Straight firsts so far

Andre Budzien is obliterating the competition at the Finn World Masters Championships

Defending Finn World Masters Champion Andre Budzien (GER) continued with his winning ways in Medemblik, with two more heat wins to put him into a clear lead with three more races to sail.

On Tuesday two races were sailed in winds from 12-16 knots, with free pumping on all the downwind legs. Starting two fleets of 116 boats each presents numerous problems for the race committee as well as the competitors, but despite several general recalls each day, PRO Erik Vliegenthart (NED) is happy with the way things are going and the start line behaviour of the Finn sailors.

In both of his heats Budzien lead for the majority of the race, executing great tactics, with good boat speed and was always among the first few to the windward mark. He extended downwind to secure each victory. Other heat wins went to Adrian Brunton (GBR), after banging in the generally unfavoured right hand corner on the final upwind, and Allen Burrell (GBR), to add to his heat win from yesterday.

Overall, Budzien has a ten point lead from Mihail Kopanov (BUL) who placed second and third today, with Jan Willem Kok (NED) in third, also placing third and second today a further five points behind. After Wednesday's race, the discard will kick in, so that should change the results somewhat with many boats currently counting a high score.

There are just two more qualification races to be sailed - one on Wednesday and one on Thursday - before the final gold and silver heats on Friday. At the moment it looks as if there is no one who can stop Andre Budzien from taking his second consecutive Finn World Masters title.

Results:

Pos	Helm	Sail Number	R1	R2	R3	R4	Tot
1	André Budzien, M	GER 711	1	1	1	1	4,0
2	Mihail Kopanov, M	BUL 24	5	4	2	3	14,0
3	Jan Willem Kok, M	NED 780	8	6	3	2	19,0
4	Luuk Kuijper, M	NED 888	11	2	5	6	24,0
5	Bas de Waal, M	NED 29	3	9	10	4	26,0
6	Cees Scheurwater, M	NED 804	10	4	11	2	27,0
7	Han Bergsma, M	NED 100	21	3	2	5	31,0
8	Thierry van Vierssen, M	NED 747	6	5	16	6	33,0
9	Hero Mulder, M	NED 30	2	11	6	15	34,0
10	Panagiotis Davourlis, M	GRE 71	7	7	4	18	36,0
11	Laurant Hay, M	FRA 75	15	8	9	8	40,0
12	Allain des Beauvais Marc, GM	FRA 99	16	16	6	5	43,0
13	Robert Deaves, M	GBR 10	8	14	14	14	50,0
14	Eric Bakker, M	NED 703	12	6	13	20	51,0
15	Ed van der Steene, M	NED 897	2	24	11	15	52,0
16	Tim Carver, M	GBR 8	25	11	4	13	53,0
17	Paul Kamphorst, M	NED 27	7	10	27	10	54,0
18	Arwin Karssemeijer, M	NED 25	41	8	9	4	62,0
19	Luksa Cicarelli, GGM	CRO 110	11	18	19	14	62,0
20	Allen Burrell, M	GBR 2	52	1	1	9	63,0