Sunday 12 July 2009

Finn Gold Cup: Slater Finishes 7th Overall after Broken Mast in Medal Race


Start of the Finn Gold Cup medal race, with Dan Slater (NZL) to leeward. Image copyright Robert Deaves.

by Jodie Bakewell-White

Dan Slater has finished the 2009 Finn Gold Cup in 7th place after suffering a broken mast in last night’s medal race in Denmark. Jonas Høgh-Christensen won the world title sailing on home waters.

Slater was disappointed with the way things went for him on the final day. “Today was one I would rather forget,” he says.

“After rounding the top mark in 5th or 6th place I took off down the run and gybed. During the gybe I lost the mainsheet out of my hand and as the mast hit the water the top metre broke off the mast leaving me out of the race with a mast in two pieces.

“I could only watch as the remainder of the race unfolded.

“I had to count my Did not Finish score which dropped me to 7th overall and as you can imagine I’m not exactly happy with it.”

Reflecting on this regatta which is early in his campaign to sail in Weymouth, England in 2012, Slater says, “Lots of questions I had after the Olympics have been answered and although I lost this regatta which was in my lap I feel I have the answers to move forward be able to play the game in the future in all conditions. Sure it’s never going to be easy but it would be nice to have a New Zealander's name on the Gold Cup sometime soon. 60 years is a bit too long I think.”

2009 Finn Gold Cup
Final Top Ten Results

1st DEN Jonas Høgh-Christensen
2nd USA Zach Railey
3rd CRO Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic
4th GBR Giles Scott
5th SWE Daniel Birgmark
6th GBR Edward Wright
7th NZL Dan Slater
8th ESP Rafael Trujillo
9th CRO Marin Misura
10th GBR Andrew Mills

Finn Gold Cup

No comments: