Final race showdown

Ainslie and Papathansiou to fight it our for victory in Moscow

The first day of the finals at the 2005 Finn Gold Cup saw a mixed bag of weather from which Ben Ainslie (GBR) still holds a narrow lead over Emilios Papathanasiou (GRE). A good day for Chris Cook (CAN) sees him lifted from 6th overnight to third going into Sunday's final race.

Yesterday's moderate breeze was still in place this morning, albeit now from the south. However by the time the races were started this had died to a shifty 3-5 knots. However, by the start of the second Gold fleet race it had shifted some 120 degrees towards the west and increased to 16-18 knots.

Gold fleet

Starting in the light rain and lights winds, Chris Cook (CAN) led round each and every mark of the first race of the day to score his first win of the regatta. At the first mark he was followed by Ivan Karatkevich (BLR) and Emilios Papathanasiou (GRE).

Papathansaiou moved up to second on the third upwind, while Gasper Vincec (CRO) moved up to third. Karatkevich, sailed his best race of the regatta to finish in 4th. Series leader Ben Ainslie (GBR) got himself boxed in at the start and spent the entire race trying desparately to catch up with the leaders. Picking off places on every leg, he finally caught up to 8th at the finish, his second worst result so far, but also a countable race.

However, after this first race, for the first time in the regatta, Ainslie had lost the overall lead to Papathanasiou by one point. He responded in typical Ainslie fashion by winning the final race of the day, but not after a great deal of confusion.

The second race was started in similar conditions to the first with Cook again in front, Walclav Szukiel (POL) in second and Ainslie in third. However, half way up the second beat, a 120 degree shift in the wind led to its abandonment. Papathanasiou must have breathed a sigh of releif as he was second to last at the time. Actually this is the third time this week, he has got out of jail through a race abandonment.

The course was reset along the length of the lake and with gusts up to 18 knots and waves starting to build, the sailors had a great time with the O flag raised for free pumping throughout. Again Ainslie didn't get a great start, but recovered to round the top mark just behind Soren Holm (DEN) and Dan Slater (NZL). Behind him there was chaos. Jonas Hogh-Christensen (DEN) was finally having a good race and about to round the top mark in 4th, but David Burrows (IRL) didn't see him as he ducked Ainslie rounding the mark and the two collided and capsized.

Behind this collision, a lot of boats were arriving at the windward mark together allowing the top three to escape down the run. Holm maintained his lead at the second top mark with Josh Beaver (AUS) moving up to second and Daniel Birgmark (SWE) in third. Ainslie had slipped to 6th. He put that to rights on the third beat, taking the lead which he held to the finish. Holm held on for second place, with Chris Brittle (GBR) claiming third.

After the top mark collision, Burrows happened to be OCS anyway, so sailed home, but Hogh-Christensen has trouble righting his boat in the strong winds and moderate waves and rounded the bottom mark in 44th. He sailed well though, to recover to 18th by the finish but was understandably upset.

Commenting on his success today Chris Cook - finished 9th in the second race of the day - said "I have been doing a lot of training in Canada on a lake similar to this, with flat water and very shifty winds. A shoulder injury meant I was unable to do the European summer circuit, so instead I did a lot of training at home. It seems to have worked."

Silver fleet

In the silver fleet, both races became somewhat scrappy due to the shiftiness of the wind. Consistency is very hard to achieve here due to the vagaries of the wind, and most people are looking for a few top poisitons to boost them up the results table. One such is David McGregor (BAR), representing another new country in the Finn community.

Taking the lead on the final run of the first race in his own private patch of wind, he sailed well to score second in the next, after recovering from around 10th at the first mark. Second race winner, Dragoutsis Alexandros (GRE) found an impossible shift out of the start line to lift out on port and cross the entire fleet. He sailed well to lead throughout and win by a large margin.

Finn Class president Balasz Hajdu (HUN), who missed the gold fleet by just 3 points, had an unfortunate day with an OCS followed by a 9 to lie 5th in the silver fleet. Giedrius Guzys (LTU) and Jurgien Eirmann (GER) both had a consistent day to end the day first and second.

The battle for the junior title took a new twist today when overnight leader Ivan Klakovic Gaspic (CRO) had a bad day with a 30th and an OCS to drop to 18th overall, just 8 points ahead of the defending champion Tapio Nirko (FIN) in 21st place. Tomorrow, these two will fight it out for the Jorg Bruder Silver Cup while third placed Norbert Wilandt (POL) will try to maintain his 12 point margin over Mark Andrews (GBR).

Our time here in Moscow is nearly coming to and end, and it will be sad to leave. All the sailors and officials here have been made so welcome by everyone, and have had a great time. Most have made the time to visit Moscow and see the sights - Red Square, The Kremlin, St Basils, the shopping areas. Life aboard the ship has also been an interesting and different experience, with all the sailors and helpers eating breakfast and often dinner together, creating a community atmosphere that is rarely present at major international regattas. However, it must be said that the ship has taken on the look of a sailing club changing room, with all the corridors decked out with drying wetsuits and rash vests, along with the natural aroma that only wet wetsuits can create. One factoid this is interesting is that the vessel, the Felix Dzerzhinski, was named after the founder of the Cheka, which was the forerunner to the KGB!

Before we all head home though, there is still tomorrow to sail, and all eyes will be on Ainslie and Papathansaiou. Between them they are guaranteed first and second. The 4 point margin means that Papathansaiou has to be in the top 5 to stand any chance of winning, and at least 3 places clear of Ainslie. While not pre-empting Ainslie's strategy for tomorrow, some pundits are already expecting a repeat of the Ainslie/Scheidt showdown in the last race of the 2000 Laser regatta in the Sydney Olympics. For third place, Chris Cook has a 12 point margin over Walclav Szukiel, but with the wind the way it is in Moscow, that could all change.

One race to go for the Gold and Silver fleets:

	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