Giles Scott Seals Fourth Finn Gold Cup With Day To Spare

12th May 2016

Flying Scott – Giles Scott goes into Friday's medal race with a 21 point lead over second placed Jonas Høgh-Christensen (DEN) Credit: Robert Deaves

Giles Scott (GBR) has done almost enough to lift his fourth Finn Gold Cup with a day to spare in Gaeta on Thursday, after three races were sailed in a solid 18-25 knots. He goes into Friday's medal race with a 21 point lead over second placed Jonas Høgh-Christensen (DEN). Pieter-Jan Postma (NED) is in third a further 14 points behind. Scott won two races while Fabian Pic (FRA) secured his place in the medal race by winning the first race of the day.

The patient wait for wind was rewarded on Thursday with more wind than the 72 boat fleet has seen during the rest of the week combined. Starting at 14-16 knots, it rose through the day, as did the sea state, to 25-28 knots, providing some awesome racing conditions for the strongest sailors in the world of sailing. It was a supreme test of physical prowess and sailing skill.

While Scott recorded a 7,1,1 to take an unassailable points lead into the medal race, Oliver Tweddell (AUS) was the next best performer of the day with 2,6,2. He said, “It was a brutal day and I think a lot of people will be pretty tired. I had an awesome day so I am stoked with that."

"It was an awesome, awesome day for Finn sailing, the physicality of it just shone through.” See a short video here.

“It has been a really light week up to today and unfortunately I hadn't sailed too well in those four races but today I was going to give it everything I've got.” He ends the day in 13th just 10 points from the medal race.

Of the several national selection trials going on this week the closest has probably been the Italians. The 2008 Olympian Giorgio Poggi (ITA) was the best performer of the week, and goes into the medal race in sixth place overall, but still awaits the official decision. “I sailed three nice races today. This was was last regatta where the federation take a look to see who will go to Rio.”

Poggi was instrumental in bringing the event to Gaeta. “I was very happy to have the event here in Gaeta but I said then that we'll have some nice wind. In the first days we didn't but at at the end it came and was a really beautiful day.”

“It was a really tough week with many sailors going up and down. For me there was only one bad race and all the other races I was always top 15 and this was the key to have a good championship this week.”

While Høgh-Christensen has a 14-point lead for the silver the battle for bronze will be tight. Postma holds a narrow margin over Ioannis Mitakis (GRE), Jake Lilley (AUS), the winner of the first race today, Pic, and Poggi, who can all take the bronze medal.

Pic said, “I did a committee bit start and went fully right. It was a good fight with Oli [Tweddell]. I was quite quick downwind, especially the second one. Today I was really under pressure. It was a really hard job. Upwind it was smashing through the waves, so really painful, but I made the medal race.”

Postma said, “It was amazing day of sailing. It was actually quite shifty so you had to tack a lot, but good action. Today the downwind was really nice to ride all the waves. The waves were quite big so it was really nice to surf, surf, surf.”

“Today for me was OK. I played catch up which went good. But my sailing could be better. I know I have got a different gear still but I didn't fully use it so today. I am happy but it wasn't perfect.”

Scott has all but won his fourth Finn Gold Cup. He just has to sail the medal race. “Today was the first day that stuck to the forecast. The first race was quite shifty but then it really pumped in. Absolutely glamour.”

“The conditions early in the week were really tricky and for a lot of top guys it was hard to stay consistent to deal with 30 degree shifts on a start line that was three-quarters of a mile long and a beat of 1.5 miles with 75 boats, That was incredible tough to manage, but after an early bad score 38th, it was just about trying to stay consistent.”

“I keep saying it but the Gold Cup is such a special event to all of us as Finn sailors and to be in a position to say that I've won four is a very privileged one to be in. I think there is an awful lot of talent in the Finn fleet at the moment and to be able to come out on top of that is great.”

Phillip Kasueske (GER), the stand out performer of the first four days, was the leader going into the day's races. He struggled in the windier conditions today, capsized several times in the very tough conditions, and ended up just one point outside the medal race, very disappointed. Then in a bizarre twist, the late disqualification of the boat directly in front of him put him back into tenth place and into the medal race.

The final race for the rest is scheduled for 11.00 on Friday with the medal race starting off the old town of Gaeta around 13.00. It will be a big event for the small town, with local media and school children being invited to come along and watch.

Results after seven races

1 GBR41 Giles Scott 17
2 DEN2 Jonas Høgh-Christensen 38
3 NED842 Pieter-Jan Postma 52
4 GRE77 Ioannis Mitakis 55
5 AUS41 Jake Lilley 59
6 ITA117 Giorgio Poggi 64
7 FRA17 Fabian Pic 67
8 CAN18 Tom Ramshaw 73
9 GBR11 Ed Wright 74
10 GER 259 Phillip Kasueske 75

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Irish Olympic Sailing FAQs

How long has Ireland been sailing at the Olympics?

Ireland’s representation in sailing at the Olympics dates back to 1948, when a team consisting of Jimmy Mooney (Firefly), Alf Delany and Hugh Allen (Swallow) competed in that year’s Summer Games in London (sailing off Torquay). Except for the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, Ireland has sent at least one sailor to every Summer Games since then.

Who has sailed for Ireland at the Olympics, and when?

How many Olympic medals has Ireland won in sailing?

Ireland has won two Olympics medals in sailing events, both silver: David Wilkins, Jamie Wilkinson in the Flying Dutchman at Moscow 1980, and Annalise Murphy in the Laser Radial at Rio 2016.

Who is on the current Irish Sailing Olympic team?

The current team, as of December 2020, consists of Laser sailors Finn Lynch, Liam Glynn and Ewan McMahon, 49er pairs Ryan Seaton and Seafra Guilfoyle, and Sean Waddilove and Robert Dickson, as well as Laser Radial sailors Annalise Murphy and Aoife Hopkins.

What is the National Governing Body for sailing in Ireland?

Irish Sailing is the National Governing Body for sailing in Ireland.

Who is responsible for selecting Ireland’s Olympic sailors?

Irish Sailing’s Performance division is responsible for selecting and nurturing Olympic contenders as part of its Performance Pathway.

What is the Performance Pathway?

The Performance Pathway is Irish Sailing’s Olympic talent pipeline. The Performance Pathway counts over 70 sailors from 11 years up in its programme.The Performance Pathway is made up of Junior, Youth, Academy, Development and Olympic squads. It provides young, talented and ambitious Irish sailors with opportunities to move up through the ranks from an early age. With up to 100 young athletes training with the Irish Sailing Performance Pathway, every aspect of their performance is planned and closely monitored while strong relationships are simultaneously built with the sailors and their families

Who is the Irish Sailing Performance head coach?

Rory Fitzpatrick is the head coach of Irish Sailing Performance. He is a graduate of University College Dublin and was an Athens 2004 Olympian in the Laser class.

Who is Irish Sailing’s Performance Director?

The Performance Director of Irish Sailing is James O’Callaghan. Since 2006 James has been responsible for the development and delivery of athlete-focused, coach-led, performance-measured programmes across the Irish Sailing Performance Pathway. A Business & Economics graduate of Trinity College Dublin, he is a Level 3 Qualified Coach and Level 2 Coach Tutor. He has coached at five Olympic Games and numerous European and World Championship events across multiple Olympic classes. He is also a member of the Irish Sailing Foundation board.

Who is the most famous Irish Olympic sailor?

Annalise Murphy is by far and away the biggest Irish sailing star. Her fourth in London 2012 when she came so agonisingly close to a bronze medal followed by her superb silver medal performance four years later at Rio won the hearts of Ireland. Murphy is aiming to go one better in Tokyo 2021.

Who are the Irish Sailing Performance coaching staff?

Under head coach Rory Fitzpatrick, the coaching staff consists of Laser Radial Academy coach Sean Evans, Olympic Laser coach Vasilij Zbogar and 49er team coach Matt McGovern.

How is performance sailing in Ireland funded?

The Irish Government provides funding to Irish Sailing. These funds are exclusively for the benefit of the Performance Pathway. However, this falls short of the amount required to fund the Performance Pathway in order to allow Ireland compete at the highest level. As a result the Performance Pathway programme currently receives around €850,000 per annum from Sport Ireland and €150,000 from sponsorship. A further €2 million per annum is needed to have a major impact at the highest level. The Irish Sailing Foundation was established to bridge the financial gap through securing philanthropic donations, corporate giving and sponsorship.

What is the Irish Sailing Foundation?

The vision of the Irish Sailing Foundation is to generate the required financial resources for Ireland to scale-up and execute its world-class sailing programme. Irish Sailing works tirelessly to promote sailing in Ireland and abroad and has been successful in securing funding of 1 million euro from Sport Ireland. However, to compete on a par with other nations, a further €2 million is required annually to realise the ambitions of our talented sailors. For this reason, the Irish Sailing Foundation was formed to seek philanthropic donations. Led by a Board of Directors and Head of Development Kathryn Grace, the foundation lads a campaign to bridge the financial gap to provide the Performance Pathway with the funds necessary to increase coaching hours, upgrade equipment and provide world class sport science support to a greater number of high-potential Irish sailors.

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The Senior and Academy teams of the Performance Pathway are supported with the provision of a coach, vehicle, coach boat and boats. Even with this level of subsidy there is still a large financial burden on individual families due to travel costs, entry fees and accommodation. There are often compromises made on the amount of days a coach can be hired for and on many occasions it is necessary to opt out of major competitions outside Europe due to cost. Money raised by the Irish Sailing Foundation will go towards increased quality coaching time, world-class equipment, and subsiding entry fees and travel-related costs. It also goes towards broadening the base of talented sailors that can consider campaigning by removing financial hurdles, and the Performance HQ in Dublin to increase efficiency and reduce logistical issues.

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The ethos of the Performance Pathway is progression. At each stage international performance benchmarks are utilised to ensure the sailors are meeting expectations set. The size of a sailor will generally dictate which boat they sail. The classes selected on the pathway have been identified as the best feeder classes for progression. Currently the Irish Sailing Performance Pathway consists of the following groups: * Pathway (U15) Optimist and Topper * Youth Academy (U19) Laser 4.7, Laser Radial and 420 * Development Academy (U23) Laser, Laser Radial, 49er, 49erFX * Team IRL (direct-funded athletes) Laser, Laser Radial, 49er, 49erFX

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The Irish Sailing performance director produces a detailed annual budget for the programme which is presented to Sport Ireland, Irish Sailing and the Foundation for detailed discussion and analysis of the programme, where each item of expenditure is reviewed and approved. Each year, the performance director drafts a Performance Plan and Budget designed to meet the objectives of Irish Performance Sailing based on an annual review of the Pathway Programmes from Junior to Olympic level. The plan is then presented to the Olympic Steering Group (OSG) where it is independently assessed and the budget is agreed. The OSG closely monitors the delivery of the plan ensuring it meets the agreed strategy, is within budget and in line with operational plans. The performance director communicates on an ongoing basis with the OSG throughout the year, reporting formally on a quarterly basis.

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