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News of today's racing at the Finn Gold Cup

Finally there is some racing to report at the Finn Gold Cup in Moscow. Five races were sailed today, two for the yellow flight and three for the green flight. A 2nd and 10th for Ben Ainslie (GBR) is enough to hold the series with 6 points from Emilios Papathanasious (GRE) on 10 points and Marin Misura (CRO) on 17 points. Today the sailors had it all. Flat calms, flat out planes and hard hiking beats, sometimes all at the same time coming into the weather mark!

With only two complete sets of races sailed after three days, all fingers and toes were crossed this morning that we would get a full day's quality racing in. The day dawned windless and cold again and there was an audible sigh from the Finn sailors as the hydrofoil entered Pestovskoe Lake to a near mirror like surface. However very soon the breeze started to fill and in green flight were sent out to the race area.

Green flight

It took a long while to set the course as the breeze kept changing its mind where to blow. The breeze was across the lake only allowing a short windward/leeward course. The windward marks were quite near the trees so the approach was critcal. Sometime it was easy, sometimes it was hard went the wind died away and sometimes it was fun when the shift was so big you came into the buoy on a reach. To say it was quite shifty would be a gross understatement.

Finally it kind of settled in one direction (+/- 30 degrees) and race 3 was started. Repeating his success of race 1, Emilios Papathanasiou (GRE) started well at the pin end, tacked onto port, cleared the fleet and was never headed. He was followed by Sander Willems (NED) and Emil Tomasevic (CRO). Dan Slater (NZL) eventually passed Willems to finish second.

The next race got underway fairly soon with Rafael Trujillo (ESP) leading at the first mark followed by Michal Hruby (CZE) and Edward Wright (GBR). Apart from briefly losing his lead to Hruby on the second lap. Trujillo led into the finish to win by a considerable margin.

There was a long wait for the third race as the fleet waited for yellow flight to finish their second race on the larger, slightly more stable course area, so that they could use it. Hruby finished off a great day with a win followed by Borysov and Vladimir Krutskirh (RUS), the first of four Russian sailors in the top ten.

Yellow flight

The first race was started at 1pm and while Trujillo was winning the green flight, his +39 team mate Anthony Nossiter (AUS) dominated race 4 of the yellow group by leading from the start to win. There was a strong challenge early on from Jonas Hogh-Christensen (DEN), before he fell foul of a large shift, and then Marin Misura. However, series leader Ben Ainslie came through from 8th at the first mark to second at the finish. The wind strength went over the magic 12 knot mark after the first beat, allowing for free pumping downwind.

The second race turned into a battle between Marin Misura (CRO) and Waclav Sukiel (POL). Neck and neck most of the way round, they finished in that order within just yards of other other. The final downwind was an epic battle of strong arm pumping. To make it a family affair, Rafal Szukiel (POL) finished 3rd, albeit quite a long way back from the leaders.

Everynight the sailors either eat on board the ship, take a free shuttle bus ride into Moscow or are entertatined in the large tent by the cruise ship. The other night there was a games evening and last night there was a Turkish evening with hubble bubbles, food and belly dancers. When this is finished the usual go-go girls take up position in the corner and gyrate to the music and their Finn fans.

Topics of conversation include which angle the ship will be angled today. Sometimes it's towards the shore, sometimes towards the land. The thing is that the showers in the cabins only have drain holes in one corner so if the ship is angled the wrong way, your shower water doesn't drain and creates a puddle in the corner under the sink. A committee has worked long and hard to find the reason for this, but rumour has it that it all depends which side of the dining room Chris Brittle (GBR) is sitting at the time!

So after four days, there have been five sets of races sailed, so tomorrow's flights will be receeded for the final qualification race for the gold and silver fleet finals. The forecast tomorrow is for less wind, but hopefully just enough to get the start off promptly. After 5 races, Ainslie leads by 4 points on Papathansiou and 11 points on Misura.

This year's event sees the highest number of Junior sailors in recent times with 15 sailors representing 11 countries. Defending World Junior Champion Tapio Nirko (FIN) is currently lying in 28th place, some way behind the favourite to take the title, Ivan Klakovic Gaspic (CRO) who is up in 17th, some 21 points ahead. Third is Norbert Willand (POL) in 31st place with 59 points.

More pictures page two.

Rank	Nat	Helm	JUNIOR	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Q5	Total	Nett
1st	GBR	Ben Ainslie		2	1	1	2	10	16	6
2nd	GRE	Papathanasiou Emilios		1	3	1	8	5	18	10
3rd	CRO	Marin Misura		11	18	2	3	1	35	17
4th	NZL	Dan Slater		10	1	2	7	17	37	20
5th	CZE	Michal Hruby		8	10	17	2	1	38	21
6th	POL	Waclav Szukiel		19	8	7	4	2	40	21
7th	NED	Peter-Jan Postma		4	5	13	33	4	59	26
8th	DEN	Jonas Hoegh-Christensen		3	RDGa(7.8)	9	7	12	38.8	26.8
9th	CAN	Christopher Cook		3	OCS(50)	3	13	8	77	27
10th	SLO	Gasper Vincec		1	22	5	5	17	50	28
11th	UKR	Borysov Olexiy		11	13	4	22	2	52	30
12th	AUS	Joshua Beaver		12	5	40	9	4	70	30
13th	ESP	Rafael Trujillo Villar		8	12	11	1	33	65	32
14th	SWE	Daniel Birgmark		2	3	8	21	19	53	32
15th	GBR	Edward Wright		14	2	10	6	27	59	32
16th	AUS	Anthony Nossiter		5	14	18	1	13	51	33
17th	CRO	Ivan Klakovic Gaspic	junior	6	6	15	18	6	51	33
18th	IRL	David Burrows		5	7	31	16	7	66	35
19th	NED	Stefan de Vries		9	7	11	10	OCS(50)	87	37
20th	GBR	Andrew Simpson		7	11	12	11	9	50	38
21st	RUS	Krutskirh Vladimir		13	18	5	25	3	64	39
22nd	SWE	Kristian Aderman		10	17	14	3	13	57	40
23rd	SWE	Johan Tillander		9	9	6	20	16	60	40
24th	DEN	Soren Holm		4	4	19	14	21	62	41
25th	NED	Wietze Zetzema		17	15	4	17	5	58	41
26th	POL	Rafal Szukiel		17	26	16	8	3	70	44
27th	USA	Kevin Hall		22	11	6	16	20	75	53
28th	FIN	Tapio Nirkko	junior	14	8	10	22	24	78	54
29th	NOR	Peer Moberg		16	16	12	12	19	75	56
30th	ESP	Pablo Arrarte Elorza		15	28	9	26	7	85	57
31st	POL	Norbert Wilandt	junior	24	12	8	15	28	87	59
32nd	CRO	Emil Tomasevic		13	23	20	4	30	90	60
33rd	USA	Darrell Peck		6	9	34	45	11	105	60
34th	TUR	Arif Gurdenlu		15	13	28	5	31	92	61
35th	GBR	Tim Carver		22	4	29	9	47	111	64
36th	IRL	Timothy Goodbody		23	30	22	6	15	96	66
37th	BLR	Alexander Mumyga		23	21	7	15	32	98	66
38th	GBR	Chris Brittle		21	14	39	10	21	105	66
39th	RUS	Chernov Evgeniy		28	10	19	30	10	97	67
40th	DEN	Thomas Laursen		19	2	36	24	24	105	69
41st	GBR	Matt Howard		18	17	13	21	25	94	69
42nd	ESP	Alberto Vadell Sabater		21	6	42	24	20	113	71
43rd	AUS	Richard Ironmonger	junior	16	24	29	25	9	103	74
44th	IRL	Aaron O'Gradi		7	22	28	23	23	103	75
45th	GBR	Mark Andrews	junior	25	25	15	40	12	117	77
46th	NED	Karel van Hellemond		12	20	24	36	23	115	79
47th	CZE	Rudolf Lidarik		20	21	25	14	DNF(50)	130	80
48th	BLR	Karatkevich Ivan		32	29	30	11	11	113	81
49th	EST	Janno Hool		36	26	21	20	14	117	81
50th	HUN	Balazs Hajdu		20	24	24	26	14	108	82
51st	GBR	Edward Greig		18	20	34	27	18	117	83
52nd	NED	Sander E.Willems		24	36	3	28	29	120	84
53rd	LTU	Giedrius Guzys		25	25	22	12	25	109	84
54th	RUS	Kapitonov Vladislav		33	27	40	18	8	126	86
55th	RUS	Semerkhanov Maxim		26	31	18	17	26	118	87
56th	GER	Eiermann Jurgien		38	33	23	19	18	131	93
57th	HUN	Tibor Pallay		34	16	17	35	31	133	98
58th	EST	Harles Liiv		30	28	21	19	34	132	98
59th	ESP	Diego Fructuoso Perez		26	19	26	29	28	128	99
60th	RUS	Zhbankov Timofey		39	35	14	33	22	143	104
61st	GBR	Robert Deaves		32	35	37	23	15	142	105
62nd	POL	Piotr Mazur	junior	35	23	27	29	29	143	108
63rd	RUS	Bozhedomov Yury		35	39	43	31	6	154	111
64th	UKR	Evgen Yaroshenko		37	38	27	34	16	152	114
65th	GER	Duisberg Hartmut		29	33	16	42	36	156	114
66th	NED	Cees Scheurwater		34	36	35	13	40	158	118
67th	USA	Bryan Boyd		36	29	38	28	27	158	120
68th	GRE	Dragoutsis Alexandros		27	41	32	44	22	166	122
69th	GER	Sebastian Munck		28	32	33	30	OCS(50)	173	123
70th	BAR	David McGregor		31	19	36	38	38	162	124
71st	EST	Aare Taveter	junior	33	31	26	34	47	171	124
72nd	CAN	Evan King	junior	42	27	23	DNF(50)	36	178	128
73rd	USA	Bradley Nieuwstad	junior	40	32	37	36	26	171	131
74th	DEN	Kenneth Boggild		27	30	46	35	39	177	131
75th	NED	Bass de Waal		37	34	44	32	30	177	133
76th	GRE	Davourlis Panagiotis		44	43	20	42	33	182	138
77th	HUN	Gaszton Pal		39	34	42	27	46	188	142
78th	BUL	Kosta Stergidor		31	39	49	31	43	193	144
79th	SUI	Benz Nick		41	45	38	32	34	190	145
80th	SUI	Gautsci Thomas		40	46	31	38	37	192	146
81st	BUL	Nikolay Vasilev Vasilev		46	38	32	39	40	195	149
82nd	GER	Sebastian Petrov	junior	29	44	45	39	38	195	150
83rd	GER	Eller Michuel		42	37	45	40	32	196	151
84th	EST	Mihkel Kosk	junior	44	37	41	37	37	196	152
85th	BLR	Strelok Anatoli	junior	41	40	41	37	35	194	153
86th	UKR	Zelenskiy Valeriy	junior	38	43	33	41	43	198	155
87th	GER	Detlen Guminski		46	45	25	44	42	202	156
88th	USA	August Miller		49	40	30	43	44	206	157
89th	HUN	Marton Beliczay	junior	43	46	35	43	39	206	160
90th	AUS	John Shallvey		30	44	46	48	45	213	165
91st	GER	Andreas Bollongino		43	42	47	47	35	214	167
92nd	RUS	Borovyak Alexey		45	42	39	45	41	212	167
93rd	RUS	Kravchenko Vasiliy		48	48	43	41	44	224	176
94th	GER	David Guminski		47	41	47	48	42	225	177
95th	RUS	Lavrov Alexey		48	47	44	46	41	226	178
96th	ITA	Cisbani Paolo		45	47	49	49	45	235	186
97th	BUL	Nikolaj Emilov Rusev	junior	47	OCS(50)	48	46	46	237	187
98th	RUS	Danilov Valentin		49	48	48	47	48	240	191