	76	77	74	455
84	GBR51	Phil Laycock	79	90	77	72	77	84	77	466
85	GBR504	Edward Thorburn	82	78	81	76	82	83	73	472
86	DEN176	Lars Stenfeldt Hansen	81	79	80	75	83	85	81	479
87	GBR552	Chris Farrell	83	80	82	79	84	80	76	480
88	GBR537	Adam Cowling (Junior)	68	90	90	90	90	90	90	518
89	SWE616	Ervin Schomer	90	90	90	90	90	90	90	540

2000 FINN GOLD CUP

WEYMOUTH, ENGLAND

11-16 JUNE 2000

Report by Corrine McKenzie

The 2000 Finn Gold Cup, the Junior Gold Cup and Finn World Masters will

be held from the 11th to the 16th of June in Weymouth, England, from the

Weymouth and Portland Sailing Academy.

94 competitors will compete in the same fleet for the World Champion and

Junior World Champion titles. It is the biggest fleet since the 1992

Gold Cup in Cadiz where the same numbers were achieved. With the

remaining 8 spots to be allocated to countries for the Olympic Games,

the 2000 Finn Gold Cup has also attracted a record number of countries.

From the 32 countries represented, 15 have yet to qualify for Sydney:

Austria, Belarus, Brazil, China, Denmark, Spain, Estonia, Hungary, US

Virgin Island, Japan, Romania, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and USA. Wild

cards excepted, this regatta is the last chance for 8 of these countries

to qualify but some National Olympic committees are also requiring a

certain result from their athletes. While Switzerland is only expecting

a top 20 placings, countries like Denmark, Austria or Holland are more

strict. Lasse Hjortnaes (DEN), has to finish top ten in order to compete

in his 4th Olympics (Lasse competed in 1980, 84 and 88). Hanz Spitzauer

(who is making a last minute come back in the Finn after trying to

qualify in the Soling class) and Junior sailor Florian Raudaschl will

have to place in the top 12 (or top 10 in Kiel) to meet their country

selection critiria. Martijn Van Muyden, after qualifying Holland in the

98 Gold Cup has still to do a top 8 placing in Weymouth to secure his

spot in the Dutch team.

Fredrik Loof (SWE) will defend his title for the 3rd time after winning

the Gold Cup in 94, 97 and 99.

With the World best sailors participating (25 of the top 30), it is

expected to be a hard fought championship. Among the favourites are:

Mateusz Kuznierewicz (POL) 1996 Gold Medallist, 98 World Champion, 99 ISAF World Sailor of the Year, No.1 World ranked.

Fredrik Loof (SWE) 94, 97, 99 World Champion, 93, 95, 98 Vice World Champion, No.2 World ranked

Richard Clarke (CAN) Winner of SPA 2000, Hyeres 2000, Palma 2000, No.3 World ranked

Iain Percy (GBR) 99 European Champion, 99 Pre-Olympic champion, No.4 World ranked

Sebastien Godefroid (BEL) 96 Silver Medallist, 98 European champion, No.5 World ranked

Mickael Maier (CZE) No.6 World ranked

Xavier Rohart (FRA) No.7

Mickael Fellmann (GER) No.8

Ian Ainslie (RSA) No.9

David Burrows (IRL) No.10

The Junior Gold Cup was held for the first time in the 1999 Gold Cup in

Melbourne, Australia and won by British sailor, Charlie Cumbley. It will

be disputed this year by 10 Juniors from Belarus, Estonia, Holland,

Greece, Austria and Great Britain who will race with the seniors. Among

the favourites are:

Charlie Cumbley (GBR) 1999 Junior World champion

George Kontogouris (GRE) 1999 Junior World champion

Florian de Vries (NED) 1999 Junior European champion

The 31st edition of the Finn World Masters has attracted a fleet of 92.

Larry Lemieux from Canada will set his goal in winning his third title in a row.

No Gun for Percy

English fairness was proven today! When British top Finn sailor Iain

Percy crossed the finishing line well ahead of the Finn fleet during the

first race of the Finn Gold Cup in Weymouth today, no gun was fired!

Iain Percy had been disqualified among 6 others by the Black Flag

rule. Current World Champion, Fredrik Loof (SWE), wins after fighting

with David Mellor (GBR) during the whole race for second. "Iain sailed

very well and was too far ahead for me to worry about him. I was quite

close behind Dave Mellor in third position and I tried to pass him. I

would have been very happy with a second and I feel sorry for Percy."

commented Fredrik Loof after the race.

Biggest improver of the day, Mateusz Kusznierewicz came out from the

middle of the fleet to round the second windward mark in 5th position.

and finish 3rd. Despite a bad record in medium conditions, Xavier Rohart

(FRA) impressed us with his consistency after making up for his bad

start on the first beat. He rounded the top mark in 5th place and

managed to keep his place until the end. Ali Enver Adakan has not yet

finish to surprise. The young Turk has been improving steadily since the

start of the year. A 6th in the first race of the Gold Cup confirm his

progression.

First Junior is Stefan de Vries (NED) in 18th place.

Six boats were disqualified at the start under the Black Flag rule. With

9 races scheduled and only one discard Iain Percy (GBR), Christoph

Burger (SUI), Christoph Bergmann (BRA), Georg Kontogouris (GRE), Paul

McKenzie (AUS) and Mike Milner (CAN) are starting the regatta with a

serious handicap.

Racing started under the Black Flag at 12PM, an hour later than

scheduled, after a general recall and a couple of postponements. The

racing committee decided on a triangle course despite the conditions:

the wind was averaging 8 to 10 knots and increased to 12 by the end of

the second beat. The sea remained quite flat with a small chop.

Racing will resume tomorrow at 11AM with 2 races.

12 June - (Protests pending)

Atlanta medallists takes the lead of 2000 Finn Gold Cup.

After 3 races, Atlanta Gold and Silver medallists, Mateusz Kusznierewicz

(POL) and Sebastien Godefroid (BEL) are leading the score of the Finn

Gold Cup, in Weymouth, UK.

Their outstanding results in today 2 races, 2nd and 3rd for Mateusz and

a win in the first race followed by a second in the last for Sebastien,

give them a good grip on their opponents. Xavier Rohart is 12 points

behind in 3rd place closely followed by Martijn van Muyden (NED) and

Richard Clarke (CAN).

With another Black Flag collected today in the first race, Iain Percy,

in 65 position, has missed any hope for a title ...unless he wins

tonight his protests against the racing committee for today's and

yesterday's disqualifications. Percy decided to lodge a protest this

morning against the Racing committee, who disqualified him in the race

where he crossed the line first, after Brazilian, Christoph Bergmann,

got reinstated yesterday from his OCS. Christoph's win wasn't

effortless, especially after he had to call for the local Chinese

restaurant owner to translate for his witness Li Hong Quan!

The conditions were quite challenging today with medium to strong wind,

strong current, choppy waves and the arrival of a late thick fog. The

current made sailing especially tricky when the tide changed directions

before the second race.

Race 2 started after a general recall under Black Flag, and the

disqualification of 4 boats (Ian Percy, Walter Riosa, Mark Hermann and

Chris Brittle). Young Italian sailor Massimo Gherarducci came from the

right side of the course to take the lead of the race at the top mark,

followed by Sylvain Chtounder (FRA), Sebastien Godefroid (BEL) and

Martijn van Muyden (NED). Sebastien Godefroid retrieved his down wind

speed and passed Sylvain and Massimo. He kept his advantage to win the

race in front of Mateusz who came from 5th after the first beat to 3rd

at the leeward mark and 2nd. Martijn finished 3rd in front of Sylvain

Chtounder , Massimo Gherarducci and Bruno Prada.

The second race was easily won by Iain Percy out of the start. New UK

Finn champion, Andrew Simpson was second at the windward mark but lost

each time a few places on the down wind legs to end up the race in 7th.

Sebastien Godefroid passed from third to second on the run while Mateusz

went from 9th to 3rd. Emilios Papathanasiou made the most gains, 10th at

the windward mark, the Greek climbed to second at the bottom mark but

lost a couple of places to finish the race in 4th position in front of

Richard Clarke, Karlo Kuret and Andrew Simpson.

The day is not over for the Jury who still have to hear 8 protests. The

results are then, still provisional at this time!

Black Death hits Finn fleet!

While Iain Percy collected his third Black Flag today, Mateusz

Kusznierewicz and Sebastien Godefroid consolidated their position at the

front of the fleet.

The third day of the Finn Gold Cup in Weymouth provided good racing and

a good deal of drama! The Racing Committee raised the Black Flag for the

first start of Race 4, adding a few more heads to the already long list

of "OCS". Bad luck or irony saw Iain Percy on top of the hit list again

for his third disqualification. Despite having lost his protest

yesterday against the racing Committee for his OCS, Iain Percy organised

a crew to film the start today and he hopes that video evidence will

prove him right in his new protest. "The video shows quite clearly that

I am not breaking the line," declared Percy, while waiting for his

protest hearing to take place.

Percy is joined on the Black Flag list by World title favorites Xavier

Rohart (FRA) and Richard Clarke (CAN). With only one discard allowed,

they reduced their chances of a Gold Cup title to leave the path clear

for Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Sebastien Godefroid who each claimed a

race today. Mateusz is leading the score at 8 points after a win and a

second place, and is only 3 points ahead of friend and rival Sebastien.

Despite his OCSin Race 4, Richard Clarke climbed to 3rd, in front of

Greek Emilios Papathanasiou 4th and Xavier Rohart 5th.

Race 4 was started under Black Flag with a good 15 knot breeze.

Sebastien Godefroid won the race from the start. First at the top mark,

the Belgian increased his lead by 100 meters at the gybe mark (triangle

course). Mateusz Kusznierewicz passed from 12th to 3rd, behind Fredrik

Loof on the first reach to get to second on the second beat. They both

sailed further away from the fleet on the second downwind. Andrew

Simpson, 2nd at the first windward mark, managed to keep good speed on

the downwind legs (his weaker point) to finish in 3rd place in front

of Fredrik Loof.

The wind reduced to 10 knots for Race 5, favouring the left side of the

line. Iain Percy had a clear start, went to the left, then crossed

completely to the right to lead all the way until Mateusz passed him on

the last beat. Australian Anthony Nossiter, 2nd at the top mark finished

in 3rd place in front of Richard Clarke 4th and David Burrows 5th.

Balazs Hajdu from Hungary, scored his best result in 6th position.

With 15 countries in contention for an Olympic spot, the battle is

getting fierce for the remaining spots, and with ISAF giving an extra

place to the Finn class there are 9 more places available at this

regatta.

While Turkey, USA, Hungary, Denmark or Brazil are comfortably placed,

China is the 9th country just in front of Austria and US Virgin Islands.

With 4 races still to be sailed, the options are still open.

Only one race is scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday 14th.

Percy reinstated!

Iain Percy won last night his protest against the racing committee about

his third disqualification at the start of race 4.

The Jury decided last night to consider video and photo evidence in the

protest for redress lodged by Iain Percy, Xavier Rohart and Hanz

Spitzauer in race 4 for Black Flag disqualification. The decisions made

by the Jury are as follows:

" The following boats were correctly identified on the course side of

the starting line during the one minute before the start: SUI 467,

SWE 27, CAN 11, FRA 1, AUT 1. They broke rule 30.3.

The following boats were incorrectly identified on the course side of

the starting line during the one minute before he start: GBR 54.

Although AUT 1 was incorrectly recorded on the race committee boat as

AUT 4, she was correctly disqualified for breaking rule 30.3.

With respect to FRA 1 and AUT 1, redress is denied.

With respect to GBR 54, redress is granted and she is to be scored

average points of all races she is not OCS, ZPG or DSQ for rule 30.3. "

Therefore, Iain Percy is now 25th on the general results after 5 races

(OCS, OCS, 1, 1.5, 2). The story does not stop here! Iain has asked for

his previous request for redress for race 2 (denied yesterday) to be

reopened on the basis of new evidence in the form of pictures.

These issues reopened the debate of the use of videos by the racing

committee when the size of the starting line and the number of

competitors make calling the line difficult. In last night case, the

video showing the line and the sound track recording the count down, led

to controversy between the sailors, jury and racing committee.

Sailing is postponed today due to strong wind. Race 6 will be resailed

tomorrow.

Mateusz Kusznierewicz wins 2000 Finn Gold Cup

Mateusz Kusznierewicz won the 2000 Finn Gold Cup, as a thick fog

cancelled all racing on the last day of the championship, in Weymouth,

UK. Sebastien Godefroid took the Silver while Emilios Papathanasiou is

settling for Bronze.

In the Junior Gold Cup, the title goes to young Greek George

Kontogouris. He finishes 27th, only 1 place and 5 points ahead of 99

Junior World Champion, Charlie Cumbley (GBR), while Kristian Aderman

from Sweden takes Bronze in 35th place.

Mateusz adds a second World title to his already impressive collection

including a Gold Medal in 96, a World title in 98, and the ISAF Sailor

of the Year award last November. " I achieved today my second goal for

2000. I was hoping for a medal in this year top 3 regattas. I won the

European's and the Worlds, now I hope I can do the same at the Olympic

Games." Despite a strong fleet and very talented opponents, the Pole

never looked threatened. "I came to this championship with a very

different attitude," confided Mateusz. "I decided to sail my own race

without looking at the others. I sailed more freely."

Sebastien Godefroid is a satisfied sailor in second place. After an

unsettled period, the Atlanta Silver medallist and 98 European champion

seems to have retrieved his usual top form, 3 months before the

Olympics. "It was a bit strange for me to sail again at the top! In the

last 18 months I have been more used to sail in the pack and try to

fight my way through the fleet. It is a completely different tactic, and

it feels really good!" Sebastien was working on his equipment for the

last year and seemed to have finally found the right combination." I

received this new mast from Latini, 2 days only before the regatta. I

used it during training for only 10 minutes and was convinced straight

away this was a good one!"

While Sebastien is using a Latini mast with a UK North, Mateusz went

back to his Willet mast after the Wilke mast he used in the European

championships got recently banned from ISAF, and a Victory sail. "I did

not have great speed here compared with the Europeans where I was

flying! In fact I was struggling upwind and I had to catch up on the

downwind legs," revealed Mateusz.

Emilios Papathanasiou in third position is also using the same

combination while Richard Clarke, 3 points away in 4th place remains

faithful to his Willet combined with the San Diego North sail.

The last qualifying regatta for the Sydney Olympics, the 2000 Finn Gold

Cup gave the opportunity to 9 countries to get selected for the Games.

Subject to confirmation from ISAF, the following countries should have

qualified:

Turkey, Hungary, Denmark, USA, Brazil, Russia, Spain, Estonia and

Austria.

Three wild cards will be allocated in the next few weeks at ISAF

discretion.

Among the countries having their national selection, Peter Theurer won

his ticket as the Swiss representative, after a close fight with Othmar

Muller von Blumencron. As for the Brazilian nothing is official yet, but

Christoph Bergmann should stand a good chance to go to his 3rd Olympics

after beating Bruno Prada by a few places.

As for Martijn van Muyden (NED) and Lasse Hjortnaes (DEN) it is now up

to their Olympic Committee to decide if despite not having achieved

their selection criteria (top 8 for Martijn and top 10 for Lasse) they

will be sailing in Sydney. It would be the 4th Olympic Games for Lasse

who participated in 1980, 84 and 88. This regatta called back some old

memories to the Dane who competed in his first Finn Gold Cup in Weymouth

in1979!!

The Finn Gold Cup will be presented tonight to Mateusz Kusznierewicz by

1960 Finn World Champion, Vernon Stratton.

1999 Finn Gold Cup - Melbourne, Australia

Details: Category: Finn Gold Cup; Published: Wednesday, 03 November 2010 21:23

1	Fredrik Lööf	SWE 7	(14)	5	(14)	4	4	11	5	1	3	2	3	38
2	Mateusz Kusznierewicz	POL 17	8	(13)	3	6	5	3	2	5	4	3	(72)	39
3	Richard Clarke	CAN 11	(30)	(28)	10	9	7	4	6	15	2	4	6	63
4	Iain Percy	GBR 54	(19)	10	1	5	19	1	4	13	1	15	(72)	69
5	Karlo Kuret	CRO 11	5	3	11	(72)	6	5	8	12	(27)	13	9	72
6	Sebastien Godefroid	BEL 7	11	(15)	8	(15)	3	8	9	7	11	5	10	72
7	Michael Fellmann	GER 79	(32)	21	2	1	(37)	25	1	2	20	1	22	95
8	Martijn Van Muyden	NED 701	3	9	17	(72)	1	12	(22)	19	10	19	12	102
9	Xavier Rohart	FRA 1	13	24	5	2	13	7	(72)	4	34	(72)	8	110
10	Michael Maier	CZE 304	(36)	(30)	4	11	26	9	7	20	8	10	15	110
11	Ian Ainslie	RSA 1	22	6	(35)	8	8	17	11	16	19	7	(60)	114
12	Dave Mellor	GBR 540	24	(32)	9	12	17	13	3	(72)	7	6	26	117
13	John Driscoll	IRL 1	15	(41)	7	14	9	29	(72)	3	12	12	31	132
14	Andreas Buchert	GER 6	7	4	20	25	(34)	10	14	(34)	24	25	4	133
15	Nenad Viali	ITA 14	2	34	(37)	16	16	26	10	10	(36)	26	7	147
16	Paul McKenzie	AUS 222	16	36	12	7	10	14	16	8	32	(72)	(37)	151
17	Ian Baker	NZL 242	(62)	(39)	21	17	22	19	13	6	6	21	27	152
18	Philippe Rogge	BEL 2	18	18	22	20	12	28	(30)	21	14	(31)	18	171
19	Peter Theurer	SUI 464	21	23	31	3	(36)	21	25	(35)	18	17	13	172
20	Dominik Zycki	POL 4	12	11	(43)	26	2	2	34	29	23	35	(55)	174
21	Anthony Nossiter	AUS 221	17	27	(72)	21	21	24	19	9	(46)	20	20	178
22	Juri Tokovoi	UKR 21	(54)	(51)	18	13	29	16	31	23	29	9	11	179
23	Jamie Lea	GBR 564	6	(72)	19	42	30	(43)	36	22	5	18	5	183
24	Bartul Misura	CRO 1	1	20	32	22	18	(37)	17	28	15	33	(56)	186
25	Emilios Papathanasiou	GRE 6	25	12	23	36	(72)	6	12	11	39	37	(54)	201
26	Darrell Peck	USA 1151	31	38	6	(72)	14	40	21	14	26	11	(59)	201
27	Richard Stenhouse	GBR 550	10	(72)	16	23	15	32	(72)	33	17	29	28	203
28	Mark Bulka	AUS 220	20	(68)	27	37	11	22	18	24	21	(38)	23	203
29	Leith Armit	NZL 241	(48)	2	33	40	31	15	15	17	(42)	30	32	215
30	David Burrows	IRL 8	29	(46)	26	18	(40)	30	26	27	30	27	2	215
31	Javier Aguado	ESP 1	4	1	(49)	33	(49)	33	20	26	38	28	33	216
32	Finn Taylor	AUS 219	52	16	34	24	35	(72)	(72)	43	16	8	1	229
33	Massimo Gherarducci	ITA 71	(60)	8	24	28	(56)	20	23	25	40	24	45	237
34	Stuart Bannatyne	NZL 19	(58)	35	72	29	43	34	29	31	9	22	14	246
35	Carl Schmidt	AUS 223	38	55	29	10	24	39	(72)	18	(72)	14	19	246
36	Oleg Khoperski	RUS 10	(51)	47	15	27	50	31	24	(72)	13	23	29	259
37	Michael Hruby	CZE 479	27	7	(46)	19	38	38	28	41	31	(45)	42	271
38	Charlie Cumbley	GBR 15	9	40	36	38	23	(53)	39	(72)	28	41	17	271
39	George Kontogouris	GRE 1	26	19	39	41	25	(44)	32	32	(43)	32	30	276
40	Michael Deyett	USA 1146	(53)	33	52	(72)	20	36	40	39	35	46	16	317
41	Christoph Burger	SUI 451	47	(56)	28	34	32	23	27	38	(59)	44	46	319
42	Marc Blees	NED 707	46	22	(51)	43	27	18	45	(72)	25	50	48	324
43	Mike Milner	CAN 4	44	(58)	50	24	41	42	35	37	22	40	(63)	335
44	Clifton Webb	NZL 27	28	44	25	31	28	35	41	(72)	37	(72)	72	341
45	Lasse Hjortnäs	DEN 143	34	29	42	46	72	45	46	36	(56)	49	25	352
46	Bruno Prada	BRA 1	(66)	43	38	35	47	48	33	(72)	51	34	24	353
47	Tyler Bjorn	CAN 1107	35	42	41	(72)	39	49	37	(72)	58	43	21	365
48	Mario Salani	ITA 11	72	67	45	32	53	(72)	38	30	52	16	34	367
49	Walter Riosa	ITA 55	42	31	40	39	44	41	43	(72)	(55)	47	49	376
50	John Callahan	USA 1140	39	(57)	48	45	(52)	51	44	40	33	39	38	377
51	Michele Marchesini	ITA 15	40	(62)	44	30	59	46	(72)	46	48	48	44	405
52	Scott Griffiths	USA 1138	(64)	(63)	53	47	33	50	50	44	49	51	39	416
53	Daniel Bush	NZL 12	23	52	47	50	55	(58)	48	(72)	50	54	40	419
54	Russell Ward	GBR 4	49	25	(72)	(72)	45	52	51	72	47	56	35	432
55	Akif Muslubas	TUR 44	(63)	49	54	44	48	(56)	47	42	54	42	52	432
56	Colin Chapman	IRL 10	43	14	30	(72)	42	27	(72)	72	72	72	72	444
57	David Beyers	USA 1150	61	17	58	53	51	(62)	53	(72)	60	59	41	453
58	Mauricio Bueno	BRA 100	33	60	55	51	61	(65)	(72)	48	63	52	36	459
59	Hong Quan Li	CHN 1	59	37	56	48	(64)	47	52	(72)	57	60	43	459
60	Chic Parsons	USA 1149	57	61	(72)	(72)	46	54	42	72	41	36	58	467
61	Ben Beer	ISV 13	37	48	(61)	54	57	60	58	47	61	(63)	50	472
62	Vladimir Zuev	BLR 17	65	50	(72)	(72)	58	57	49	45	44	53	64	485
63	Mo Hart	USA 1161	(72)	45	59	(72)	54	55	72	72	45	55	47	504
64	Hugh Dimock	NZL 245	45	53	63	55	60	61	56	(72)	(72)	64	57	514
65	Luca Devoti	ITA 1	50	26	13	(72)	(72)	72	72	72	72	72	72	521
66	Patrick Meehan	AUS 165	(69)	66	62	49	65	64	54	(72)	53	58	53	524
67	August Miller	USA 1087	56	59	60	56	(67)	66	57	(72)	64	61	51	530
68	Jake Gunther	AUS 213	67	64	57	52	63	59	55	(72)	62	57	(72)	536
69	Takuya Maeda	JPN 24	55	54	(72)	57	66	67	60	(72)	65	65	61	550
70	John Shallvey	AUS 224	68	65	(72)	(72)	62	63	59	49	66	62	62	556
71	Graeme Taylor	AUS 225	41	69	(72)	(72)	72	72	72	72	72	72	72	614

1999 Finn Gold Cup report

The 1999 Finn Gold Cup was held at Sandringham Yacht Club, Melbourne from 10-15 January. A range of conditions and the new format of 11 races tested the competitors to the limit. Defending Champion Mateusz Kusznierewicz was leading overall until the final race when Fredrik Lööf won his third Gold Cup. Sarah Kingston Reports.

As part of the 1999 Combined Olympic Classes World Championship, the 1999 Finn Gold Cup was held in Melbourne. The Finns were based at the Sandringham Yacht Club together with the International 14s - other Olympic Classes were spread around other yacht clubs around Port Philip Bay. The Finn Class was delighted to return to Melbourne - in 1995 the Gold Cup was held at the Black Rock Yacht Club, and in 1956 the Finns sailed here in the Olympic regatta.

A very strong fleet of 71 Finn sailors from 28 countries competed for the 1999 Finn Gold Cup. It was particularly pleasing to see China, Japan, Belarus and the US Virgin Islands represented this year.

The 1998 AGM had agreed to change the format and courses for this year. 11 races over 6 days were sailed and in winds lighter than 12 knots the Olympic trapezoid course would be used whilst in stronger winds the traditional Finn Gold Cup course (triangle) would be used.

Day 1

The fleet was tested under light and flukey winds for their first two races, resulting in a frustrating day for many, but some new faces at the top of the scoreboard. The Spaniard Javier Aguado performed the most consistently with a 4th in the first race and a 1st in Race 2. Bartul Misura won Race 1, just ahead of Nenad Viali and Martijn van Muyden. Richard Stenhouse had led throughout the second race, however much to his disappointment was judged to have been OCS at the start.

Day 2

With an increased wind, more familiar names were at the top of the results sheet. Michael Fellmann scored a 2nd and a 1st; Iain Percy scored a 1st and a 5th; Xavier Rohart scored a 5th and a 2nd.

Day 3

The conditions for day 3 were a complete contrast to the previous day’s high seas and 25 knot winds. A trapezoid course was set for both races under grey overcast skies, flat seas and 7-8 knots of wind. After a general recall and then a start under a black flag, race 5 began with Martijn Van Muyden and Sebastien Godefroid vying for first place around most of the marks. The Dutchman gained a clear 3 boat length lead at the finish. Dominik Zycki made a last minute bid for the finish and beat Sebastien on the line to clinch second place.

Iain Percy led throughout race 6 which started under a black flag, in 10-12 knots of wind. Although Finn Taylor reached the windward mark first, he was swiftly sent home by the Race Committee, having been judged as OCS at the start. The two Polish sailors, Dominik Zycki and Mateusz Kusznierewicz, finished 2nd and 3rd. Percy commented ashore: “In the first race the shifting winds were difficult. I was unlucky in the first and got lucky in the second. This is my first year racing Finns full time and I’d be over the moon if I finished in the top five.”

Day 4

Both races were completed in strong winds gusting to 28 knots. Michael Fellmann again showed his supremacy in strong winds by winning race 7 and finishing second in race 8. Mateusz scored a 2nd and a 5th and increased his points score over the rest of the fleet. Fredrik Lööf scored 5th and 1st and knocked Karlo Kuret out of second position. On the other hand, Martijn Van Muyden did not performed quite so well on the windy days and he dropped to 8th place overall. Australian Paul McKenzie had a good day (16th and 8th) and moved up to 9th overall. It was an expensive day for some - Marc Blees and Dave Mellor both shredded their sails just prior to the start of Race 8, and Clifton Webb was forced to retire due to a damaged mast.

Day 5

The first race of the day (Race 9) was started under blue skies, warm temperatures and a constant 11-12 knot wind. The Olympic Trapezoid course was used. Iain Percy had an excellent race, leading from the first mark with Fredrik Lööf rounding the second mark alongside Percy. Fredrik was then given a yellow flag by the Jury for pumping and as a result lost his slight advantage. The Brit took off downwind, in conditions that had freshened to over 15 knots, to win his third race with a clear 100 metre lead over Richard Clarke in second place and Fredrik in third.

An increase in wind strength to 15-17 knots meant that the triangle course was set for Race 10. Michael Fellmann yet again showed the fleet that he loves the stronger wind conditions and choppy seas - he flew, and took his third win of the week. Fredrik finished second and Mateusz was third.

Mateusz, the defending World Champion, was pleased with his performance on Day 5. Going into the final day, he was reasonably confident “I think my strength is in my preparation for the regatta, to be good in all weather conditions. My focus was to gain good speed both upwind and downwind, and I think this has been my advantage in this championship. I’m happy because I have the silver for sure but I really want to win.” After 10 races, 2 discards were taken into account, leaving Mateusz in first, Fredrik in second and Iain Percy in third.

Day 6

The final, 11th race was sailed in a dying north wind that started at about 12 knots and quickly faded to 6 knots at the top of the first beat, and 2 knots by the end. It was a tricky and nerve racking race for most of the top competitors, with none of the medal positions decided before the start. Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Iain Percy both had a bad race and subsequently retired. This put the pressure on Fredrik Lööf, but he did just enough - achieving a third place in the race and thus winning the Gold Cup by just one point over the Olympic and 1998 World Champion.

As Iain Percy sailed home, Richard Clarke knew that he now had the chance of a medal, “I was involved in a collision near the end of the leg as I tried to cross a starboard tacker but did not make it. After some damage to the right side of the boat and two penalty circles I continued to race and rounded the first mark 10th. I had another stellar run and passed a few guys to round the bottom mark 5th. The rest of the race was very slow and nerve racking but I maintained my composure and only lost one more boat on the final run to finish 6th.” Enough to give him the bronze medal. Having had a bad start to the Championship with a 30th and 28th in the first two races, he performed consistently well throughout the remainder of the races. His achievement not only qualified his country for a place in the Finn event of the 2000 Olympic Games, but his third place assures him of being the Canadian representative for the Finn in Sydney.

Summary

1999 has seen a fantastic Gold Cup held in a wide range of conditions. Congratulations to Freddy Lööf for his third Gold Cup win, and many thanks to our hosts - 99 Worlds and the Sandringham Yacht Club.

1998 Finn Gold Cup - Athens, Greece

Details: Category: Finn Gold Cup; Published: Tuesday, 02 November 2010 14:12

			1	2	3	4	5	6	Total
1	POL 17	Mateusz Kusznierewicz	1	24	2	2	9	2	16
2	SWE 7	Fredrik Loof	2	3	10	9	1	5	20
3	FRA 778	Xavier Rohart	19	15	3	1	7	1	27
4	BEL 7	Sebastien Godefroid	8	6	26	3	5	6	28
5	GRE 6	Emilios Papathanasiou	4	27	11	6	8	3	32
6	CRO 11	Karlo Kuret	9	5	1	44	3	20	38
7	GBR 54	Iain Percy	26	1	24	4	2	8	39
8	CZE 304	Michael Maier	25	2	14	7	10	11	44
9	GER 79	Michael Fellmann	13	11	33	8	4	15	51
10	CAN 11	Richard Clarke	3	8	23	39	14	22	70
11	IRL 8	David Burrows	7	39	35	5	16	10	73
12	GER 6	Andreas Buchert	11	48	4	23	29	17	84
13	RSA 1	Ian Ainslie	32	4	17	27	6	85	86
14	ITA 14	Nenad Viali	20	28	18	24	12	12	86
15	POL 4	Dominik Zycki	37	13	5	16	17	39	88
16	CRO 118	Bartul Misura	23	18	64	28	21	9	99
17	NED 701	Martijn van Muyden	38	19	20	30	27	4	100
18	GBR 550	Richard Stenhouse	16	23	45	11	26	24	100
19	ITA 71	Massimo Gherarducci	17	26	22	15	22	31	102
20	NZL 27	Clifton Webb	39	9	30	10	19	85	107
21	AUS 221	Anthony Nossiter	12	10	66	21	42	23	108
22	UKR 21	Juri Tokovoi	6	30	19	26	28	42	109
23	RUS 21	Oleg Khopersky	10	34	54	14	32	19	109
24	BRA 1	Bruno Prada	15	29	6	22	41	85	113
25	USA1074	Russ Silvestri	27	17	29	12	36	36	121
26	NZL 242	Ian Baker	21	43	46	13	38	7	122
27	ITA 55	Walter Riosa	56	12	21	32	33	25	123
28	GRE 1	George Kontogouris	28	25	16	41	64	13	123
29	GBR 564	Jamie Lea	65	20	9	18	23	85	135
30	GBR 8	Tim Carver	24	21	12	42	37	85	136
31	AUS 222	Paul McKenzie	85	32	52	25	13	28	150
32	NZL 11	Joe Spooner	59	16	67	35	24	16	150
33	DEN 143	Lasse Hjortnaes	43	42	15	54	25	32	157
34	IRL 1	John Driscoll	47	50	74	17	18	35	167
35	CZE 479	Michal Hruby	30	7	53	46	53	33	169
36	CAN 201	Lawrence Lemieux	45	67	8	53	20	44	170
37	NZL 19	Stuart Bannatyne	33	53	28	34	46	38	179
38	GBR 540	David Mellor	50	85	34	19	57	21	181
39	BEL 2	Philippe Rogge	42	40	25	33	43	43	183
40	GRE 11	Christos Chionas	34	22	36	43	51	85	186
41	ESP 260	Agustin Juarez	36	38	49	47	44	26	191
42	TUR 3	Arif Gurdenli	22	36	50	31	54	85	193
43	SUI 464	Peter Theurer	85	14	37	60	65	18	194
44	NED 696	Wiebe Schippers	35	37	43	38	55	45	198
45	ITA 1	Luca Devoti	5	85	13	85	11	85	199
46	GBR 15	Charlie Cumbley	49	47	38	62	31	34	199
47	ITA 11	Mario Salani	40	54	47	29	40	46	202
48	POL 41	Andrej Czapski	14	55	81	58	15	62	204
49	AUS 219	Findlay Taylor	44	69	73	20	35	41	209
50	CAN 19	Ray Davies	53	33	58	55	68	14	213
51	SUI 451	Christoph Burger	18	56	63	64	48	29	214
52	ESP 100	Rajael Trujillo Villar	29	35	44	85	39	67	214
53	IRL 10	Colin Chapman	60	46	42	36	30	85	214
54	RUS 31	Eugeny Chernov	31	45	51	61	61	30	218
55	FRA 791	Mathieu Deplanque	41	60	41	37	60	49	228
56	USA1151	Darrell Peck	85	52	59	40	34	55	240
57	NED 733	Stefan de Vries	63	41	39	48	50	65	241
58	USA1078	Andrew Kern	48	59	40	57	49	48	242
59	GRE 8	Alexandros Dragoutsis	46	72	7	68	58	85	251
60	USA1149	Chic Parsons	72	31	61	63	62	40	257
61	SUI 456	Christoph Christen	58	64	32	52	67	58	264
62	ITA15	Michele Machesini	54	61	56	51	56	47	264
63	FRA 7	Sylvain Chtounder	62	63	76	76	47	27	275
64	CZE 13	Rudolf Lidarik	70	51	31	73	71	56	279
65	USA1140	John Callahan	71	76	60	45	69	37	282
66	BRA 101	Fabio Bodra	52	58	75	59	66	50	285
67	NED 707	Marc Blees	51	68	62	50	59	63	285
68	TUR 44	Akif Muslubas	66	70	55	66	45	59	291
69	EST 8	Imre Taveter	67	44	57	65	63	68	296
70	GER 81	Jan -Dietmar Dellas	61	57	79	56	70	53	297
71	GRE	Leonidas Pelekanakis	85	77	69	49	52	60	307
72	GER 22	Mantin Mitterer	55	71	68	67	74	51	312
73	NOR 108	Lars Petter Field	64	49	80	70	76	66	325
74	NED 76	Ewout Meijer	85	73	48	78	78	52	329
75	USA1150	David Beyers	69	65	70	74	75	54	332
76	USA1138	Scott Griffiths	57	66	72	69	72	69	333
77	BLR 1	Vladimir Zuev	85	85	27	75	77	70	334
78	USA1087	Charles Hagedorn	68	62	78	72	73	61	336
79	BRA 100	Mauricio Bueno	74	75	65	71	80	57	342
80	UKR 47	Sergei Kotov	75	74	71	79	79	71	370
81	YUG 82	Srdjan Volarevic	73	78	83	80	82	73	386
82	YUG 1	Istvan Boya	77	85	85	85	84	64	395
83	USA1163	Emil de Balthazar	78	85	77	85	83	72	395
84	GBR 13	John de Leeuw	76	85	82	77	81	85	401

FINN GOLD CUP 1998 REPORT

The 1998 Finn Gold Cup was sailed from 16-23 August in Athens, Greece, on the same water that will be used for the 2004 Olympic Games. Mateusz Kusznierewicz secured his first major victory since his Olympic Gold Medal in 1996, and in doing so became the first reigning Olympic Champion to win the Gold Cup for 25 years. Report and photos by Corinne Rolland-McKenzi

The 1998 Finn Gold Cup organising Committee did some great work on a short deadline after the withdrawal of Durban in April. They were also able to secure important sponsorship from RE/MAX (International Real Estate Group), Super Sport (TV channel specialised in Sport) and SuperFast ferries who offered half price transportation to the sailors for the event. The entrance hall of the Peace and Friendship stadium was converted to a sailing club. In a week, a 600 square meter bare room was fitted with 9 offices, a souvenir shop, a lounge... and all facilities to allow everyone of the 41 organising Committee team members to work. JŸri Saraskin, IFA Chief Measurer was the first one impressed with the facilities: ÒThis is the best measurement area have I come across in all my lifetime as a measurer.

The practice race was as usual, a pale rehearsal of the real thing...all boats crossed the line early, sailed one windward beat and went home!

A few of the following race reports were written by the new World Champion, Mateusz Kusznierewicz.

Race 1

Mateusz’ race report read: The ‘Meltemi’ wind from the Acropolis gave us a lot of fun and work to do during this race. It was very shifty all the time making racing very difficult. After the start it was easy to recognise what was the tactic of whole fleet. Heroes of the right lead by Super-Seb were going closer to the shore catching a late big shift. On the left I saw about 20 boats hitting the corner to find more wind on the open bay. Only myself and Freddy choose the middle. This paid off as we rounded the top mark 1st and 2nd. We felt Emilios and Andrzej on our back but the rest were far behind. During the whole race it was nice to watch from 1st place how the good guys were constantly filling up the top places. Really nice comeback on the finish for Richard Clarke in 3rd by beating Emilios just on the finish.

At the end of his training last week Mateusz had said ÒI have been preparing myself for a long time for the Finn Gold Cup. Now I feel ready. My coach, Andy, told me that the sailing conditions in Athens were similar to what I have at home. So I spent lots of time training in Puck (Poland).

Race 2

Mateusz’ race report read: 'With a long postponement and a lot of wind (Meltemi again) we started the race around 12.30. It has not happened not very often this season, but today we had a 40¡ wind shift just 5 seconds before the starting gun. All of us who started on the vessel side of the starting line were already 150 meters behind the leaders. At the top mark the lead was held by ‘Golo’ Ainslie followed by Iain Percy and Mike Hruby. The wind was shifting a lot during the whole 2 hours and 13 min race. The race was won by Iain Percy followed by Mike Maier and Freddy.

After coming back to the shore, Iain Percy explained ÒWith such shifty conditions, it is much easier to be in front than behind. I only had to stay in the middle during the following beats to secure both sides. Then on the run, I know I am fast. That’s when I increased my lead on the others.

Race 3

Mateusz’ race report read: 'This was the first day with a nice seabreeze. From the beginning until the end of the race we had between 5 and 12 knots. When all the Finn sailors where going out I noticed that all of them are a bit confused because of new weather conditions. I decided to talk about it not only with my coach but also with someone else (Karlo Kuret). Actually during the race we did some different tactics but finally both rounded the top mark in the lead just behind Jamie Lea. The wind paid more in the middle putting still more pressure on the left. Karlo was going well especially on the downwind legs when the Jury paid a lot of attention to all the Bad Boys. Xavier also impressed me and was sailing great in the light winds, finishing 3rd!!! At the end of the race the wind died and Dominik Zycki got a 5th and Andreas Buchert a 4th.

It was the first time that Karlo Kuret had won a race at a Gold Cup. ‘I think that I have a good speed in all conditions thanks to the sail I developed with Victory. These new sails are good in all weather, I always use the same one and it is a big advantage.’ confided Karlo.

Race 4

The start of the race was delayed while the sea breeze established itself but around 2 pm the wind was a steady 12 knots. After a general recall race 4 started at 2.30pm. Xavier Rohart started near the Committee boat before crossing the course towards the left. He rounded the top mark in front of Mateusz and Iain Percy.

The reach started with Mateusz and and Iain Percy trying their best to overtake Xavier. The Frenchman retained his speed, keeping ahead of his followers: 'I just focused on the mark in front of me, without worrying about any one else. I let Mateusz and Iain fight each other and sailed my own race.

At the end of the first reach, Iain Percy had passed Mateusz and at the bottom mark, Xavier was still in front, with Mateusz back in second place. The next beats followed the same pattern as the first. Xavier won the race with a good lead on Mateusz and Sebastien.

Race 5

The sea breeze, similar to the last two days, came late and increased from 8 to 18 knots during the race. The fleet was evenly spread on the starting line with all the regatta favourites grouped at the pin end with the only exception of Fredrik who chose to start at the Committee boat end. ‘My main goal was to start clear from everyone else. I saw that the line was quite even and it didn’t matter to me which side I chose if I had clear wind. I know that I have good speed and that I can point high. With a good start I had the best chance to cross in front of most sailors. The first beat worked exactly as Fredrik had planned. After a good start and constant speed, the Swede was first around the top mark. He was closely followed by Larry Lemieux who enjoyed the light conditions (8 knots).

During the reaches, the wind nearly doubled in strength. At the next windward mark, Fredrik was still in front of Karlo, Ian Ainslie and Iain Percy. The extended run gave Fredrik the opportunity to make the break with his followers. It also allowed Iain Percy to take second position on Karlo. The last beat saw Fredrik winning the race in front of Iain Percy, Karlo and Michael Fellmann.

Fredrik Lššf, despite winning the race easily, was worried by Ian Ainslie at times but especially by Iain Percy, who was very fast on the beat as well as on the downwind legs. Fredrik has been using the same rig since the start of the regatta. 'I try as much as possible to use only one rig for all types of conditions in a regatta. I am using a Latini mast and a Swedish Sobstad (Polyester) sail.'

Race 6

After a postponement from the shore to let the sea breeze settle and a black flag start which cost a few heads it needed another general recall followed by another black flag start for Race 6 to finally get under way.

Only a few chose to start at the pin end of the line. Emilios Papathanasiou took a terrific start around the mark on port tack. Luca Devoti had also selected the pin end but went further to the left on starboard tack. He was the first one to reach the top of the course, closely followed by Emilios. During the reaches, Emilios passed in front of Luca and Mateusz climbed from 6th to second. After the second beat Emilios was still in front of Mateusz. Xavier Rohart, 11th after the first beat was now in 4th place. Luca had a disastrous second beat dropping from 3rd to 25th place and decided to abandon. Mateusz put his Òturbo on during the run to pass Emilios 10 meters before the bottom mark with Xavier Rohart in third place.

The climax of the race was definitely on the last beat. Emilios and Mateusz started match racing each other on the left side of the course. In the meantime, Xavier was making progress further right, until the finishing line came so close that Mateusz finally realised that the real danger now was more in the French than the Greek! He came charging in just to be at Xavier’s side 20 meters before the finish. Xavier, tacking on the line, won the race by a few centimetres!

Xavier Rohart had won his second race of the championship. When asked about his tactics for the last day: ÒI will not worry about the others, I will do my own race and will try to win it as today!

Race 7 - No race

But he didn’t get the chance! The race committee were on the water evaluating options and kept all the sailors ashore in suspense, but when they decided the chances of having a start before the deadline of 2 pm were gone, they sounded the horn. This meant that Mateusz had won the Gold Cup. Since his Olympic Gold medal in 1996, Mateusz has managed to stay at his best to finally win a World title. Fredrik Loof came very close to winning the Gold Cup for a third time. With just 4 points dividing the two, anything would have been possible, but the wind decided otherwise and came too late to allow a race within the time limit. Fredrik will take his place on the Gold Cup podium for the 6th year in a row! Third place goes to Xavier Rohart, winner of two races but only one point ahead of Sebastien Godefroid.

Of course, the ongoing development in the rig, especially in the sail cloth have obliged sailors to up date their equipment to stay competitive. Once again, the new materials (vectran, polyester, monofilm...) have been widely used and proved successful.

All competitors are unanimously grateful to the Hellenic Yachting Federation and Olympiakos for organising such a great event. Principal Race Officer Takis Nikiforides and his Race Committee set the standard for 6 quality races. The IFA thanks the Hellenic Yachting Federation and Olympiakos for putting together a memorable Finn Gold Cup, and congratulates the sailors on some great and exciting racing.

This year’s Gold Cup had the added pressure and excitement of being the first qualifier of the Finn event in the 2000 Games. Congratulations go to the top eight competitors who have successfully qualified their countries for a place on the starting line in Sydney. The next Olympic qualification opportunity will be at the 1999 Gold Cup in Melbourne.