Andrew Mills (GBR) has won his first ever
major Finn event after snatching victory at the ISAF Sailing
World Cup Hyeres. Saturday was medal race day and after trailing team
mate Giles Scott (GBR) all week, he was the best performer on the final
day to
take a well deserved win. Scott took the silver while Josh Junior (NZL)
took bronze. A mixed week of conditions ended with light
wind and light rain, but the Finns got their two races in
nevertheless.
Giles Scott went into the day with a six point lead over
Andrew Mills while Josh Junior trailed Pieter-Jan Postma by just one
point. It
was always going to be a day of two battles on the water. Scott and
Mills were always going to be fighting for the top spot while the rest
of the
fleet could theoretically take bronze.
Andrew Mills took first blood in the
opening race with a confidence boosting win from Giles Scott and
Josh Junior. Third overall Pieter-Jan Postma (NED) started early and had
to return while Junior led round the first lap from Scott and Mills.
With
just five knots of wind, Mills took the lead on the next upwind to lead
to the finish from Scott, Junior and Jonathan Lobert (FRA). Postma was a
distant ninth.
In winning the race, Mills took zero points
and reduced the deficit on regatta leader Scott to just two
points and set up a thrilling match race finale for the gold. A third
for Junior gave him a seven point cushion in third place but the best he
could
get was now a bronze. However there were still another five boats
capable of taking it out of his hands going in the final race.
As the final race started Mark Andrews
(GBR) took the early lead from Mills and Lobert. Into the first
downwind and Mills led Scott but they were back in sixth and seventh.
They split tacks on the leg but Mills made the best of it to move up to
third at
the final top mark behind Andrews and Lobert. Scott was back in eighth
with a second consecutive world cup win slipping from his grasp.
Mills held his cool and his position to cross in third, while there were lots of other changes on the
final downwind. The win finally went to Thomas Le Breton (FRA) from Postma, while Scott crossed in tenth.
So Andrews Mills takes his first ever
Sailing World Cup gold after a series of top finishes at other
events. He has sailed under the shadow of his more successful British
Finn counterparts for many years and this win is perhaps justification
of his
commitment and ability in a very competitive fleet.
Mills said, “The first race was light winds after 30 minutes
postponement. Josh lead from the right and I moved in to the lead at
the
leeward gate and had easy choices on the second beat to stay ahead.
That meant just me or Giles could win so we had a pre-start match but
both got ok
starts. Mine was a very good one, got punched quickly. Giles came
back from the right ahead with a right hand shift but I led round
windward mark. Downwind we split very slightly but I was happy I was on
the right gybe. I then went right at the gate and split again. When we
came
back I had a decent lead and the race was over from there."
"It's great to win a big one and make some intentions clear for the
new cycle. I'm really happy with how winter training has gone and
looking
forward to getting onto the next one."
Scott was perhaps unlucky not to go away
with the win, but admits he didn't sail his best today. He
said, “It was very shifty again but I messed up the last race getting on
the wrong side of a 20 degree shift. But Mills sailed really
well.”
There has been a lot written about the new
scoring format that ISAF has trialled at Sailing World Cup
regattas this year. We've had a lot of comments from sailors over the
two weeks at Palma and now at Hyeres, and not many of them are that
favourable.
One of the more vocal has been Giles Scott. He encapsulated his feelings
earlier in the week by saying, “I'm firmly on the side that these
format changes are detrimental to the integrity of our sport, and that
they do nothing but bring a level of chance into play.”
Over the week in Hyeres, some sailors have
clearly benefited from the two part regatta and some have
been penalised. One of those who benefited was Mark Andrews who clearly
sailed below par in the first part of the regatta, finishing 28th
in the opening series, but then turned it around in the second half to
just make the cut for the medal race. If it had been a traditional
series then
he would have been unlikely to have made the medal race.
He said, “I think nobody really likes this
system. ISAF seem to be determined to punish the best
and most consistent sailor of the week. Not sure why the wheel needs to
be reinvented and come up with the most difficult system to explain to
sailors
and fans alike. The scoring system also puts pressure on the race
committee on the first few days to get the qualifying in. The conditions
at the
start of the week were borderline to race and I can see us having to
race in worse conditions in the future just to get the races in.
Although this
system has benefited me this week I don't really want to sail in it
again.”
What happens next will be interesting to watch.
Correction: Due to a results mix up we
incorrectly reported the silver fleet finishing position
yesterday. The correct results were that Lauri Vainsalu (EST) won the
silver fleet from Alican Kaynar (TUR) and Oleksiy Borysov (UKR) after
Peng Zhang
(CHN) picked up his second black flag in the final race.
Final results (medal race positions in brackets)
1 GBR 85 Andrew MILLS 23.00 (1, 3)
2 GBR 41 Giles SCOTT 35.00 (2, 10)
3 NZL 24 Josh JUNIOR 49.00 (3, 4)
4 NED 842 Pieter-Jan POSTMA 56.00 (9, 2)
5 FRA 29 ThomasLE BRETON 59.00 (6, 1)
6 FRA 112 Jonathan LOBERT 67.00 (4, 8)
7 GBR 11 Edward WRIGHT 72.00 (5, 7)
8 SLO 573 Vasilij ZBOGAR 74.00 (7, 9)
9 GBR 88 Mark ANDREWS 86.00 (8, 5)
10 AUS 261 Oliver TWEDDELL 91.00 (10, 6)
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