Filipe Silva, from Portugal, has extended his lead at the 2023 Finn World Masters at Nea Iraklitsa, Kavala, Greece, after two races were sailed on Thursday. Laurent Hay, from France is back up to second with Peter Mosny from Slovakia in third. Race wins went to Hay and Peter Peet from The Netherlands.
It’s taken long enough but finally the Gulf of Kavala delivered on the Day 4 of the championship with the promised conditions. Two races were sailed in 9-10 knots of sea breeze, clear blue skies and soaring temperatures. It was a long day on the water but a Finntastic day to be sailing.
More importantly, four races have now been sailed and after forecasts predicted a very challenging week for wind, there was a collective sigh of relief to get in a valid series.
For the first time the day started with clear blue skies with a stable sea breeze expected in the afternoon. With the first start scheduled at 12.00 the fleet left the beach at 10.30, but the wind took a while to become established but the race committee under the direction of Stuart Childerley got the first start away within minutes of the breeze arriving.
Hay built a substantial lead in Race 3, only for the race to end in an abandonment on the second beat after a gate mark mishap. In the resailed race, the right paid again, with Germany’s Udo Murek leading at the top from Silva and Peet. Hay rounded fourth but had the lead by the gate and maintained that to the finish to win from Silva and Peet.
Race 4 was started quite promptly and Peet was first round with a comfortable lead. This time he extended away to take the win with Spain’s David Terol second and Hay third.
With a discard only coming into play after five races a lot can still change if just one more race is sailed, with a number of boats counting high scores or letter scores. Silva has yet to make a mistake, but Hay is sailing extremely well, and others are poised to pounce. The scorelines of the top 10 are a graphic illustration of the conditions with only Silva maintaining single digit scores.
There is all to play for on Friday, the final day of the championship. Two races are scheduled, though with a 15.00 cut off and the wind only appearing today at 14.40, most are only expecting one race to be sailed.
Results after four races:
1 POR 21 Filipe SILVA 13
2 FRA 75 Laurent HAŸ 31
3 SVK 1 Peter MOSNY 49
4 HUN 7 Székely ANTAL 50
5 NED 148 Peter PEET 62
6 HUN 30 Kantor ZSIGMOND 77
7 AUS 98 Lucas PRESCOTT 82
8 CZE 43 Ladislav HYRS 86
9 HUN 50 Akos LUKATS 93
10 GBR 18 Nick CRAIG 94
Full results here: https://www.manage2sail.com/en-US/event/FWM2023#!/results?classId=FWM23
Full gallery here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/finnclassphotos/albums/72177720308742442
