Great start

The first two races of the Finn Gold Cup took place in superb weather

The 2006 Finn Gold Cup started on today, Tuesday, with two good races thanks to fair wind and experienced race management.
 
As expected the competition was fierce with many sailors hoping to grab their chance to win the Finn Gold Cup in a championship dominated over the last four years by Ben Ainslie. His absence is opening the field and brings new hopes in a strong fleet of 99 sailors coming from 31 countries.
 
Ed Wright took the first honours by convincingly winning the first race. After a clear start, the Brit increased his lead to 150 meters to the finish. Jonas Hoegh-Christensen (DEN) came in second in front of Dan Slater (NZL) and Emilios Papathanasiou (GRE).

The wind increased to 18 knots for the second race and the race committee hoisted the Oscar flag allowing free kinetics. Sharing the lead with Rafael Trujillo during the whole race, Emilios Papathanasiou tricked the Spaniard on the last run to win the race. “I was lucky” declared Emilios once ashore. “My boat was damaged before the last race and I finished with four litres of water in the boat!” Athens Silver medallist, Rafael Trujillo took second place with +39 team mate Iain Percy in third. Percy, now campaigning in the Star class, has been training hard in the Finn while in Valencia with +39 sailors. Anthony Nossiter, Michael Maier, Karlo Kuret and Piero Romeo are among the +39 sailors presents in Split. When asked about his come back in a top Finn regatta after six years of absence, Iain Percy admits it is just for fun: "I just wanted to come with the guys (+39) and enjoy myself in the Finn again. But actually there is not one muscle in my body that’s not hurting!"
 
Three Brits are leading the Junior division with Mark Andrews in 26th position, leading his team mates Andrew Mills and Henry Bagnall by 41 and 44 points respectively, after placing 24th and 27th. The 16 Juniors in contention for the Jorg Bruder Silver Cup, are competing in the same fleet as the seniors and are representing nine countries.
 
The forecast is not too promising for the second day of sailing with light winds preceding a storm in the afternoon.

Results:

Pos	Helm	Sail Number	R1	R2	Tot
1	PAPATHANASIOU EMILIOS	GRE 7	4	1	5
2	CHRISTENSEN JONAS	DEN 2	2	4	6
3	PERCY IAIN	GBR 54	7	3	10
4	WRIGHT EDWARD	GBR 111	1	10	11
5	TRUJILLO RAFAEL JOAQUIN	ESP 100	9	2	11
6	SLATER DANIEL	NZL 1	3	8	11
7	TILLANDER JOHAN	SWE 736	12	5	17
8	KLJAKOVIĆ GAŠPIĆ IVAN	CRO 524	5	12	17
9	BIRGMARK DANIEL	SWE 11	11	6	17
10	HOWARD MATT	GBR 550	6	13	19
11	MOBERG PEER	NOR 1	10	9	19
12	COOK CHRISTOPHER	CAN 41	21	7	28
13	GUILLAME FLORENT	FRA 73	19	11	30
14	POSTMA PIETER JAN	NED 842	8	23	31
15	SZUKIEL RAFAL	POL 7	17	18	35
16	ISMAEL BRUNO	FRA 972	15	22	37
17	TAPIO NIRKKO	FIN 216	23	15	38
18	NOSSITER ANTHONY	AUS 221	25	14	39
19	RAILEY ZACH	USA 4	22	21	43
20	GUZYS GIEDRIUS	LTU 7	14	30	44
21	MIŠURA MARIN	CRO 25	28	17	45
22	DRAGOUTSIS ALEXANDROS	GRE 8	18	31	49
23	MAIER MICHAEL	CZE 1	34	16	50
24	RAUDASCHL FLORIAN	AUT 271	16	34	50
25	O'GRADY AARON	IRL 10	31	19	50
26	ANDREWS MARK	GBR 88	24	27	51
27	ARRARTE PABLO	ESP 310	27	25	52
28	TOMAŠEVIĆ EMIL	CRO 16	20	35	55
29	KURET KARLO	CRO 11	37	20	57
30	SZUKIEL WACLAW	POL 12	32	28	60
31	GOODBODY TIMOTHY	IRL 5	26	37	63
32	MIŠURA BARTUL	CRO 69	40	24	64
33	GREIG ED	GBR 625	38	26	64
34	POGGI GIORGIO	ITA 117	29	39	68
35	HRUBY MICHAL	CZE 9	39	33	72