Finn World Masters in Medemblik - Day 4
by Robert Deaves 20 Jun 2025 05:52 BST
15-20 June 2025
Pieter-Jan Postma wins after bizarre penultimate day
The penultimate day of the Finn World Masters in Medemblik threw a curveball at the fleet with very light and tricky winds, some high scores, complex racing, protests and unfinished races. It was a long, busy and hot day in Medemblik, but also a lot of fun for the 300 sailors.
After all the hearings were done and addressed, Pieter-Jan Postma, from The Netherlands, has won his second World Masters title with a race to spare, after a protest moved him up one place in the final race. This means second placed Laurent Hay, from France, cannot better Postma's score on countback. The two are 10 points ahead of third placed Fabian Lemmel from Germany, though there are about 10 boats still in the hunt for third overall.
The weather continued to amaze everyone with sunny skies and high temperatures, though Thursday brought light wind and big shifts. Yellow group sailed almost three races after bizarrely missing the change of course signal at the first gate and all headed to a finish line that was not there. The race was abandoned and resailed later in the day. The race wins in yellow went to Britain's Lawrence Crispin and Jelte Baerends, from The Netherlands. In the blue group, which did not make the same mistake Australia's Anthony Nossiter took a very popular win in the first race with Slovakia's Peter Mosny winning the second.
Ville Aalto-Setala, from Finland said, "It was a very tricky day with light wind, and a lot of differences in pressure across the racing area. The hardest thing for me was keeping the speed up because it was very difficult to pass given the light breeze. It was a very good day for me and the red fleet. I had a 12 and a third and I have no expectations on tomorrow. It's better not to have them in a tricky place like this."
Over on the other course Postma carried on his winning ways by taking the first race only to struggle in the second after a risky start and ended up fifth over the line. Meanwhile, Hay, in the same group was sixth in the first race and then escaped in the second for a big win to keep his title retention within reach. However, a protest from Postma disqualified the third place finisher and he moved up to fourth, which was enough to win the title with a race to spare.
In the green group, the wins went to Hungary's Tibor Pallay and France's Harri Veivo. In fact, Pallay and Baerends matched the best score of the day with a 1,2 each.
Nanno Schuttrups, from The Netherlands, said "So today was quite challenging. It was patchy with lots of shifts and things you don't want to see on a racing day like this. I didn't have a very good start on the first beat, so I ended up somewhere mid fleet, but the second race was so much better. I managed to get a clear lane, I found some breeze, got my speed going and it was really fun because at the end the front of the green fleet got caught in the tail end of the red fleet so all the boats came on the finishing line together so the final reach was quite hectic for both sailors and people at the finishing line.
"I've been sailing here for most of my life but a week like we have had this week was still unheard of. It's almost like Punta Ala but on fresh waters."
One final race is scheduled for Friday to conclude a fantastic event in Medemblik, which has enjoyed some incredible hospitality and unprecedented weather.
Results after Day 4: (top ten, 7 races)
1 NED 842 Pieter-Jan POSTMA 6pts
2 FRA 75 Laurent HAŸ 9pts
3 GER 501 Fabian LEMMEL 19pts
4 AUS 2 Rob McMILLAN 22pts
5 ESP 7 David TEROL 25pts
6 UKR 8 Taras HAVRYSH 27pts
7 NED 68 Martijn van MUYDEN 28pts
8 AUS 221 Anthony NOSSITER 29pts
9 NED 1 Jelte BAERENDS 30pts
10 NED 703 Eric BAKKER 33pts