2008 Finn Gold Cup at Sail Melbourne

2008 Finn Gold Cup at Sail Melbourne - Day 5

by Corinne Rolland-McKenzie 28 Jan 2008 09:49 GMT

Ainslie snatches lead on the line!

For the first time since the start of the Finn Gold Cup, the lead has changed hands.

After an intense race Ben Ainslie passed Dan Slater on the line to get ahead by one point before tomorrow’s medal race. With Pieter Jan Postma climbing to 3rd and Jonas Hoegh-Christensen in 4th position after a 9th in today’s race, the top 4 contenders are within 10 points going into tomorrow’s Medal race. It will be a four man battle for the title.

Today’s race was scheduled at 2.30pm but Race 8 started 2 hours later. After a general recall, the course was postponed to wait for the wind to settle. One hour later, the racing committee decided to move the course further out to catch the breeze. The wind started to fill in and provided a nice race with the wind increasing up to 15 knots.

Sweden Daniel Birgmark sailed smartly to lead the fleet to the top mark. He stayed in control from start to finish and claimed the race. Ranked 7th in the World, Birgmark has known better days. “It was definitely worth the wait. It is good to finally sail well.”

Guillaume Florent from France and Tim Goodbody(IRL) took second and 3rd place. Ben Ainslie, tenth at the top mark, gradually gained places. Turning 5th onto the run, under Oscar flag allowing for free pumping, Ainslie stayed close behind Slater waiting for a good opportunity. A few meters from the finish, Ainslie gybed to take a wave that propelled him ahead of Slater.

31st at the top mark, Pieter-Jan Postma made a huge recovery passing 25 boats to finish 6th in the race.

“It doesn’t really matters who from Ben or I passed the other today” explained Dan Slater after racing, “tomorrow’s medal race counting double is minimising the one point gap between us.” This will not be the first time that the two sailors will be competing for the same title. “This is bringing some old memories of times when Ben and I where racing against each other in the Laser.” The New Zealander acknowledges that tomorrow’s will be a 4 man battle.

Pieter-Jan Postma (NED) is looking forward tomorrow’s final race: “I will prepare myself for an optimum race. I am not going out there just to beat the other guys. I will only focus on my sailing and I want to push my own abilities.”

The battle for the Olympic berths will see the last opportunities during the last race tomorrow. Turkey is still placed 6th nation among the countries yet to qualify. Ukraine and Portugal are only 11 and 17 points behind and will try for their last opportunity tomorrow.

The medal race is scheduled to start directly after the final race for competitors placed higher than 11th.

Results after Day 5: (8 races, 1 discard)

Pos	Sail No	Boat Name	Helm	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	Pts
1	GBR3	RITA	Ben Ainslie	4	13	1	[18]	1	8	4	4	35
2	NZL1	ASB	Dan Slater	1	1	4	3	16	[32]	6	5	36
3	NED842	-	Pieter Jan Postma	11	3	13	[20]	7	1	2	6	43
4	DEN2	HEMPEL-DONG	Jonas Christensen	8	4	[14]	11	6	6	1	9	45
5	CAN41	CAN41	Chris Cook	15	19	5	1	2	[26]	13	7	62
6	SWE736	NA33	Johan Tillander	9	6	[48]	9	20	4	11	13	72
7	GRE7	NA18	Aimilios Papathanasiou	6	2	11	7	4	[83F]	35	15	80
8	GBR111	TECH ADVANT	Edward Wright	21	11	6	4	15	24	3	[41]	84
9	NOR1	JEPP	Peer Moberg	5	10	21	6	13	[29]	23	8	86
10	CRO524	NA6	Ivan Kljakovic	[26]	12	9	5	12	19	9	23	89
11	FIN218	PORT OF HELSINKI	Tapio Nirkko	7	[44]	8	13	24	9	21	12	94
12	AUS221	DUGONG	Anthony Nossiter	10	15	3	21	9	[30]	19	22	99
13	ESP100	MARAJA	Rafael Trujillo	[42]	16	19	17	8	17	12	18	107
14	GBR41	NA11	Giles Scott	28	5	31	16	11	13	8	[36]	112
15	POL7	NA30	Rafal Szukiel	[32]	24	15	8	30	3	24	16	120
16	SLO5	FINN	Gasper Vincec	[54]	14	12	29	3	38	5	25	126
17	FRA73	PANTAENIUS	Guillaume Florent	20	31	[62]	23	5	11	39	2	131
18	SWE11	SKF	Daniel Birgmark	33	20	[42]	15	27	25	14	1	135
19	GBR625	NA13	Ed Greig	22	[38]	27	31	17	15	7	21	140
20	ITA117	HARKEN	Giorgio Poggi	3	7	[45]	32	26	36	33	10	147
21	IRL5	DOLMEN STOCKBROKERS	Timothy Goodbody	25	29	[51]	33	21	23	16	3	150
22	CRO25	NA34	Marin Misura	14	[58]	16	39	10	2	30	44	155
23	POL12	NA28	Waclaw Szukiel	19	[45]	17	14	23	28	27	27	155
24	AUT3	WOLF	Florian Raudaschl	17	22	[83O]	38	31	20	18	11	157
25	GBR88	TEVA	Mark Andrews	16	35	[59]	10	19	18	36	28	162
26	ITA101	NA22	Riccardo Cordovani	18	18	30	28	28	12	34	[63]	168
27	RUS9	NA4	Eduard Skornyakov	12	33	32	22	29	35	10	[58]	173
28	GBR634	NA14	Andrew Mills	[66]	8	36	19	36	34	29	14	176
29	USA4	NA39	Zach Railey	46	39	34	2	14	27	[83B]	20	182
30	FRA69	NA10	Jonathan Lobert	24	34	22	25	34	[37]	15	29	183
31	CZE1	MAJCUS	Michael Maier	41	32	2	44	[47]	21	22	33	195
32	CYP19	NA7	Haris Papadopoulos	2	43	18	42	33	33	32	[51]	203
33	GER174	NA16	Matthias Bohn	47	9	7	49	51	16	[62]	32	211
34	CHN1	NIKE	Peng Zhang	30	40	[57]	48	22	7	38	38	223
35	POL17	BRUGMANN	Piotr Kula	43	37	[83O]	27	25	47	20	24	223
36	FRA972	AQUARELLE	Ismael Bruno	44	26	35	41	39	[60]	25	26	236
37	CHN226	NIKE	Bo Liu	23	[51]	43	12	44	42	50	34	248
38	TUR211	SENSEY	Ali Kemal T Fekci	[57]	42	23	50	42	10	31	54	252
39	ITA925	NA24	Michele Paoletti	35	30	33	52	18	43	41	[83F]	252
40	NZL21	NA27	Nik Burfoot	48	17	[83O]	34	37	57	26	43	262
41	UKR21	NA36	Oleksiy Borysov	34	21	10	[83C]	83R	41	17	57	263
42	CHN11	NIKE	Tianyu Ren	38	27	28	55	53	[67]	49	19	269
43	POR5	NA3	Frederico Melo	[65]	23	44	47	35	52	37	31	269
44	NED41	NA26	Karel Van Hellemond	29	56	40	[64]	40	53	54	17	289
45	GBR99	NA15	Henry Bagnall	40	50	47	26	45	50	[56]	35	293
46	TUR7	NA35	Akif Muslubas	49	54	24	45	43	59	[63]	30	304
47	CZE9	PK OIL S.R.O.	Michal Hruby	31	47	60	35	56	[83B]	43	37	309
48	CHN7	NIKE	Lei Gong	51	55	20	30	49	[66]	66	39	310
49	GER771	NA17	Jan Kurfeld	36	[71]	63	40	32	39	40	70	320
50	RUS14	NA31	Dmitrii Tereshkin	39	46	46	46	[57]	51	47	47	322
51	CRO11	NA1	Josip Olujic	37	[73]	50	24	68	48	51	46	324
52	ESP1	NA8	Diego Fructuoso	53	41	[83O]	43	52	14	83B	48	334
53	NED80	FLEURIE	Sander Willems	73	36	58	65	46	31	28	[83F]	337
54	AUS243	TBA	Warwick Hill	[68]	62	25	57	41	58	42	53	338
55	AUS226	BILLS BOAT	Michael Williams	45	61	[83O]	56	59	22	48	50	341
56	HUN6	NA19	Gaszton P L	[72]	25	54	59	50	40	58	56	342
57	CHN563	NIKE	Aiming Chen	62	59	61	[68]	64	5	52	45	348
58	UKR5	NA37	Andriy Gusenko	59	49	41	36	[62]	61	57	49	352
59	IND1	NA20	Nitin Mongia	13	53	55	62	[71]	56	55	59	353
60	IND11	NA21	Nachhatar Johal	[67]	28	52	53	65	54	60	55	367
61	BUL24	NA5	Mihail Kopanov	50	[69]	39	61	48	44	64	61	367
62	USA9	NA40	Ian Cook	55	57	29	54	63	46	[67]	64	368
63	HUN5	ANDREA	Tibor Pallay	27	66	[83O]	58	60	45	71	42	369
64	VEN1	VEN1	Johnny Bilbao	61	60	64	37	54	49	[83F]	52	377
65	EST7	NA9	Harles Liiv	52	52	53	60	61	[83F]	44	83F	405
66	AUS223	SPRUCE GOOSE	James Paterson	[69]	48	49	69	69	63	45	65	408
67	ITA40	FINN	Marko Kolic	63	65	[71]	63	55	55	69	40	410
68	NED29	NA25	Bas De Waal	58	72	26	[75]	72	70	59	67	424
69	AUS2	SHAKE AND BAKE	Rob Mcmillan	60	67	[83O]	83C	38	65	46	83O	442
70	ITA70	NA23	Francesco Lubrano	71	68	38	66	66	64	72	[73]	445
71	AUS234	SQUID INK	Christopher Pratt	[77]	64	66	67	67	68	61	60	453
72	AUS3	AUS3	John Shallvey	74	75	56	[77]	58	71	53	68	455
73	GER262	HEIMATLIEBE	Uwe Barthel	70	76	37	72	74	72	[83F]	69	470
74	POR310	TUBA V	Rodrigo Quina	76	[83C]	70	70	70	62	65	71	484
75	224	SORCERER	Geoffrey Francis	[79]	70	67	76	73	69	68	62	485
76	AUS8	MATCHBOX	Anthony Wood	[78]	74	73	74	76	73	70	66	506
77	SVK11	NA32	Robert Poor	80	78	65	73	75	74	[83F]	72	517
78	AUS228	DARK SECRET	Dirk Seret	75	[79]	68	71	78	76	73	76	517
79	AUS203	NA12	Edward Thorburn	[82]	77	69	79	77	75	74	74	525
80	ITA1	SONATA	Luca Devoti	64	[83C]	83C	51	83C	83C	83C	83C	530
81	AUS241	XTSEA	Brendan Casey	56	63	[83C]	83C	83C	83C	83C	83C	534
82	AUS233	LONGBOARD	Brian Reynolds	81	80	72	78	79	[83F]	83C	75	548