Finn World Masters: No racing on penultimate day as strong winds arrive

Too much wind spoiled the show for the 285 Finn Masters at La Rochelle on Thursday. With the wind whistling through the rigging all morning the sailors waited ashore under postponement for a final announcement at 14.30. By this time the wind afloat had moderated to 14-16 knots and the first fleet was sent out. However by the time they got there it was a solid 24-26 knots and the fleet was turned around and sent straight back in. So there is no change to the overall positions as the fleet heads into the final day on Friday with one more race for the colour groupings and the medal race for the top 10. 

 

On paper the defending champion Michael Maier (CZE) is the favourite for a record equalling fifth Masters title. He has a useful, but slim, three point cushion over Andre Budzien (GER) and Erik Lidecis (USA), which means that for either of them to win they must put a boat between themselves and Maier. Behind them any of the boats down to ninth could theoretically take the overall win – but they need to bide their time and wait for the leaders to make the mistakes.

The medal race was introduced for the first time last year in Pwllheli to create a structure where the leaders could race for the title on the final day. Sometimes in the group system this had not happened. However last year the race was cancelled because there was not enough wind to sail. This year it is looking likely that the reverse might be true. The forecasts show strong winds again, but we'll have to see what transpires in the morning. The final group race is scheduled for an earlier than scheduled start time 10.30 with the medal race directly afterwards.

During this week we have been trying some new ways to record the fleet on video using front and aft facing stern mounted cameras and some time laspe movies of the fleet on shore.

The 2013 Finn World Masters concludes on Friday when the new champion will be decided. The start time has been rescheduled for 10.30 to try and get the final race in before the strongest winds arrive.

Top ten going into the medal race.

 

1 CZE 1 Michael MAIER 8.00

2 GER 711 Andre BUDZIEN 11.00

3 USA 505 Erik LIDECIS 12.00

4 LTU 7 TaurasRYMONIS 15.00

5 GER 193 Thomas SCHMIDT 18.00

6 FRA 75 Laurent HAY 24.00

7 GBR 2 Allen BURRELL 26.00

8 DEN 80 Michael STAAL 29.00

9 NED 41 Karel VAN HELLEMOND 30.00

10 GBR 642 Adrian BRUNTON 39.00