Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic, © segel-bilder.de /Christian Beeck.
by Robert Deaves
After another light and shifty race, Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO) took the Finn class in Kieler Woche from Oleksiy Borysov (UKR) and Rafa Trujillo (ESP). The medal race was eventually won by Zach Railey (USA).
Sailed in an offshore breeze of 3-6 knots with a lot of different pressure over the course area, there were lots of place changes during the 30 minute race.
Having sailed the regatta of his life this week, Oleksiy Borysov led at the first mark followed by Mike Maier (CZE), Rafa Trujillo and Zach Railey. The fleet was pretty evenly split on the first upwind and Trujillo looked to have the race and the series under control in third place with his main opposition some way back.
Maier immediately headed left on the downwind with Borysov and Trujillo favouring the right. The top few boats were very tight around the bottom mark with Borysov still leading, but Railey was about to make his move.
Railey said, "I was able to get out in front and round with the top group at the first weather mark. We stayed pretty much the same order down first downwind and then the second upwind got pretty tricky. It looked like the left was going to pay, but the wind was very patchy. I was able to make it up the middle left and round first just ahead of UKR."
However, it all went wrong for Trujillo on the second upwind. He said, "I made poor decisions. I was not thinking clear. I positioned myself to the left of the fleet and had less wind so lost a lot of ground. But without counting the medal race I am pretty happy this week, but I do need to work on the medal race." Trujillo ended up ninth in the race but just hung on to the bronze medal.
Railey continued, "The two of us had a pretty good fight down the last downwind for the race win. Behind us the fleet was really changing all the time with the shifts and puffs and I was glad to have been ahead as there were some big gains and losses for guys. I feel good about the race win. I had a tough race in first one yesterday so to bounce back and come back strong with the last race yesterday and medal race today feels good."
Deniss Karpak (EST), who started the day in third, said, "Today was a disastrous conditions. There were holes with no wind at all, 45 degrees shifts... I was a bit unlucky and was last at the first mark first time, so I was sailing to try and not be last. Zach and Oleksiy were extremely fast and got it right tactically. So, I lost the medal, but I'm happy to be sixth overall, and to be in the medal race for the first time this year."
In winning the race, Railey recorded his second major medal race win of the year with Borysov in second and Björn Allansson (SWE) moving through into third. A fourth place for the European Champion, Kljakovic Gaspic, was enough to take the week by just one point. With just two major regattas left this season, the Croatian has won the last three and will go into Sail for Gold in Weymouth and the World Championships in San Francisco as one of the absolute favourites.
Weymouth will be the final regatta in the ISAF Sailing World Cup, in which Trujillo has now taken a two point lead from Kljakovic Gaspic and a five point lead from Railey. The previous leader and last year's winner, Ed Wright (GBR), drops to fourth place, some seven points off the lead.
Final results after medal race
(medal race positions in brackets)
1 CRO 524 Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic 23 (4)
2 UKR 1 Oleksiy Borysov 24 (2)
3 ESP 100 Rafael Trujillo 29 (9)
4 USA 4 Zach Railey 30 (1)
5 FRA 112 Jonathan Lobert 31 (5=)
6 EST 2 Deniss Karpak 33 (7)
7 SWE 6 Björn Allansson 39 (3)
8 CZE 1 Michael Maier 42 (5=)
9 ITA 117 Giorgio Poggi 47 (10)
10 AUT 3 Florian Raudaschl 60 (8)
Finn Class
Kieler Woche
