Day 5 in the Finn class with Gasper Vincec (SLO) followed by Giles Scott (GBR). Image copyright Rolex/Dan Nerney.
by Robert Deaves
The final day of the qualification races in the Finn class at the 2010 Rolex Miami OCR brought a new face to the front of the fleet. Jonathan Lobert (FRA) won both races in the light to moderate winds to make a last minute challenge for a medal. However the top three positions remained the same with Ed Wright (GBR) leading into Saturday's medal race from Giles Scott (GBR) and Zach Railey (USA).
Andrew Mills (GBR) and Giles Scott (GBR). Image copyright Rolex/Dan Nerney.
Overnight leader Wright placed 5-2 and will lead into the medal race by a useful 14 point margin over team mate Scott who produced a 2-7. Third placed Railey lost some of his advantage and now trails Scott by 7 points, with race eight winner Gasper Vincec just 7 points further back.
Edward Wright, GBR Sail number: GBR 11 Finn. Image copyright Rolex/Dan Nerney.
However there was no great changes after the final two qualification races. Though sailors swapped positions inside the top 10, no-one moved in or out of the top 10. All this means that the gold medal is between Wright and Scott, the silver is between Wright, Scott, Railey and Vincec and the bronze is between Scott, Railey and Vincec.
Edward Wright, GBR Sail number: GBR 11 Finn. Image copyright Rolex/Dan Nerney.
Rafa Trujillo (ESP) lost his chances of a medal with an 18-6 to end the day in 5th overall, but with too large a points gap on Vincec.
Zach Railey, USA Sail number: USA 4 Finn. Image copyright Rolex/Dan Nerney.
After his double race win, Lobart climbed from 10th to 6th, but is also still too far adrift to take a medal. He said, “Today it was great sailing for I had two very good starts and my speed was very good so I could easily do what I liked. I went on the left side where the wind was more consistent and it was clearly proved to be the right choice. I am very happy with this and I hope to do as good in the medal race.”
So the medal races line up looks like this:
Giles Scott, GBR Sail number: GBR41 Finn. Image copyright Rolex/Dan Nerney.
Ed Wright (GBR) – Winner of the 2009 ISAF Sailing World Cup, 2006 European Champion and dominated this week so far against a high standard fleet.
Giles Scott (GBR) – 2008 Junior World Champion. Generally did not perform well in medal races last year, but has been unusually consistent this week.
Zach Railey (USA) – 2008 Olympic Silver Medalist and runner-up in last year's Gold Cup. Will be disappointed not to be in the hunt for the gold.
Gasper Vincec (SLO) – Return to form for the Slovenian after a break since last year's Gold Cup. Could easily snatch a medal after slow start to the regatta.
Rafael Trujillo (ESP) – 2004 Olympic Silver Medalist and 2007 World Champion. Expected to be in with a medal chance but too many high scores on the board.
Jonathan Lobert (FRA) – Apart from Wright, the only other sailor to win more than one race this week and has clearly shown he has to speed to win, but can't take a medal.
Bryan Boyd (USA) – Plenty of flair to win races. Won the opening race of last year's Gold Cup but has not generally been consistent enough this week.
Thomas Le Breton (FRA) – Second year in the Finn and improving all the time. Only three points off fourth place.
Peer Moberg (NOR) – Won the 2007 Rolex Miami OCR and has been pretty consistent all week, though too far adrift to make the podium this year.
Eduard Skornyakov (RUS) – 2007 European Champion. Seems to enjoy the lighter winds more and only 11 points off fifth place, so there could be a large shuffle in the lower half of the fleet after the medal race.
Zach Railey, USA Sail number: USA 4 Finn. Image copyright Rolex/Dan Nerney.
Standings after 10 races
1 GBR 11 Wright, Edward GBR 1 2 [19] 1 4 1 1 3 5 2 20.00
2 GBR 41 Scott, Giles GBR 2 7 1 3 3 3 [8] 6 2 7 34.00
3 USA 4 Railey, Zach USA 4 5 4 4 1 5 4 5 9 [36/DNS] 41.00
4 SLO 5 Vincec, Gasper SLO 5 12 5 8 [19] 2 7 1 3 5 48.00
5 ESP 100 Trujillo, Rafael ESP 14 6 3 6 7 7 5 7 [18] 6 61.00
6 FRA 112 Lobert, Jonathan FRA 8 [25] 8 7 15 14 6 2 1 1 62.00
7 USA 14 Boyd, Bryan USA 12 4 [18] 2 2 6 10 4 15 9 64.00
8 FRA 115 Le Breton, Thomas FRA 11 9 2 5 5 [20] 11 9 4 8 64.00
9 NOR 1 Moberg, Peer NOR 7 8 6 9 6 8 [13] 11 8 3 66.00
10 RUS 9 Eduard, Skornyakov RUS 6 3 [13] 12 13 4 9 10 11 4 72.00
Finn Class
Rolex Miami OCR
No comments:
Post a Comment