Jorge Zarif (BRA) is within a whisker of winning the 2013 Finn Gold
Cup after an outstanding performance on Friday, including winning the
first
race of the day. Ed Wright (GBR) moves up to second with Jonathan Lobert
(FRA) in third. The other two races were won by Wright and Pieter-Jan
Postma
(NED), who climbs to fourth. Only the medal race and the final race are
left.
The day began as expected with no wind and
fog and warnings from the PRO of a long day ahead. However
the air cleared, a breeze began for form and the sailors were sent out
at 13.00. Thursday's pessimism came to nothing as the sailors were
rewarded
with three good races on Tallinn Bay, with winds reaching 8-10 knots, as
well as patchy rain towards the end of the day. Miraculously, all three
races
got away at the first attempt, though there were OCS boats in each race.
Ed Wright (GBR) was the early leader in
race 5 rounding the first mark ahead of Jorge Zarif (BRA) and
Alican Kaynar (TUR). The left side was strong, and not for the only time
during the day. Wright started to stretch out downwind, but Zarif
closed on
the next beat and just sneaked past him on the final downwind to lead
into the finish. Unfortunately Wright was one of the early starters, so
second
place went to Greg Douglas (CAN) from Milan Vujasinovic (CRO). Another
casuality was Bruno Prada (BRA), his third such disqualification this
week.
At this point, Vujasinovic had taken a
commanding lead of the championship, but it was all about to
change again. Wright continued his good form in race 6, starting
correctly and rounding the top mark in sixth. First round was young Jake
Lilley (AUS)
from Tapio Nirkko (FIN) and Josip Olujic (CRO), befitting from a big
left hand shift into the top mark. Nirkko took the lead downwind but
then
collected his second yellow flag and had to retire from the race. Lilley
led through the gate, but it was all very tight. He had dropped to
fourth by
the windward mark and finished in sixth, which moved him into the silver
medal position for the juniors. Wright took the lead upwind and
extended into
the finish from Olujic and Jonathan Lobert (FRA).
Zarif had now taken the
overall lead by 12 points, with all around him picking up high
scores of one sort or another. He just needed a solid final race to keep
things simple. The line up at the first mark was different once again
with
Alejandro Muscat (ESP) leading round from Lobert and Vasilij Zbogar
(SLO). Pieter-Jan Postma (NED) and Ioannis Mitakis (FRA) were up to
second and
third at the gate, with Wright also moving up. Zarif moved through to
around 15th.
The final beat was crucial. Mitakis took
the lead from Postma while Zarif moved up to tenth. Postma
sped away downwind to win from Mitakis and a fast approaching Josh
Junior (NZL). More importantly Zarif went right downwind, stayed away
from the pack
and slipped round the final mark in seventh, just enough places to make
the medal race a formality for him, albeit a necessary formality.
Lobert's and Postma's good form pulled them
back into contention, while some of the other early leaders
struggled and dropped. The leader going into today was Andrew Mills
(GBR). His best result of the day was 26th, as he struggled to find any
of the
form of the early races, and he has dropped to eighth overall. Zsombor
Berecz (HUN) also had problems and dropped to ninth, while Vujasinovic
just
stays in touch in fifth. Junior left it to the last minute to drag
himself into the medal race with his second place.
Lobert summed up his day, “It was a very
difficult day again, very shifty. In the first race I
didn't manage to start properly because of a boat beside me who got a
penalty. Then in the other two races I got good starts and managed to be
on top
on the left to be there at the first mark. On the third race I found a
hole downwind and I lost some places, but I finished top 10. I am a
little bg
disappointed because it is not possible to win any more. That's a shame
but when it's tricky, you never know what can happen. But Jorge sailed
well,
so well done to him, and tomorrow I look forward to fighting with Ed to
get the second place, and of course, PJ again.”
Postma climbed 10 places today to be in
with a shot at a medal. “It was a tricky day with the
left paying all day today. But still there were a few clouds you had to
watch. In the last race I started at the boat end and crossed the whole
fleet
to the left and then played the left. I was about tenth at the top mark
and then third at the bottom. I chose to play the left again but the
second
half of the fleet had to play the right because of this big cloud and we
could cut this cloud before the top mark. The Greek sailor passed me to
round
the top mark ahead but I was faster downwind. I ended up winning the
race so I am happy with that.”
“Tomorrow I will be full-on. We are four
guys who can win two medals. So I'll put all the cards
on the table and we'll see.” He concluded, “A medal tomorrow will make
me happy,” reflecting on a string of fourth places in recent
events.
Zarif, who is just 21 and won the Junior
Finn World Championship in July, has sailed his best regatta
ever including winning two races. He said, “I couldn't imagine this
happening, assuming I finish tomorrow. I think the company of Rafa and
Bruno
has been crucial to this.”
“It's really different to be top 30 or top
10. I think this time with them has helped me to
change a little bit, to change my head. I am using the same boat and
mast as at the Olympics, with just a few modifications to the sail.
Before when I
had a good race it was, wow I did well, and I think this time with Rafa
[Trujillo] and Bruno [Prada] it starts to get more normal. Today after
the
second race I didn't know I was in front, Rafa didn't tell me.
Everything was just normal. And this made the difference.”
“I think Friday was the best day of the
sailing here in Tallinn. It was really shifty, the
conditions were very hard but the wind was stronger than the other days.
You had to work a lot with the shifts and that was the key to the
day.”
His coach Rafa Trujillo (ESP) said, “We
still need to finish tomorrow, but it's really great. I
was more nervous than him all day I think. Since the beginning of the
championship, I knew in these conditions he could make top 10, but I
didn't want
to say that to him as he is still so young, but after seeing him leading
the second race of the first day and being so steady in this wind, I
talked
to him about a target of being top 15 each race. It's amazing. It's been
really difficult conditions, and good racing. And if it was windy I
think he
would also be competing to win because he is now a good all round
sailor.”
The championship concludes Saturday, with
the medal race for the top ten at 12.00 and the final race
for the rest at 13.00. Zarif just has to finish the medal race to take
the title. Theoretically seven boats can take the other medals, so that
should
be a battle worth watching. The racing can be followed online in a
number of different ways including the live video stream from ERR, GPS
tracking
from Trac Trac and Twitter updates on @Finn_Class.
Results after 7 races (one discard)
1 BRA 9 Jorge Zarif 45
2 GBR 11 Edward Wright 64
3 FRA 112 Jonathan Lobert 64
4 NED 842 Pieter-Jan Postma 69
5 CRO 69 Milan Vujasinovic 69
6 GRE 77 Iaonnis Mitakis 76
7 ITA 146 Michele Palette 78
8 GBR 85 Andrew Mills 88
9 HUN 40 Zsombor Berecz 85
10 NZL 245 Josh Junior 86
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