Two bullets for Slater

Ainslie sits in eighth position after day one of the Finn Gold Cup, Corinne McKenzie reports

There was no sharing from Dan Slater (NZL) on day one of the 2008 Finn Gold Cup in Melbourne. The New Zealander won the day’s two races after patiently tailing the race leader and delivering the final blow on the last downwind leg to the finish.

The first race was sailed in moderate winds increasing from seven to ten knots. Light shifts made racing tricky and crowded mark roundings created enough turmoil to upset placings.

In the first race, Giorgio Poggi (ITA) who had finished 11th at the 2008 Sail Melbourne regatta last week, repeated his early form to lead the first race until the last down wind and crossed the line in third placed. The Italian lost two places on the last run to Slater and Harris Papadopoulos (CYP). Papadopoulos stepped into a Finn only six months ago, having his first race at the Olympic test event in China, last August. Since then, the ex-laser sailor has intensively trained with Emilios Papathanasiou and other top sailors in Greece and made great progress. The regatta started well for Indian Nitin Mongia (IND) who finished in 13th position after sailing smartly in light and shifty conditions.

The second race started with freshening breeze from 11 to 15 knots. Free pumping provided fun downwind sailing and a slight advantage to the favourites, well trained for this sailing style.

Matthias Bohn (GER) took a great start at the committee boat and played the shift to round the top mark ahead of Dan Slater (NZL), Gaston Pal (HUN) and Nick Burfoot (NZL). Bohn covered his opponents all race, but hurt his elbow on the last downwind. It was enough distraction for Dan Slater to close the gap and take his second bullet in front of Emilios Papathanasiou (GRE) and Peter-Jan Postma (NED). Matthias Bohn crossed the line in ninth position.

It wasn’t the conditions expected by the favourites. Some of them collected heavy scores that could jeopardise their overall placings if repeated. While Ben Ainslie caught up from average starts to fourth and 11th places, World Champion Rafael Trujillo never recovered from bad starts scoring 58 points on his first day. “Just one of these bad days!” commented his coach on the shore.

Dan Slater is leading the scoreboard in front of Emilios Papathanasiou (GRE) and Giorgio Poggi (ITA). In the Junior division, Giles Scott (GBR), placed 11th overall is dominating his opponents by an impressive margin.

One race is scheduled for Thursday afternoon.

Results:

Pos	Helm	Nationality	R1	R2	Tot
1	Dan Slater	NZL	1	1	2
2	Aimilios Papathanasiou	GRE	2	6	8
3	Giorgio Poggi	ITA	7	3	10
4	Jonas H Gh-christens	DEN	4	8	12
5	Pieter Jan Postma	NED	3	11	14
6	Peer Moberg	NOR	10	5	15
7	Johan Tillander	SWE	6	9	15
8	Ben Ainslie	GBR	13	4	17
9	Anthony Nossiter	AUS	15	10	25
10	Edward Wright	GBR	11	21	32
11	Giles Scott	GBR	5	28	33
12	Chris Cook	CAN	19	15	34
13	Riccardo Cordovani	ITA	18	18	36
14	Ivan Kljakovic Ga P	CRO	12	26	38
15	Florian Raudaschl	AUT	22	17	39
16	Haris Papadopoulos	CYP	43	2	45
17	Eduard Skornyakov	RUS	33	12	45
18	Tapio Nirkko	FIN	44	7	51
19	Mark Andrews	GBR	35	16	51
20	Guillaume Florent	FRA	31	20	51
21	Daniel Birgmark	SWE	20	33	53
22	Timothy Goodbody	IRL	29	25	54
23	Oleksiy Borysov	UKR	21	34	55
24	Matthias Bohn	GER	9	47	56
25	Rafal Szukiel	POL	24	32	56
26	Rafael Trujillo	ESP	16	42	58
27	Jonathan Lobert	FRA	34	24	58
28	Ed Greig	GBR	38	22	60
29	Waclaw Szukiel	POL	45	19	64
30	Nik Burfoot	AUS	17	48	65
31	Tianyu Ren	CHN	27	38	65
32	Michele Paoletti	ITA	30	35	65
33	Nitin Mongia	IND	53	13	66
34	Gasper Vincec	SLO	14	54	68
35	Ismael Bruno	FRA	26	44	70
36	Peng Zhang	CHN	40	30	70
37	Marin Misura	CRO	58	14	72
38	Michael Maier	CZE	32	41	73
39	Andrew Mills	GBR	8	66	74
40	Bo Liu	CHN	51	23	74
41	Michal Hruby	CZE	47	31	78
42	Piotr Kula	POL	37	43	80
43	Karel Van Hellemond	NED	56	29	85
44	Zach Railey	USA	39	46	85
45	Dmitrii Tereshkin	RUS	46	39	85
46	Frederico Melo	POR	23	65	88
47	Henry Bagnall	GBR	50	40	90
48	Tibor Pallay	HUN	66	27	93
49	Diego Fructuoso	ESP	41	53	94
50	Nachhatar Johal	IND	28	67	95
51	Gaszton P L	HUN	25	72	97
52	Ali Kemal T Fekci	TUR	42	57	99
53	Akif Muslubas	TUR	54	49	103
54	Harles Liiv	EST	52	52	104
55	Michael Williams	AUS	61	45	106
56	Lei Gong	CHN	55	51	106
57	Jan Kurfeld	GER	71	36	107
58	Andriy Gusenko	UKR	49	59	108
59	Sander Willems	NED	36	73	109
60	Josip Olujic	CRO	73	37	110
61	Ian Cook	USA	57	55	112
62	James Paterson	AUS	48	69	117
63	Mihail Kopanov	BUL	69	50	119
64	Brendan Casey	AUS	63	56	119
65	Aiming Chen	CHN	59	62	121
66	Johnny Bilbao	VEN	60	61	121
67	Rob Mcmillan	AUS	67	60	127
68	Marko Kolic	ITA	65	63	128
69	Bas De Waal	NED	72	58	130
70	Warwick Hill	AUS	62	68	130
71	Francesco Lubrano	ITA	68	71	139
72	Christopher Pratt	AUS	64	77	141
73	Uwe Barthel	GER	76	70	146
74	Geoffrey Francis	AUS	70	79	149
75	John Shallvey	AUS	75	74	149
76	Luca Devoti	ESP	88.00C	64	152
77	Anthony Wood	AUS	74	78	152
78	Dirk Seret	AUS	79	75	154
79	Robert Poor	SVK	78	80	158
80	Edward Thorburn	GBR	77	82	159
81	Brian Reynolds	AUS	80	81	161
82	Rodrigo Quina	POR	88.00C	76	164
83	John Condie	AUS	88.00C	88.00C	176
83	Sander Kooij	GBR	88.00C	88.00C	176
83	Paolo Cisbani	ITA	88.00C	88.00C	176
83	Philip Toth	USA	88.00C	88.00C	176
83	Egor Larionov	RUS	88.00C	88.00C	176