Disaster for Wright

As Railey pulls ahead once again going into the final day of the Finn Gold Cup

Zach Railey returned to the top of the leaderboard after a tough day at the Finn Gold Cup in Vallensbaek, Denmark. After leading the first race on Friday from start to finish he placed seventh in race 10 to go in into Saturday's medal race with a narrow three point lead over Jonas Høgh Christensen. Race ten was won by Giles Scott, who completes the top three places, a further two points back. The day's biggest loser was Thursday's leader, Ed Wright, who was black flagged in race nine, removing any chance of the world title for him, as he now has to carry a 46th from the first race.

Fourth placed Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO) is just two points further back and all four sailors have a realistic chance of taking one of dinghy sailing toughest titles in the double points medal race to be sailed just outside the marina at 11.00 Saturday.

Friday's racing was the toughest yet, with a cold south-westerly in place, raining most of the day with winds up to 25 knots and a short choppy seaway running.

Race nine winner Zach Railey (USA) takes up the story “I started down at the pin end and a left shift came in with about a minute to go and it took maybe 35 or 40 seconds before everyone tacked over to port before I could get over. But once I tacked it looked pretty good and I crossed all the way across the race course. I took one tack on starboard and got to the port layline and took one more shift and then myself and Bryan Boyd [USA] were 1, 2 round the top mark, so that was pretty cool.”

The Americans were followed round by Daniel Birgmark (SWE), Mark Andrews (GBR), Tapio Nirkko (FIN), Oleksiy Borysov (UKR) and Jonas Høgh Christensen (DEN).

Railey continued, “Daniel Birgmark and I had a really good fight on the first downwind leg and then on the second upwind, the left came in again and I was just a little to the left of Daniel and Jonas.” Railey led down the reaches to the finish, though Høgh Christensen closed the gap to finish second ahead of Birgmark, Pieter Jan Postma (NED) and Nirkko.

Though the wind and waves made for great, if tough sailing, the cold rain made for a dismal wait between races. After several false starts, it finally got away in a slightly reduced breeze. The pin end was favoured again and very crowded with a number of boats, including Railey and Høgh Christensen bailing out and restarting.

Giles Scott (GBR) won his second race of the series. He said, “In the second race I nailed the pin end tacked after about a minute or two and just cleared the fleet. Then I caught a big lift on starboard and went over the fleet again and had quite a lengthy lead round the first mark. It went right half way up and I was about the only boat to get into it.”

Railey added, “The pin end was really favoured and I didn't want to risk being OCS which would have blown the regatta for me so I held back from the line. We had to bail out and I found a lane to get out to the left side and worked my way through the fleet.” Høgh Christensen was thinking alike, “I could have pushed it harder and maybe gotten in there but I didn't want to take the risk and get an OCS on the board. I just wanted to stay clear of any trouble and decided to play it little safer today.”

Scott was followed round the top mark by Railey, Rafael Trujillo (ESP), Birgmark, Wright and Høgh Christensen. Scott continued, “I was pretty annoyed to see them [Railey and Høgh Christensen] there. I saw Zach had bit of difficultly at the start but he caught up nicely.”

Railey said, “We had a really good fight on the downwind but it got a little shiftier and lighter on the second upwind and I didn't want to take too many chances going to one side or the other and finished seventh so now have a good position going into the medal race.”

Scott extended on the downwind and went on to take the race win, while Wright caught up to second. Birgmark finished a steady day with another third place.

Scott said, “It's nice to have the fleet racing over. It's been quite a stressful week with the breeze being up and down. Today was better actually but there was till boats coming in from both corners, but it was just normally racing today. But it was so cold between races.”

Railey said, “The points are really close for tomorrow. It's all up for grabs and will be very tough. The medal race is supposed to be very exciting and I think we will have an exciting one tomorrow. There are four guys who can win and it will be interesting to see what happens. All you can really ask for is to be in a position to finish on the podium at the end of the day.”

Høgh Christensen agreed, “It's going to be be a fantastically tight race. All four of us are within a few points and anyone can take it, so I'm expecting a really tight and a good fun race.”

Scott was more bullish, “It's going to be tight tomorrow, but bring it on!”

So the medal race line up looks like this:

Zach Railey - USA
2008 Olympic silver medalist, but yet to medal at a major championship. But sailing cooler and cleverer than ever, so this could be his year.

Jonas Høgh-Christensen - DEN
World Champion in 2006 and placed sixth at last year's Olympics. Hasn't raced since then and is here 'for fun', but his relaxed attitude is showing with the best scoreline of any sailor in the second half of the regatta,

Giles Scott - GBR
Fast improving young pretender who won last year's Junior Worlds in Melbourne. Won race three and ten here and has put together an impressive series. Placed second at the Delta Lloyd after leading all week and losing on the medal race to Wright.

Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic – CRO
Had an impressive series this year and been consistent this week, but hasn't won a race yet. Won Hyeres this year, and twice been runner up at the Europeans in 2007 and 2008.

Dan Slater – NZL
Only really just returned since taking a beak after the Olympics and has a few rusty areas, but a great competitor. Can take silver if things go his way,

Daniel Birgmark – SWE
A typical performance from Birgmark this week. Very steady. Could just take the bronze, but it's a long shot.

Marin Misura – CRO
Won a race this week, but too far adrift to take a medal. Made the top ten at the 2007 Gold Cup, but lost out on Olympic selection to Kljakovic Gaspic.

Rafael Trujillo – ESP
2004 Olympic silver medalist and 2007 World Champion. Made life hard for himself this week with too many high scores and no possibility of a medal.

Edward Wright - GBR
European Champion in 2006, and third in the Finn Gold Cup that year. So far this year he has won two ISAF Sailing World Cup events, won three of the medal races and has taken an unassailable lead in that series to take the title before the final event in Weymouth. But today's black flag has cost him dearly.

Andrew Mills - GBR
Sailed a great series here for his best ever Gold Cup result. A lot of work to do to move up from 10th, at 15 points adrift of Wright, but could easily be up the front.

The medal race is scheduled for 11.00 on Saturday, with the 11th race for the rest to follow immediately afterwards.

Results:

Pos	Helm	Nat	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	Total	Net
1	Zach Railey	USA	10	6	6	6	-29	4	7	13	1	7	89	60
2	Jonas Høgh-Christensen	DEN	20	-35	17	1	5	7	4	1	2	6	98	63
3	Giles Scott	GBR	6	16	1	13	-20	8	5	2	13	1	85	65
4	Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic	CRO	-31	3	21	2	6	13	3	3	12	4	98	67
5	Dan Slater	NZL	-33	1	3	5	3	20	12	14	15	8	114	81
6	Daniel Birgmark	SWE	17	2	13	-20	8	5	20	12	3	3	103	83
7	Marin Misura	CRO	3	-21	10	11	21	1	6	10	10	16	109	88
8	Rafael Trujillo	ESP	22	19	16	4	4	-31	2	6	7	11	122	91
9	Edward Wright	GBR	46	4	2	9	18	6	1	4	(88.0 BFD)	2	180	92
10	Andrew Mills	GBR	7	5	-32	16	2	16	13	16	22	10	139	107
11	Mark Andrews	GBR	16	-52	4	8	13	21	8	31	8	12	173	121
12	Peer Moberg	NOR	2	13	15	22	22	17	17	-24	14	5	151	127
13	Michael Maier	CZE	28	-47	7	18	19	10	14	5	17	13	178	131
14	Pieter Jan Postma	NED	13	-56	27	14	39	9	9	9	4	9	189	133
15	Tapio Nirkko	FIN	12	34	-47	3	9	18	19	21	5	14	182	135
16	Thomas Le Breton	FRA	5	18	18	25	12	14	26	8	18	-27	171	144
17	Deniss Karpak	EST	9	28	5	15	(88.0 DNF)	25	22	7	23	19	241	153
18	Florian Raudaschl	AUT	27	23	14	10	10	27	16	-30	6	20	183	153
19	Rafal Szukiel	POL	4	7	25	-33	15	30	29	15	16	21	195	162
20	Jonathan Lobert	FRA	-57	9	19	35	53	2	10	11	11	17	224	167
21	Eduard Skornyakov	RUS	32	8	35	17	1	29	15	(88.0 DSQ)	19	15	259	171
22	Alejandro Muscat	ESP	-37	32	8	23	11	12	18	22	21	25	209	172
23	Giorgio Poggi	ITA	19	26	28	7	14	15	(88.0 DSQ)	34	28	22	281	193
24	Piotr Kula	POL	8	29	12	28	31	-45	11	17	25	33	239	194
25	Björn Allansson	SWE	29	42	-44	19	28	3	21	27	24	18	255	211
26	Riccardo Cordovani	ITA	24	22	9	31	17	26	38	44	33	-63	307	244
27	Bryan Boyd	USA	1	30	24	29	7	54	27	26	(88.0 DNF)	51	337	249
28	Tomas Vika (J)	CZE	34	40	11	26	26	42	-50	19	41	32	321	271
29	Jorge Zarif (J)	BRA	26	10	23	41	-60	11	39	41	39	43	333	273
30	Wietze Zetzema	NED	18	39	50	24	-51	22	24	38	40	29	335	284
31	Alexandros Dragoutsis	GRE	41	-57	22	48	24	36	37	23	26	28	342	285
32	John Romanko	CAN	38	-59	30	34	27	41	30	28	32	34	353	294
33	Frederico Melo	POR	56	-60	29	37	36	23	23	50	20	26	360	300
34	Timo Hagoort	NED	30	12	37	21	30	47	41	52	-55	40	365	310
35	Filippo Baldassari (J)	ITA	-65	53	26	38	54	34	34	29	27	31	391	326
36	Henry Bagnall	GBR	53	43	-70	39	32	46	35	25	44	23	410	340
37	Nanno Schuttrups	NED	23	14	51	42	55	(88.0 BFD)	36	45	36	42	432	344
38	Karel van Hellemond	NED	49	33	39	30	-65	49	28	59	29	30	411	346
39	Egor Larionov (J)	RUS	48	27	38	43	-74	35	25	62	31	38	421	347
40	Kaspar Andresen	DEN	39	24	20	-59	45	32	49	53	50	44	415	356
41	Thomas Mørup-Petersen	DEN	54	25	42	46	(88.0 BFD)	40	31	42	43	48	459	371
42	Oleksiy Borysov	UKR	66	(88.0 DNC)	88.0 DNC	88.0 DNC	16	19	43	20	9	24	461	373
43	Nachhatar Johal	IND	-64	15	31	49	50	44	53	54	38	41	439	375
44	Alex Selivanov	RUS	15	11	45	62	23	-73	55	39	69	68	460	387
45	Gaszton Pal	HUN	-85	41	36	51	34	38	66	65	34	35	485	400
46	Andrew Casey	USA	50	-67	59	27	35	59	33	49	51	47	477	410
47	Mihail Kopanov	BUL	-69	46	41	54	33	51	52	37	45	52	480	411
48	Lauri Väinsalu (J)	EST	25	38	54	(88.0 DNF)	47	58	40	70	46	36	502	414
49	Timothy Castles	AUS	-87	58	63	32	76	33	54	18	35	56	512	425
50	Rudolf Lidarik	CZE	44	50	34	45	41	39	58	-60	56	58	485	425
51	Henry Boening	BRA	-82	74	49	40	40	61	47	48	30	37	508	426
52	Márton Beliczay	HUN	35	54	-74	53	25	72	48	43	52	46	502	428
53	Caleb Paine (J)	USA	14	64	48	44	-67	24	65	56	59	62	503	436
54	Gert van der Heijden	NED	45	37	-64	57	44	52	59	51	42	49	500	436
55	Kenneth Bøggild	DEN	-76	20	40	70	48	55	62	47	47	50	515	439
56	Adam Nicholson	CAN	59	51	67	47	49	-68	42	35	37	53	508	440
57	Anton Sadchykov (J)	UKR	40	44	-66	58	61	66	44	33	57	39	508	442
58	Akif Muslubas	TUR	11	55	33	52	73	37	56	63	67	(88.0 BFD)	535	447
59	Ian Cook (J)	USA	52	49	55	50	43	28	60	58	(88.0 DNF)	88.0 DNC	571	483
60	Dirk Meid	GER	60	-73	56	56	64	60	46	40	49	55	559	486
61	Dennis de Ruiter	NED	63	-71	52	67	69	53	32	36	61	61	565	494
62	Jørgen Svendsen	DEN	47	69	43	61	46	-75	68	55	62	60	586	511
63	Hartmut Duisberg	GER	55	70	69	-73	57	43	51	46	63	59	586	513
64	R. Phillip Ramming	USA	-86	36	61	74	72	48	61	61	54	57	610	524
65	Peter Haidekker	HUN	58	45	46	77	42	77	67	(88.0 DNC)	64	65	629	541
66	Marco Buglielli	ITA	67	31	-79	63	71	74	63	66	58	54	626	547
67	Thomas Gautschi	SUI	62	65	-76	75	37	65	64	67	60	64	635	559
68	Olof Lundqvist	SWE	75	76	75	72	38	62	(88.0 DNF)	69	48	45	648	560
69	Harles Liiv	EST	73	48	(88.0 DNC)	36	68	88.0 DNC	45	32	88.0 DNC	88.0 DNC	654	566
70	Henk de Jager	NED	78	62	53	64	63	50	57	57	(88.0 DNF)	88.0 DNF	660	572
71	Gasper Vincec	SLO	21	17	(88.0 DNF)	12	88.0 DNC	88.0 DNC	88.0 DNC	88.0 DNC	88.0 DNC	88.0 DNC	666	578
72	Jesper Petersen	DEN	70	79	68	69	59	67	(88.0 DNC)	71	53	69	693	605
73	Panagiotis Davourlis	GRE	36	68	65	65	81	70	69	64	(88.0 DNC)	88.0 DNC	694	606
74	Nikolai Ratzlaff	DEN	79	66	(88.0 DNC)	76	79	57	72	68	65	66	716	628
75	Patrik Deutcher (J)	CZE	71	80	57	71	82	64	71	(88.0 DNF)	66	67	717	629
76	Claudio Bosetti	ITA	42	78	62	66	52	71	(88.0 DNF)	88.0 DNC	88.0 DNC	88.0 DNC	723	635
77	Carlo Recchi (J)	ITA	51	75	58	55	56	(88.0 DNC)	88.0 DNC	88.0 DNC	88.0 DNC	88.0 DNC	735	647
78	Elemer Haidekker (J)	HUN	43	83	81	81	66	56	73	(88.0 DNC)	88.0 DNF	88.0 DNC	747	659
79	Lars Hall	DEN	61	63	72	60	58	(88.0 DNF)	88.0 DNF	88.0 DNC	88.0 DNF	88.0 DNC	754	666
80	Peter Corbett	GER	77	82	71	80	78	63	70	(88.0 DNC)	68	88.0 DNC	765	677
81	Uwe Barthel	GER	72	72	73	79	62	81	(88.0 DNC)	88.0 DNC	88.0 DNC	88.0 DNC	791	703
82	Sverker Härd	SWE	84	61	78	(88.0 DNC)	70	79	88.0 DNC	88.0 DNC	88.0 DNC	88.0 DNC	812	724
83	Matthias Bohn	GER	74	(88.0 DNF)	60	68	88.0 DNC	88.0 DNC	88.0 DNC	88.0 DNC	88.0 DNC	88.0 DNC	818	730
84	Charles Heimler	USA	83	84	77	78	77	69	(88.0 DNC)	88.0 DNC	88.0 DNC	88.0 DNC	820	732
85	Christian Qvist	DEN	81	77	80	82	75	76	(88.0 DNF)	88.0 DNC	88.0 DNF	88.0 DNC	823	735
86	Richard Hart	GBR	80	81	(88.0 DNF)	88.0 DNC	80	78	88.0 DNC	88.0 DNC	88.0 DNC	88.0 DNC	847	759
87	Richard Hirschler (J)	HUN	68	(88.0 DNF)	88.0 DNC	88.0 DNC	88.0 BFD	80	88.0 DNC	88.0 DNC	88.0 DNC	88.0 DNC	852	764

Clubbing together

Hosting a major event such as a World Championship is a major operation, especially when it is for an Olympic class like the Finn.

The organiser and the man who’s hair has been turning prematurely grey this week has been Jakob Nybroe, 37, who has been a member of southwest Copenhagen's Vallensbæk Sailing Club since he was introduced by his parents aged “around 10 years old”. Nybroe has previously worked on other major events his club has hosted. These have included the 49er Europeans in 2005, the Laser Europeans in 2002 and the Tornado World Championship back in 1999, together with numerous local regattas and Danish championships for all flavours of dinghies and keelboats.

Impressively, he and co-organiser Michel Bernfeld head a group of around 40 running and making this event happen and all, including he and Bernfeld, are unpaid volunteers. Nybroe, for example, has a ‘proper job’ working in strategic procurement for the Danish building insulation giant, Rockwool, who’s base is 20 minutes from Vallensbæk. “I have had a very flexible employer who has allowed me to spend some time on this and work some late hours,” Nybroe admits. From the bar to the boats, some of the club’s juniors are on hand daily to help tired skippers retrieve their boats from the water while some older members sort out the endless food demands.

The vital on-the-water race management has been faultless and Nybroe says this is one area he wasn’t worried about before his event started. “They have done this so many times, so they know how important it is to get the course right and when you have to change, it has to be as quick as possible. They are a great team.”

That the event has been running like clockwork this week, both on the water, despite the varied conditions – balmy and warm at the beginning of the week, to wet, cold and generally more Northern European today – and off the water, is testament to not only the skill of Nybroe and his team, but also to the experience of those at the club.

“We have the old guard participating here as volunteers, but there is also a large group of people who have never participated before - that’s everyone from the bartender and the caterers to people on the water, doing the results, etc,” says Nybroe. “They have all basically taken a week out and been spending their time down here.”

What is perhaps not evident, even to those attending the event, is that Denmark has a strong ‘volunteer culture’. Generous support from its members at clubs like this is common in Denmark, much more forthcoming than it is in other countries. In a recent study by the Sports For All Commission it was calculated that the value of volunteer work in Denmark equated to 4.7 billion Euros per annum or the equivalent of just under 54,000 full time jobs.

In Vallensbæk Sailing Club’s case Nybroe says they do it for the pride their club derives from holding such a prestigious event as the Finn Gold Cup, particularly with a class so closely tied to Denmark.

Holding major events also creates good will with the town of Vallensbæk, from whom the organisers receive considerable support. At the Finn Gold Cup this year for example, the town provided the large entertainment tent and much of the logistical support such as signs, water and electricity on the camp site, etc. “It means they can use us as an example of how wonderful it is to live in the town. So I have a lot of press clippings to send to the mayor and he will be very pleased to see those,” says Nybroe.

Local sponsorship has also played a part even though Denmark, like the rest of the world, is in the depths of a major economic crisis. In their case the local branch of the Nordea bank has stepped forward to offer support.

But the biggest benefactor this year has been Denmark’s Year of Sport. This backing has resulted in the Finn Gold Cup having been ramped up considerably in terms of its press and TV coverage. “We have really had a lot of journalists and photographers down this week, more than we usually see even for other bigger events,” says Nybroe. “That has been great, but it adds another dimension in terms of planning and organising.”

With the hardware supplied by TracTrac and the Danish Sailing Association now owning 150 GPS transponders with support from insurance company CODAN (part of Sun Alliance Group), ALL of the races at the Finn Gold Cup have been tracked, rather than just the final medal race. This is believed to be a first for any dinghy class. At today’s count 8,000 simultaneously watched the tracking on line. Many more are expected for tomorrow’s Top 10 grand finale at 1100 local time.

Nybroe is particularly proud of the facilities on offer ashore at the Finn Gold Cup. This has included discounted food, three meals a day for competitors as well as a free ‘wet bar’ issuing post-race pints of Tuborg to competitors, who instead prefer the free sandwiches setting upon them like locusts. “When we set out we wanted to make sure the onshore experience something would be a little bit extra for the sailors and I think we have succeeded,” says Nybroe.

As to future events Vallensbæk Sailing Club might host, Nybroe turns slightly ashen at the prospect. “We probably are, but to be honest, right now, I am focussed on this one! I’ll probably say never again but we’ll have to see what happens in a couple of year’s time.”