Semaine Olympique Francaise - Zach Railey wins only race for Finns

9:06 PM Mon 26 Apr 2010 GMT

'Vasilij Zbogar (SLO 573) - Semaine Olympique Fran?aise - Hyeres 2010' Guillaume Durand

For the third time in a row, the Finns lost their opening race at a major regatta. After losing the opening day in both Miami and Palma, on Sunday it was the turn of the SOF Hyeres, the fourth leg of the 2010 ISAF Sailing World Cup.

In fact the Finns raced for two hours on Sunday, but finally ran out of wind and time while the fleet was heading up the second bear and was sent home in the early evening with no scores on the board. The conditions for the rest of the week looked equally bad, and Monday morning came and went with a postponement, glassy seas and no wind.

Finally a breeze broke through at just after 1300 and the Finns were called out to sail just one testing race in about five knots of wind - but at least it was one race down.

The fleet were so keen to get going that Florian Raudaschl (AUT), Matt Coutts (NZL) and Rafal Szukiel (POL) were all black flagged out of the start. But picking up where he finished in Palma, where he won the medal race, the 2008 Olympic Silver medalist Zach Railey (USA) won the opening race in very light and shifty conditions.

Finn - Semaine Olympique Fran?aise - Hyeres 2010 - Guillaume Durand

Railey said, 'There have been very tough conditions so far. I rounded in fourth at the first weather mark and it was the first downwind that really made the race for the top 10 boats. It was very hard to know where to go, but I was able to round in second at the leeward mark and then had a great fight with Ioannis Mitakis (GRE) for first and second in the race.'

Mitakis is a relative newcomer in the fleet and last year won the Junior European Championship. Gasper Vincec (SLO) completed the top three, with the current World Cup leader and winner in Miami and Palma, Ed Wright (GBR) in fourth.

Railey concluded, 'I'm glad to just get a good score in the race. It was very difficult to know what the wind was going to do so I feel fortunate to have got in a good race. In the second race the RC made the right decision to call off the race as there was no wind to race in at all.'

Racing continues until Friday when the medal race will be held for the top 10 sailors.

by Robert Deaves

Click on thumbnails to enlarge and find more photos:

Newsfeed supplied by

#News #Cruising #Sailing

Cruising

The Bar Crossing: Wait for Slack Water

Cross on slack or the first of the flood.

Cruising

Night Watch: Stay Useful After Dark

Watch stints, handovers and sleep that holds up

Nearby
North Head, NSW	6 kn ENE
Little Bay, NSW	5 kn ENE
Cronulla, NSW	10 kn E
Windiest in Australia
Montague Island, NSW	22 kn SSE	19°
Most Windless in Australia
Tasman Island, TAS	Calm	13°
Hottest in Australia
Rabbit Flat, NT	5 kn S	41°
Coldest in Australia
Mount Wellington, TAS	4 kn NW	8°
Wettest in Australia
Inverell Research Centre, NSW	4.4 mm

Semaine Olympique Francaise - Zach Railey wins only race for Finns

The Bar Crossing: Wait for Slack Water

Night Watch: Stay Useful After Dark

Live Weather

Nearby

Windiest in Australia

Most Windless in Australia

Hottest in Australia

Coldest in Australia

Wettest in Australia

(Other) Articles

Buy & Sell

2023 JP Australia Pro Edition Ultimate Wave Thruster & Qua

2022 Patrik Slalom

2025 North Orbit Ultra

2026 Duotone Dlab Units 5M New

2023 Jinx

Severne R8

2025 North Hm105 Mast

Know before you go

Download the Seabreeze app for iOS or Android.

Weather

Activities

About

Other

Support