Win for Ainslie on day two

The Finn Gold Cup looks set to be a high scoring regatta - with photos from Richard Langdon

The second day of racing at the Finn Gold Cup in Melbourne proved to be challenging with light and shifty wind.
 
Multiple World and Olympic Champion, Ben Ainslie (GBR) made his way through the fleet to cross the line a few meters behind Florian Raudaschl (AUT). The young Austrian who had nurtured a good lead around the course could not match Ainslie's speed on the downwind leg. To further his disappointment, Raudaschl found himself disqualified for starting early giving the race victory to Ainslie.
 
Michael Maier (CZE) enjoyed the lighter conditions to finish in second place and improve his overall results after a very disappointing start in the regatta.
 
Australian Anthony Nossiter improved from a poor start to take third place. “I was in the second row but I decided to sail conservatively on the beat. I played the shifts in the middle of the race and passed a few on the run.”
 
Dan Slater (NZL) capitalised on his earlier outstanding results with a fourth place which gives him a comfortable lead on the overall standings, 12 points ahead of Ben Ainslie (GBR). He is the only sailor with one digit results so far. Ainslie had predicted the tough weather conditions: “We will all have to count with bad races in this regatta. Despite being strong, the wind is often shifty and quite hard to read.” Today he compared the sailing conditions with Qingdao. “We raced with light wind and the remaining big waves created by the earlier breeze.”
 
With most sailors training in strong wind to prepare for this event, the sailing conditions at the start of the Finn Gold Cup are taking most by surprise: “Not the weather I was expecting in Melbourne” declared Jonas Hoegh-Christensen (DEN), disappointed with a 15th place. Emilios Papathanasiou (GRE) and Peter-Jan Postma (NED) lost about ten places after sailing on the wrong side of the shift on the last beat.  However, the Greek only lost one place to third overall, while Hoegh-Christensen and Postma conserve their earlier fourth and fifth positions respectively.
 
It could have been a great day for Junior Piotr Kula. The young Pole finished the race in 11th place but was found among the six sailors disqualified at the start. Giles Scott (GBR) lost five places in 16th position after collecting 31 points today. He is still the clear leader of the Junior division. Ian Cook (USA) was the first Junior across the line with a 29th. He is in fourth place in the Junior classification, five points behind Federico Melo (POR) and four behind Henry Bagnall (GBR).
 
Two races are scheduled on Thursday.

Results:

Pos	Helm	Nationality	R1	R2	R3	Tot
1	Dan Slater	NZL	1	1	4	6
2	Ben Ainslie	GBR	4	13	1	18
3	Aimilios Papathanasiou	GRE	6	2	11	19
4	Jonas H Gh-christens	DEN	8	4	14	26
5	Pieter Jan Postma	NED	11	3	13	27
6	Anthony Nossiter	AUS	10	15	3	28
7	Peer Moberg	NOR	5	10	21	36
8	Edward Wright	GBR	21	11	6	38
9	Chris Cook	CAN	15	19	5	39
10	Ivan Kljakovic Ga P	CRO	26	12	9	47
11	Giorgio Poggi	ITA	3	7	45	55
12	Tapio Nirkko	FIN	7	44	8	59
13	Haris Papadopoulos	CYP	2	43	18	63
14	Johan Tillander	SWE	9	6	48	63
15	Matthias Bohn	GER	47	9	7	63
16	Giles Scott	GBR	28	5	31	64
17	Oleksiy Borysov	UKR	34	21	10	65
18	Riccardo Cordovani	ITA	18	18	30	66
19	Rafal Szukiel	POL	32	24	15	71
20	Michael Maier	CZE	41	32	2	75
21	Eduard Skornyakov	RUS	12	33	32	77
22	Rafael Trujillo	ESP	42	16	19	77
23	Gasper Vincec	SLO	54	14	12	80
24	Jonathan Lobert	FRA	24	34	22	80
25	Waclaw Szukiel	POL	19	45	17	81
26	Ed Greig	GBR	22	38	27	87
27	Marin Misura	CRO	14	58	16	88
28	Tianyu Ren	CHN	38	27	28	93
29	Daniel Birgmark	SWE	33	20	42	95
30	Michele Paoletti	ITA	35	30	33	98
31	Timothy Goodbody	IRL	25	29	51	105
32	Ismael Bruno	FRA	44	26	35	105
33	Andrew Mills	GBR	66	8	36	110
34	Mark Andrews	GBR	16	35	59	110
35	Guillaume Florent	FRA	20	31	62	113
36	Bo Liu	CHN	23	51	43	117
37	Zach Railey	USA	46	39	34	119
38	Nitin Mongia	IND	13	53	55	121
39	Florian Raudaschl	AUT	17	22	83.00O	122
40	Ali Kemal T Fekci	TUR	57	42	23	122
41	Karel Van Hellemond	NED	29	56	40	125
42	Lei Gong	CHN	51	55	20	126
43	Akif Muslubas	TUR	49	54	24	127
44	Peng Zhang	CHN	30	40	57	127
45	Dmitrii Tereshkin	RUS	39	46	46	131
46	Frederico Melo	POR	65	23	44	132
47	Henry Bagnall	GBR	40	50	47	137
48	Michal Hruby	CZE	31	47	60	138
49	Ian Cook	USA	55	57	29	141
50	Nachhatar Johal	IND	67	28	52	147