Job done

Ainslie notches up fourth consecutive Finn World Championship title

Eighteen months ago in Rio, Ben Ainslie (GBR) made history by winning the Finn Gold Cup for the third time in a row. It was only the second time in the event's 48 year history that this had been done. He equalled the record set by Jorg Bruder (BRA) between 1970 and 1972. Today in Moscow, Ainslie has made his own record, winning the Finn Gold Cup - arguably one of dinghy sailing's hardest and most coveted trophies, for the fourth time in a row.

With a light northerly light wind in the morning, the fleets set sail for the final race of the 2005 Finn Gold Cup. The temperature had dropped to 3 degrees overnight so those sailors who had only brought summer sailing gear found the day rather cold. In fact the Gold fleet sat around for over two hours before a race could be started. The wind changed from one minute to the next and was varying by over 70 degrees. So the race committee waited around in the cold air for it to stabilise.

Finally at just after 13.00, the postponement came down and the fleet got underway. Series leader Ben Ainslie said, “In these conditions I was going to try to control Emilios [the only man who could beat him] from the start.” At the four minute signal, the two were locked together in their own match race. Ainslie succeeded in delaying Papathansaiou’s start, but picked up a penalty himself. “I wasn’t sure if our boats touched, but I did the turns anyway to make sure.”

The two boats started well behind the fleet with Papathanasiou banging the left hand corner in a bid to find a large enough shift to get him back to the front. Ainslie played the shifts and looked ahead half way up the beat when the wind died again and the race officer admitted defeat and abandoned racing. “It was a huge relief when they abandoned,” Ainslie admitted later. “With the wind we have had here this week anything could have happened.”

So Ainslie makes history in being the only sailor to win four Finn Gold Cups, and these in successive years. He won in Athens in 2002, Cadiz in 2003, Rio de Janeiro in 2004 and now Moscow in 2005. His coach David Howlett commented, “Ben’s outright professionalism is the key to his success.”

Ainslie concluded, "The organization is great, I liked the sailing centre but the race conditions were very difficult. I am very happy that I could cope with the wind and win."

Second placed Papathansaiou scores his best Finn Gold Cup result to date, but is still looking for that world championship win that continues to elude him. Third placed Chris Cook (CAN) wins his first major championship medal after being one of the few sailors here to find any sort of consistency.

Meanwhile the silver fleet sailing on course two further down the lake - had just enough wind to start a race at 11.30. The race was characterized by large shifts and flat patches and the left hand side was made more interesting on the third beat with the arrival of a cruise vessel trying to get down the lake. The lead changed several times and it was a surprised Alexey Lavros (RUS) who found himself leading the fleet. He eventually finished 4th with the lead finally going to Class President Balasz Hajdu (HUN) to lift him to third in the fleet. A good 3rd place from Edward Greig (GBR) lifted him to second in the silver fleet, while the ever consistent Giedrius Guzyz (LTU) posted a 6th to win the fleet by 13 points. Full credit must go to the slick race team who managed to change the marks for each and every leg of the race as the wind performed circles around them.

The Junior Finn World Championship was won by Ivan Klakovic Gaspic (CRO) in 18th place, beating defending champion Tapio Nirko (FIN) bu just 8 points. Third placed Norbert Wilandt (POL) finished in 38 place, 58 points behind Gaspic.

Interestingly, Ainslie is one of many America's Cup sailors taking time out of their AC dayjobs to sail the Finn. In fact five of them have won races here. From +39, Rafael Trujillo (ESP), Andrew Simpson (GBR), Chris Brittle (GBR) and Antony Nossiter (AUS) have all won individual races. In addition, both Ainslie and Kevin Hall (USA) - who finished 20th - are with Emirates Team New Zealand.

Before the regatta, ISAF World Ranked No 1, Jonas Hogh-Christensen had commented, "Sailing against Ben is like biking against Lance, playing basket against Jordan, driving against Schumacher or playing golf against Tiger. More and more when you look good in a race you start looking around to see if Ben is close to you, if he is not, be ready to get a big shift not going your way. Ben is allready a legend in sailing and he will probably be the biggest ever. But bear in mind that legends get beaten. I think Ben looks unbeatable because he has the highest ground level in the world. The rest of us just have to turn it up a level or two, to beat him. If we didn't think that he could be beaten we should start doing something else."

Finally a big thank you to Moscow, Moscow Sailing School and the literally hundreds of helpers, staff and officials who have made this championship possible. While the sailors expected difficult sailing conditions, the magnitude of the welcome and the organisation took them completely by surprise. Moscow Sailing School have a first class facility here, and have excelled in running a fabulous regatta, to which the Finn Class has been honored to be invited.

Next year's Finn Gold Cup in in the beautiful town of Split, in Croatia. Will Ainslie turn up and try to make it five in a row? Watch this space...

	Nat	Helm	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Q5	Q6	F1	F2	F3	Total	Nett
1	GBR	Ben Ainslie	2	1	1	2	10	2	8	1		27	17
2	GRE	Papathanasiou Emilios	1	3	1	8	5	3	2	6		29	21
3	CAN	Christopher Cook	3	OCS(50)	3	13	8	5	1	9		92	42
4	POL	Waclav Szukiel	19	8	7	4	2	14	5	14		73	54
5	CZE	Michal Hruby	8	10	17	2	1	7	23	13		81	58
6	NZL	Dan Slater	10	1	2	7	17	10	13	26		86	60
7	ESP	Rafael Trujillo Villar	8	12	11	1	32	8	12	8		92	60
8	AUS	Joshua Beaver	12	5	40	9	4	22	7	5		104	64
9	SWE	Daniel Birgmark	2	3	8	21	19	8	21	4		86	65
10	CRO	Marin Misura	11	18	2	3	1	15	20	16		86	66
11	NED	Stefan de Vries	9	7	11	10	OCS(50)	6	17	10		120	70
12	SLO	Gasper Vincec	1	22	5	5	17	22	3	19		94	72
13	DEN	Jonas Hoegh-Christensen	3	RDGa(11.4)	9	7	12	17	14	18		91.4	73.4
14	DEN	Soren Holm	4	4	19	14	21	12	19	2		95	74
15	GBR	Andrew Simpson	7	11	12	11	9	1	25	28		104	76
16	SWE	Johan Tillander	9	9	6	20	16	2	15	22		99	77
17	AUS	Anthony Nossiter	5	14	18	1	13	20	27	11		109	82
18	CRO	Ivan Klakovic Gaspic	6	6	15	18	6	4	30	OCS(50)		135	85
19	RUS	Krutskikh Vladimir	13	18	5	25	3	13	16	20		113	88
20	USA	Kevin Hall	22	11	6	16	20	4	10	21		110	88
21	FIN	Tapio Nirkko	14	8	10	22	24	3	35	12		128	93
22	UKR	Borysov Olexiy	11	13	4	22	2	19	32	24		127	95
23	POL	Rafal Szukiel	17	26	16	8	3	10	18	25		123	97
24	NED	Wietze Zetzema	17	15	4	17	5	11	29	43		141	98
25	GBR	Chris Brittle	21	14	39	10	21	1	31	3		140	101
26	GBR	Edward Wright	14	2	10	6	26	13	41	31		143	102
27	NOR	Peer Moberg	16	16	12	12	19	6	26	40		147	107
28	NED	Peter-Jan Postma	4	5	13	33	4	32	36	17		144	108
29	IRL	David Burrows	5	7	31	16	7	24	22	OCS(50)		162	112
30	GBR	Matt Howard	18	17	13	21	25	18	44	7		163	119
31	SWE	Kristian Aderman	10	17	14	3	13	28	43	35		163	120
32	IRL	Aaron O'Gradi	7	22	28	23	23	16	6	34		159	125
33	BLR	Karatkevich Ivan	32	29	30	11	11	9	4	36		162	126
34	RUS	Chernov Evgeniy	28	10	19	30	10	29	11	23		160	130
35	RUS	Semerkhanov Maxim	26	31	18	17	25	5	9	41		172	131
36	ESP	Alberto Vadell Sabater	21	6	42	24	20	12	39	15		179	137
37	CRO	Emil Tomasevic	13	23	20	4	29	14	38	DSQ(50)		191	141
38	POL	Norbert Wilandt	24	12	8	15	28	16	40	DNF(50)		193	143
39	BLR	Alexander Mumyga	23	21	7	15	31	24	24	37		182	145
40	ESP	Pablo Arrarte Elorza	15	28	9	26	7	31	37	30		183	146
41	DEN	Thomas Laursen	19	2	36	24	23	15	33	33		185	149
42	USA	Darrell Peck	6	9	34	45	11	21	48	27		201	153
43	GBR	Mark Andrews	25	25	15	40	12	9	46	29		201	155
44	TUR	Arif Gurdenlu	15	13	28	5	30	OCS(50)	28	39		208	158
45	AUS	Richard Ironmonger	16	24	29	25	9	17	45	44		209	164
46	ESP	Diego Fructuoso Perez	26	19	26	29	27	7	34	32		200	166
47	GBR	Tim Carver	22	4	29	9	46	23	42	42		217	171
48	IRL	Timothy Goodbody	23	30	22	6	15	DNC(50)	47	38		231	181
49	NED	Sander E.Willems	24	36	3	28	28	20	OCS(50)	DNC(50)		239	189
	Nat	Helm	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Q5	Q6	F1	F2	F3	Total	Nett
1	LTU	Giedrius Guzys	25	25	22	12	24	30	5	4		147	117
2	GER	Eiermann Jurgien	38	33	23	19	18	31	6	3		171	133
3	GBR	Edward Greig	18	20	34	27	18	25	17	8		167	133
4	EST	Janno Hool	36	26	21	20	14	40	4	13		174	134
5	HUN	Balazs Hajdu	20	24	24	26	14	27	OCS(50)	9		194	144
6	RUS	Bozhedomov Yury	35	39	43	31	6	18	2	16		190	147
7	HUN	Tibor Pallay	34	16	17	35	31	32	12	5		182	147
8	EST	Harles Liiv	30	28	21	19	34	25	16	17		190	156
9	BAR	David McGregor	31	19	36	38	38	34	1	2		199	161
10	RUS	Zhbankov Timofey	39	35	14	33	22	35	7	15		200	161
11	USA	Bradley Nieuwstad	40	32	37	36	26	11	9	10		201	161
12	CZE	Rudolf Lidarik	20	21	25	14	DNF(50)	39	24	19		212	162
13	GRE	Dragoutsis Alexandros	27	41	32	44	22	26	19	1		212	168
14	USA	Bryan Boyd	36	29	38	28	27	36	3	11		208	170
15	POL	Piotr Mazur	35	23	27	29	29	42	21	7		213	171
16	GER	Sebastian Munck	28	32	33	30	OCS(50)	33	13	6		225	175
17	RUS	Kapitonov Vladislav	33	27	40	18	8	29	38	26		219	179
18	NED	Bass de Waal	37	34	44	32	30	26	11	12		226	182
19	NED	Karel van Hellemond	12	20	24	36	DSQ(50)	21	OCS(50)	24		237	187
20	UKR	Evgen Yaroshenko	37	38	27	34	16	34	23	18		227	189
21	GBR	Robert Deaves	32	35	37	23	15	19	31	37		229	192
22	GER	Sebastian Petrov	29	44	45	39	37	23	8	20		245	200
23	EST	Aare Taveter	33	31	26	34	47	38	20	22		251	204
24	EST	Mihkel Kosk	44	37	41	37	37	28	10	21		255	211
25	GER	Duisberg Hartmut	29	33	16	42	35	37	32	33		257	215
26	NED	Cees Scheurwater	34	36	35	13	39	44	30	34		265	221
27	DEN	Kenneth Boggild	27	30	46	35	38	36	25	32		269	223
28	UKR	Zelenskiy Valeriy	38	43	33	41	42	33	15	23		268	225
29	GRE	Davourlis Panagiotis	44	43	20	42	33	39	14	36		271	227
30	HUN	Gaszton Pal	39	34	42	27	45	30	DSQ(50)	25		292	242
31	BUL	Kosta Stergidor	31	39	49	31	43	DSQ(50)	22	29		294	244
32	SUI	Benz Nick	41	45	38	32	33	41	35	28		293	248
33	SUI	Gautsci Thomas	40	46	31	38	36	45	33	27		296	250
34	RUS	Kravchenko Vasiliy	48	48	43	41	44	40	27	14		305	257
35	BUL	Nikolay Vasilev Vasilev	46	38	32	39	40	35	28	DNF(50)		308	258
36	GER	Detlen Guminski	46	45	25	44	42	27	36	40		305	259
37	USA	August Miller	49	40	30	43	43	44	29	30		308	259
38	CAN	Evan King	42	27	23	DNF(50)	36	43	DNF(50)	42		313	263
39	BLR	Strelok Anatoli	41	40	41	37	34	38	26	DNE(50)		307	266
40	GER	Eller Michuel	42	37	45	40	32	37	39	43		315	270
41	RUS	Lavrov Alexey	48	47	44	46	40	45	18	38		326	278
42	HUN	Marton Beliczay	43	46	35	43	39	41	40	39		326	280
43	RUS	Borovyak Alexey	45	42	39	45	41	42	37	35		326	281
44	GER	Andreas Bollongino	43	42	47	47	35	46	42	41		343	296
45	AUS	John Shallvey	30	44	46	48	45	43	41	BFD(50)		347	297
46	BUL	Nikolaj Emilov Rusev	47	OCS(50)	48	46	46	47	34	31		349	299
47	GER	David Guminski	47	41	47	48	41	48	43	45		360	312
48	ITA	Cisbani Paolo	45	47	49	49	44	46	OCS(50)	44		374	324
49	RUS	Danilov Valentin	49	48	48	47	47	47	44	46		376	327