Pieter-Jan Postma, from the Netherlands, is the early leader of the thrilling 2022 Finn Gold Cup at Fraglia Vela Malcesine on Lake Garda, Italy, after three finntastic races in a 10-14 knot southerly on Wednesday.
Finland’s Oskari Muhonen is second with Italy’s Matti Iovenitti in third.
Out of the 110-boat fleet from 17 nations, the race wins went to Australia’s Rob McMillan, Muhonen and Italy’s Marko Kolic.
After the opening day was lost on Tuesday the conditions for Wednesday changed to a typical Garda day with a southerly building to 10-14 knots for three great races.
The fastest sailor upwind today had to be McMillan. In the first race he led at the first top mark, then took the lead from Postma on the second upwind and held on downwind to the race win. In the second race he rounded near the front and again took the lead on the second beat, but this time, Muhonen, Postma and Hungary’s Domonkos Németh came past.
The final race was quite tricky with the leaders deep at the top, but Kolic found the best route on the right and was never really threatened for the race win.
He said, “Today we had three tough races. It was very difficult to start well as the guys are all very well prepared to have a good regatta.
“In the first two races I had a good start, but I make a lot of mistakes in the upwind, but in the last one I started well and at a good moment, tacked to the right and it was a good choice and I rounded first and won the race. It was a very big emotion for me to win a race at the Finn Gold Cup, so a good day.”
Overall leader, Postma explained why he was back “It is awesome to be here and it’s a good fight. For me I am back in the Finn for this week because I just missed that feel, the feel of the upwind, the feel of the downwind, and to be back here in a great class is awesome.
“Today everybody said you have to go to the left. Well, we had six beats and every beat you had to go to the right, so there were plenty enough challenges. Actually, it was puffy, and it wasn’t a one-way track, so you had to have your head out of the boat. I had a 2,2,7 and leading at the moment, but it’s tight.”
Kolic, who is also the Italian Finn Class President, concluded, “We are very happy and very proud to have this important event in Italy. We have 110 boats from all over the world so it’s a very good thing to know that the love of Finn sailors keeps going and we are sure it will keep going for years and years.”
Racing continues until Saturday with three more races scheduled for Thursday.
Results after three races
1 NED 842 Pieter-Jan Postma 10
2 FIN 8 Oskari Muhonen 13
3 ITA 1071 Matteo Iovenitti 28
4 AUS 2 Rob McMillan 29
5 HUN 80 Domonkos Németh 37
6 AUT 3 Raudaschl Florian 40
7 ITA 115 Roberto Strappati 41
8 ESP 161 Miguel Fernandez Vasco 47
9 ITA 80 Martin Atzwanger 51
10 FRA 111 Valerian Lebrun 54
Full results: https://fragliavela.sailti.com/en/default/races/race-resultsall/text/FinnGoldCup-en/menuaction/race
By Robert Deaves
