Finns at the Princesa Sofia Mapfre Trophy in Palma - Day 6
by Robert Deaves, IFA 10 Apr 2009 20:48 BST
5-10 April 2009
It was always going to be a good Friday for some and not for others, but in the final race of the Trofeo S.A.R. Princesa Sofía MAPFRE in Palma, the chocolates were reserved for the British sailors who filled all of the top four places in the race and ultimately all three medal positions.
Giles Scott (GBR) has displayed his full potential here this week. Apart from a mishap in the first race, he never placed less than fourth in the opening series, quite something in a fleet of this standard. Another fourth place in the medal race was quite apt and was comfortably good enough to take the regatta win by three points from Ed Wright (GBR). Scott didn't get off the to best of starts though, starting mid line, rounding the top mark in eighth place and having to make up ground to make sure of gold. He made his move on the second upwind to finish fourth and that was enough.
Wright appears to have the knack of winning medal races, most recently taking the Rolex Miami OCR by winning the medal race. Unless Scott was outside the top six boats that wasn't going to happen here but after rounding the top mark in third, he pulled up to second by the last windward mark and took the lead on the downwind to the finish after going slightly further to the left than anyone else. This moved him up to the silver medal position as well as giving him a clear lead in the ISAF Sailing World Cup rankings after three regattas.
Team mate Andrew Mills (GBR) has also performed exceptionally well this week. A third place in the medal race was enough to stay in the medals, though he dropped one place to Wright to take the bronze. He started one down from Wright at the committee boat and led the race to the left to finally round the top mark first. He maintained his lead until half way down the final run when he was attacked by Wright and the fourth British sailor in the race, Mark Andrews (GBR). Andrews finished second in the race to move up to seventh overall.
Though it is still the first major of the season, the fact that this team can get four boats into the top 10 bodes well for some great racing over the next four years as these sailors battle for the home country place in Weymouth in 2012.
With a fourth place finish overall, young Tapio Nirkko (FIN) has clearly improved over the winter training and is now producing the kind of consistent form he needs to become a regular medal contender. Though he placed eighth in the medal race, he jumps one place in the overall positions after the early regatta leader Rafael Trujillo (ESP), and arguably one of the favourites, finished in last place. Trujillo got buried out of the start and a last beat gamble on the right didn't pay off and he finished some way behind the fleet.
Overall Results: (top ten)
1st Giles Scott (GBR)
2nd Ed Wright (GBR)
3rd Andrew Mills (GBR)
4th Tapio Nirkko (FIN)
5th Rafael Trujillo (ESP)
6th Gasper Vincec (SLO)
7th Mark Andrews (GBR)
8th Marin Misura (CRO)
9th Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO)
10th Jonathan Lobert (FRA)
While there were some notable absentees from Palma this year, the standard of the fleet has clearly improved with many of last year's Olympic sailors struggling against a lot of new young talent coming through. It will be fascinating to watch this develop over the coming months and to see who else comes through the rankings to make a serous challenge to the pecking order. The circuit now moves onto Hyeres in France for the fourth leg of the 2009 ISAF Sailing World Cup. We'll be back.