Last post from Vallensbaek

We are outta here shortly.

 

More material will be posted when home.

 

If you have any suggestions, comments, improvements to this service, please either leave a comment or send an email to robertdeaves (at) yahoo.co.uk

 

Thanks for looking

 

Robert

Final day's report now posted

http://www.finnclass.org/FGC%20Results/finn_gold_cup_2009.htm#Day%206%20-%20Fairy%20tale%20ending%20as%20Jonas%20H%C3%B8gh%20Christensen%20wins%20Finn%20Gold%20Cupr

Photos from last day

 

Prizegiving part one

Will try to make this larger at a later date.

Prizegiving part two

 

Jonas Hogh Christensen makes winner's speech

 

New world champion gets a ducking

 

 

Summary of medal race

In a 12-14 knot breeze Jonas Hogh Cristensten passed early leader Zach Railey on the first downwind and covered up the second beat to win the Gold Cup for the second time. Andrew Mills also moved up on the first downwind and placed a good second with Railey recovering from a poor second beat to finally finish third.

 

Jonas takes the gold, Zach the silver, and Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic wins bronze, Croatia's first ever medal at the Finn Gold Cup.

 

Results will be posted on the event website shortly and full report to follow.

 

Final race for the rest is currently underway.

Watch Jonas win the medal race and his second Finn Gold Cup

 

Fleet going afoat

Boats starting to launch.

 

Near perfect conditions for medal race.

 

Follow on the tracking at www.tractrac.com/fgc or on Twitter on the right here.

 

 

Medal race day in Vallensbaek

It's medal race day here in Vallensbaek and the sun is shining again and there is a moderate westerly in place at about 12-14 knots. It should be a great show.

 

After that there is the fnal race for the rest. Of particular interest is the battle to be first Junior. After yesterday's demolition derby, Tomas Vika has nipped past 16 year old Jorge Zarif by just 2 points. It's going to be a race to the finish. These two youngsters lie in 29th and 30th place, not bad for their first Gold Cup.

Prospects of a great medal race on Saturday

By this time tomorrow it will be all over bar the shouting. Will it be Zach, Jonas, Giles or Ivan? Tune into the medal race live at 11.00 local time for 30 minutes of fast, fun action.

 

During this week the media and press core have created more media material than probably any single world championship in history. There are TV cameras, photographers and journalists on the water each day. We will bring you more of this material, including TV highlights from each day on www.finnclass.org in the weeks to come.

 

Acually, bringing you any kind of news today was challenging. Twittering while going over massive bone-shattering waves nand face-stinging rain required a particular kind of patience to text a few words in each trough before crashing into the next wave. My notebook turned to paper mache, and the photos and videos have a certain amount of 'camera wobble'. But we all survived.

 

For those interested in this kind of thing, this blog has now had 2,300 absolute unique visitors with 10,500 page views.

 

Thanks for looking

 

Robert

Start of race ten

 

Zach Railey leading down first reach to win race nine

 

Rounding the downwind gate in race nine

 

Some photos from Friday's racing

 

Friday's report is posted

http://www.finnclass.org/FGC%20Results/finn_gold_cup_2009.htm#Day%205%20-%20Drama%20at%20Finn%20Gold%20up%20as%20Zach%20Railey%20leads%20fleet%20into%20medal%20race

Summary of Friday's racing

There was drama today at Vallensbaek as regatta leader Ed Wright got black flagged in the first race and ended up having to carry his 46th from race one. Zach Railey led from start to finish in race nine this morning to take over the overall lead. Then Giles Scott hit back to win race 10, to set up a four way fight going into tomorrow's medal race.

 

Jonas Hogh Chriostensen sailed another great day to post a 2, 6 to move up to second, Scott is in third and Ivan Kjakovic Gaspic is in fourth. All four have a shot at the title.

 

Full results have been posted at www.fgc-2009.org

 

Full report to follow.

Fleet afloat

The fleet has launched. Wind has eased a bit with sunny spells coming through. Forecasts for today vary a lot so we could get something of everything.

 

Follow the race live, thanks to TracTrac at: www.tractrac.com/fgc

Follow the event live on the Twitter feed and Finn Class Blog at: http://finnclass.blogspot.com

Windy morning in Denmark

Mark boats are heading out.

20 knots reported from race area.

Sailors getting ready for the day.

 

...and it's just started raining...

Good morning from Valensbaek

Today we have a solid 15-20 knots in the marina with a lot of cloud around. It looks like it will be another tough day for the Finn sailors. The final two qualification races are scheduled before tomorrow's medal race.

 

The hospitality here has been superb. It is hard to think of something that our our hosts have not laid on for the sailors, and it's all been done in great spirits and with big smiles. The club is truly pleased to be hosting this event and is doing all it can to not only lay on the best possible racing, but also to make all sailors and supporters feel really welcome. They are doing a great job.

 

Racing scheduled to start at 11.00

Close on points going into the final day of qualification

Today's work is done and on Friday we'll know the line up for the medal race. The points are close and with all the top contenders already having a high score, there is a still a long way to go.

 

There are less photos and videos today as the violent movement of the RIB in the waves wasn't great for clear images (or dry cameras).

 

However there are now 30 videos over on TheFinnChannel at

 

www.youtube.com/thefinnchannel

 

Thanks for looking

 

Robert

 

Race seven downwind, Ed Wright leading

 

More photos from Thursday's racing

 

Image gallery by Richard Langdon posted on Finn website

http://www.finnclass.org/Photos/FGC2009_oceanimages.htm

Thursday's report is posted

http://www.finnclass.org/FGC%20Results/finn_gold_cup_2009.htm#Day%204%20-%20Ed%20Wright%20overcomes%20testing%20conditions%20to%20take%20lead%20at%20Finn%20Gold%20Cup

Summary of Thursdays' racing

Two testing races in 15 to 25 knots changed the landscape at the top. Ed Wright takes the lead after posting a 1 and 4, while Giles Scott moved up to second and Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic in third. Race wins went to Wright and Jonas Hogh-Christensen in the windiest condition of the week so far.

Oscar flag up for free pumping the whole time so sailors were pretty tired coming ashore।

Results are posted and full report, clips and photos to follow

Fleet going afloat

Readings from the course area are 15-25 knots, but sounds like more from here. Lots of rain clouds about as well. Going to be a tough day all round.

 

Sailors are getting ready to launch, some are going to watch it online in the tent.

 

Online tracking at: www.tractrac.com/fgc

 

Also sign up to the Twitter feed here on the right.

 

If the tweets stop, we probably hit a big wave and the phone got too wet!

Thursday morning in Vallensbaek

There's a new challenge for Finn sailors today - wind. And lots of it. A few early morning heavy showers have come through and the wind is currently whistling through the trees at 15-20 knots.

 

First start at 11.00.