2023 Finn World Masters at Nea Itaklitsa, near Kavala, Greece - Day 3
by Robert Deaves 31 May 2023 19:16 BST
26 May - 2 June 2023
No more races were possible on Day 3 at the 2023 Finn World Masters at Nea Iraklitsa, Kavala, Greece, after the wind played games all day.
The third day of the event opened with cloud cover and light breeze, with promises of a clearing skies and better wind conditions in the afternoon. After a long postponement ashore and the fleet was released only to be turned around as the wind died again.
The boats were released again at 14.30 and the breeze built to 12 knots under sunny skies just before the start. However, a huge cloud bank was developing behind the course and gradually started to cover it. After two general recalls and 21 boats out under black flag including several top runners, the wind started to shift and drop.
The boats made it to the top mark with Ladislav Hyrs from Czech Republic leading from Till Klammer from Switzerland and championshiop leader, Filipe Silva. However, by then the wind was down to 3-4 knots and the race was soon abandoned and the fleet sent home on glassy seas.
So, after three days, just two races have been sailed. Four are needed for a championship with two days left the sail.
In the morning the Annual Masters Meeting took place with two key proposals approved. The traditional dates for the Finn World Masters have always been the Whitsun week, but to try to be more flexible to secure more preferable dates, and to provide certainty for other event organisers, the decision was taken that from now on, the dates of the Finn World Masters will be in the month of June.
The other momentous, and almost unanimous decision was to award the 2026 Finn World Masters to the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron in Australia. This will be the first time the event has been in Australia, or even in the southern hemisphere. This follows the decision by the IFA AGM two weeks ago to hold the 2026 Finn Gold Cup at the same club. So, in 2026 Finn sailors can look forward to three weeks of first class Finn competition in Australia, as it will also be combined with the Australian Nationals.
In the evening, the Finn Masters Annual dinner was held at Camping Paradiso next door to the boat park.
Racing continues Thursday, and is scheduled to conclude on Friday.
Results after Day 3: (top ten, 2 races)
1 POR 21 Filipe SILVA 5pts
2 ESP 7 David TEROL 8pts
3 ITA 2 Marco BUGLIELLI 20pts
4 HUN 7 Székely ANTAL 21pts
5 CZE 2 Zdenek GEBHART 25pts
6 FRA 75 Laurent HAŸ 26pts
7 SUI 7 Christoph BURGER 26pts
8 CZE 43 Ladislav HYRS 33pts
9 SVK 1 Peter MOSNY 36pts
10 AUS 75 Phil CHADWICK 40pts