Kiwi Dan Slater is lying in first place at the Finn Gold Cup in Denmark. Image copyright Vallensbæk Sailing Club.
by Jodie Bakewell-White
Dan Slater has taken the lead at the 2009 Finn Gold Cup World Championship now at the midway point in Denmark. USA’s Zach Railey is hot on his heals with equal points.
Two races were sailed last night in Denmark on what was day three of the six day series. For Slater it was a tough day on the water with mixed results, but he climbs into the lead aided by the first discard coming into play.
Slater was pleased with his first race of the day. “Race one went really well,” says Slater. “I had a good start and rounded the first mark 7th then moved up to 5th by the bottom mark. Going up the second beat the pressure started to get really funky with five knots difference between the puffs and lulls and 15 degrees difference in direction.
“ I rounded the top mark 3rd and down the run nothing changed but the guys around me on overall points all had bad races so that was good for my overall position.”
He wasn’t so pleased with his performance in the second race of the day. “Unfortunately race two was not meant to be,” Slater continues. “I had no opportunity to change sails so I sailed the race with a light air sail and was well out of range in the 12-14 knots of wind.”
Caught on what proved to be the wrong side of a shifting wind Slater was sitting deep in the fleet, but managed to gain some ground in the late stages to finish in 20th place in the enormous fleet.
“Although my day wasn’t great it wasn’t that bad either as overall I now have the lead and will carry the leader's yellow dot on my sail tomorrow.”
Two days with two races a piece remain ahead of the final medal race, in the regatta which will decide the Finn World Champion for 2009.
Finn Gold Cup
Top five places after six races
1st NZL Dan Slater 32 points
2nd USA Zach Railey 32 points
3rd GBR Edward Wright 39 points
4th GBR Giles Scott 44 points
5th CRO Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic 45 points
Finn Gold Cup 2009
No comments:
Post a Comment