July 11, 2008
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Giles Scott wins 2008 UK Finn National Championships at Thorpe Bay Sailing Club - 6 July 2007
30 Finns gathered at Thorpe Bay Yacht Club for this years’ National Championship and were greeted by sunshine and a light 6 knot breeze for Fridays first race.
The line up included some of the world’s top young Finn sailors in Giles Scott the current World Junior Champion, Jonathan Lobert the French Olympic reserve, recent European Junior Champion Mark Andrews and Mark Andrews from the Skandia Team GBR squad.Scott soon mastered the fitful breeze, beating against the tide to secure the first win after Jonathan Lobert ( FRA) had lead for most of the race before making an error at the bottom leeward gate and had to unwind himself before re-rounding correctly.
Mark Andrews recovered from a slow start to finish in the top 10 but was ‘persuaded’ by the race officer that it might be better to retire when he was spotted without a lifejacket aboard.Club sailor Simon Hoult from Weston SC was the first of the non-Olympic sailors with a very impressive 4th, followed by local ace Allen Burrell in 5th. Just to prove that you can just jump in a modern Finn and be fast, Martin Binnendijk from the host club came 6th in a borrowed boat and showed good speed upwind.Thankfully the breeze built throughout the second race, peaking at a steady 10-12 knots.
The pumping flag stayed down which caught out a few over zealous sailors downwind who were revelling in the almost surfing conditions downwind. This time Lobert made no mistake and lead Scott around the course by quite a margin. With the tide about to change it paid increasingly to hit the shore but some underestimated the tide and ended up reaching into the windward mark, giving away all they had gained. Mark Andrews, now in a borrowed lifejacket, showed his form with a solid 2nd, ahead of Scott in 3rd and Andrew Mills in 4th.
True to the forecast, Saturday dawned dry but with a strong 18-20 knot southerly breeze that was only going to build with the incoming tide. The wind direction allowed the Thames estuary to show itself at its best with a course set with a 1.5 mile beat out from the shore into the famous short chop.Starting at the committee boat, Giles Scott lead from the start with a very impressive display of downwind sailing, surfing every wave and always looking well in control. Andrew Mills also seemed to like the breezier stuff, passing Jonathan Lobert to claim second. Sadly Neil Robinson from Mengeham Rye received a nasty blow to the head whilst gybing before the start that needed 9 staples to repair. The safety team did a great job in getting him ashore quickly and off to hospital and he was thankfully passed fit enough to drive home later.
Just behind the squad sailors, John Tremlett was having a tough battle with UK Masters Champion Allen Burrell, each swapping 5th and 6th places in the next race. Burrell just lost out in the final race of the day when Adrian Brunton got between him and Tremlett and with Burrell dropping to 7th in race 5 it meant Tremlett finished the day one point ahead in 5th overall. Marc Allain De Beauvais (FRA) obviously enjoyed the stronger breeze with two 8th positions to secure his lead in the Grand Masters category.
Conditions by now were fairly wild, with the gybe mark boat enjoing the spectacle and taking bets as to who would flip it or spin it at the mark.That evening the sailors and race committee enjoyed a fantastic championship dinner, hosted by the sponsors J.M. Finn & Co., (stockbrokers) with some hilarious and impressive dance floor action. It was a great mix of British comic genius and Gallic charm and smoothness from the French!Sunday morning arrived with a howling 25kts wind that rapidly built through the morning, killing any chance of sailing.
All seemed quite thankful after the rigours of the previous day and were already packed up before the race officer, Geoff Appleton made his decision to abandon the racing.Every entrant went away with a prize, thanks to the generosity of class supporters North Sails, Hi-Tech shoes, DEM Foils who generously donated a rudder blade and Yachts & Yachting who supplied the trophies.
Giles Scott retained his National Champion title by just one point from Jonathan Lobert from Nantes, who is another rising star to watch. Third overall and winner of the final race was the ever improving Andrew Mills, who with Giles Scott is off to China next week to help tune-up Ben Ainslie for the Olympic regatta.
Source: http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/?article=142338
July 8, 2008
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Offshore Rules interview with Giles Scott 2008 Finn Junior World Champion
UK Finn sailor Giles Scott got his first significant taste of sailing success in 2001, when at the age of fourteen, he became the UK’s youngest Topper National Champion. He soon graduated to Lasers and pulled off some major regatta wins including a Gold medal at the 2005 ISAF Youth Worlds and in 2006 winning the Under 21 World Title.
After making the move into the Olympic Finn Class in October 2006 Giles has quickly established himself as a serious contender for a medal the 2012 Olympics. In 2007 he won the UK National Championships and went on to be crowned 2008 World Junior Champion at the Finn Gold Cup in Melbourne, Australia.
A member of the Skandia Team GBR British Olympic squad, right now his focus is on his studies at Southampton University. Once these are out of the way Giles has only one goal – to win Gold in the Finn Class at the 2012 Olympics in the Weymouth. Given his natural talent, track record so far and the fact that Ben Ainslie is his appointed mentor there is every chance that he will do just that.
Craig Kirkpatrick-Whitby caught up with Giles for Offshore Rules earlier this year to find out more about what makes him tick and his plans for the future……
CKW: What are your immediate sailing plans?
GS: At the moment there is not a lot going on for me because I’ve got exams. This summer I plan to go to the Nationals, do a lot of training and compete in the Sail for Gold regatta. I am going to become full time after my exams are out the way. Doing this will enable me to get a full Olympic cycle in before 2012, which is a very exciting prospect for me.
CKW: What are your longer term sailing plans?
GS: My long term plans at the moment are to be involved in sailing for as long as I can. Ideally I’d want my profession and career to be in and around sailing. I want to be as successful as I can be in the Finn and while I’m not sure how long I’ll be sailing them I don’t think it really matters because I can’t see myself getting bored. After I’ve achieved as much as I can in dinghy sailing I would look to move into doing some yacht sailing. The idea of the competing in the Americas Cup is something that is very appealing to me, as well as doing ocean races.
CKW: You had a fantastic year in 2007 – what were your highlights?
GS: My highlight of 2007 was at the worlds in Portugal where I finished 14th. I was especially pleased with this because it was my first Finn worlds. The event was very windy so I was pleased that I was able to hack the pace even though I was very light and a bit weak! Generally I really enjoyed 2007 because of all the new stuff I had learn about the Finn, I liked the fact that your able to tweak the boat to get the most out of it, it made a significant change from Laser sailing.
CKW: You have also had a great start to 2008 with a Junior World Champion Win in Melbourne – how did that feel?
GS: It felt great to win, especially by a relatively large margin. Although it was great to win the Juniors I came close to making it into the medal race but didn’t make it due to some very stupid errors. I messed up on some very simple decisions, for instance I’d think up a race strategy that was potentially race winning but for some reason I’d end up doing something completely different. It was a little frustrating but I still came away from the event very happy.
CKW: Please describe your Finn, the gear and general set up for that win?
GS: Nothing too out the ordinary I’ve got a Devoti hull, with a relatively stiff Wilke mast and 2 North sails, one heavy air and one light air. I think next year I’m going to try out some new sail cloths, simply because I’ve only ever used HV2 and HV2L.
CKW: When will we see you in a Finn again?
GS: I hope to be able to do the nationals again this year.
CKW: How often are you in the gym and how often are you on the water training in a typical week?
GS: At the moment I’m not in the gym as much as I should be, but generally I try to make sure I do gym training at least once a day. On the water training isn’t so regular, some weeks I could end up doing 6 days, but others I could not get out at all, it depends on where I am and what time of the year it is. In the gym I do weights 3 times a week and fit in aerobic training around my weights. The weight seasons I do I focus on legs, back, and arms, and with the aerobic training I like to get out on my bike, there’s nothing worse than sitting on a bike in the gym staring at he wall.
CKW: What are your four key training elements to your fitness?
GS: I’d say that strength, endurance and agility are the key components to being fast in a Finn. I think that being fit gives you a massive advantage, the fitter you are the lighter you can afford to be. Obviously you don’t want to be too light, but it does give you an edge in light winds, which in a lot of regattas makes the difference from between a good or bad result.
CKW: You have a reputation for being very calm and controlled around the race course, how do you maintain your focus?
GS: I don’t know really, I just concentrate on trying to get the boat to go as fast as possible round the course, over the shortest possible distance. But like anyone my calm and controlled ways go out the window when I’m involved in incidences. The bigger the regatta the louder I get.
CKW: What do you think of the rather energetic and unusual downwind sailing techniques applied by sailors like Ed Wright?
GS: Ed’s fast down wind so it obviously works for him. It seems that more and more Finn sailors are beginning to be a lot more dynamic in the boat off the breeze. I think the most important thing is to let the boat almost steer itself. If you’re able to this, and then put all the pumping and rocking on top you end up being very fast downwind, which is something that Ed is good at.
CKW: What is your favourite regatta venue?
GS: Fortelaza in Brazil was pretty amazing, I did a Laser Worlds there, it was 15 – 20 knots on shore every day for the month, I got very tired but it made amazing sailing and racing conditions.
CKW: Do you have any views on the 2012 ISAF Sailing boat selection?
GS: I was really surprised that the Tornado got kicked out, I wasn’t expecting that at all, I’m sure there’s some very disappointed people out there. It seems a bit of a shame to get rid of the fastest boat, I think the Tornado was entertaining for everyone looking on. I was expecting the female high performance boat to selected, and was very surprised that they decided to go for the women’s match racing instead. Although I do understand match racing would add more variation and would show the diversity of competitive sailing. To be honest though I was just glad that the Finn was selected.
CKW: What are your plans for 2008? Any plans to sail on any other boats this year?
GS: This year my key regattas are over unfortunately, they were the Worlds out in Australia and the warm up regattas prior. . I’m doing some sailing for Skandia on a few days of Cowes, but as of yet I’m not sure what in. I would really like the opportunities to get on some different boats, like big fast yachts.
CKW: If you had to give 3 tips to give anyone person wanting to start Finn Sailing, what would they be?
GS: Firstly I would suggest a young sailor to reach a competitive body weight; personally I found that the boat got a lot easier to control as soon as I was over 90kg. It is also important to get the right kit to suit you, such as masts and sails, for instance if you are short and light a soft mast would probably suit where as if you are tall and heavy then a stiffer mast would be better. With regards to sails I would suggest two possible routes, either have a sail that is good in all conditions such as a HV2 or have two sails including a light wind option such as the HV2L. Thirdly I would suggest as soon as an individual starts to sail the boat they need to get their head around what rig settings to sail at in different conditions. This is probably the hardest of the tips I’ve given to get right because it is a very personal each individual, it can only real be properly sort by spending lots of time in the boat sailing.
Giles is looking for sponsors to help him fulfil his goal of winning a Gold medal for Britain at the 2012 Olympics. For more information about him and his campaign go to www.gilesscott.co.uk or email him at gilesscott87@yahoo.co.uk
Source: http://www.offshorerules.co.uk/khxc/index.php?app=gbu0&ns=prodshow&ref=210&sid=77t7o5qzhldqwp96954n8540z74whmz2
February 10, 2008
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2008 Finn Gold Cup at Sail Melbourne - Ben Ainslie’s fifth World title & Giles Scott wins 2008 Finn Junior World title - 29 January 2008
Ben Ainslie is the King of the Finn World yet again after clinching a historic fifth World Championship crown in Australia today.
Ainslie held a one-point advantage over Kiwi and long-time friend Dan Slater going into the double points Finn Gold Cup medal race at Black Rock Yacht Club, Port Phillip, having edged his nose in front of the pack for the first time on the penultimate day.
And a second place in the medal race behind Skandia Team GBR teammate Ed Wright, combined with a fifth place for Slater, saw 30-year-old Ainslie add an unprecedented fifth World success to the Gold Cups he won in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005.
Ainslie said: “It’s a fantastic feeling. It’s been a tough week but we had great conditions for the medal race and I was pleased to get that right and do what I needed to do. Now I’m looking forward to working hard over the next six months to get ready for Beijing.”
In what has been a relentless week for the sailors, the medal race turned out to be arguably the most fairly contested, a constant 15-knot sou’westerly propelling the fleet around the two-round windward-leeward course.
Wright fired off the best start, closely-trailed by Ainslie and Swede Johan Tillander around the first mark. Pieter Jan Postma, third heading into the medal race, was disqualified for an over-zealous start.
With second enough for Ainslie to win the title, overall victory never really looked in doubt despite Slater moving up to fifth.
And as he swept down the final wave over the finish line, Macclesfield-born Ainslie could once again celebrate being the undisputed best sailor ever to grace the Finn Gold Cup.
Ainslie will now have his sights firmly set on completing a 2008 World and Olympic double as he defends the Finn title he won at Athens 2004 in Beijing in August. If he is successful it will be his third Olympic gold in total, his first coming in the Laser class at Sydney 2000.
He added: “It was very hard at the beginning of the week but as the week went on, I realised more and more what I needed to do to get to the top of the fleet.
“Having that point advantage going into the medal race did help me I think. It must have been very hard for Dan (Slater) as he was leading all week and had sailed a great series but I managed to progressively grind down his lead and managed to continue that into the medal race. I have completed the job I came Down Under to do and now I can start preparing for China.”
In a double fillip for Skandia Team GBR, hot prospect Giles Scott was crowned 2008 Finn Junior World Champion having led the contest since day one.
With Scott finishing 14th overall, an astonishing 133 points better off than silver medallist Piotr Kula (POL), Ainslie had some encouraging words for the 20-year-old pretender to his throne.
“Giles has sailed really well here and he is a star of the future for sure,” he said. “He thought he could have done better which is a good sign of how good he’s going to be. The results of the British Finn team in general here shows this is a good squad to be in.”
Source: http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/?article=139919
Primary event site : http://www.sailmelbourne.com.au/event/finngoldcup2008
February 10, 2008
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Giles Scott wins 2008 Finn Junior World title in Melbourne - 29 January 2008Two other battles were taking place today. In the Finn Junior division, Giles Scott has been leading the contest since the first day and had the Junior title well secured.The fight was on for the second and third places not yet decided before the last race sailed today for the sailors ranked 11th and up. Piotr Kula (POL) and Federico Melo (POR) are conserving their earlier position to take Silver and Bronze.Henry Bagnall (GBR) is disappointed and surprised after being disqualified on the start. “I started on the 3rd row!”. This penality is costing him the bronze medal in the Junior Championship.Federico Melo 3rd place in the Juniors is shadowed by missing out on Olympic selection by only 22 points. The 6th country place held yesterday by Ali Kemal Fekci was coveted by Ukraine and Portugal tailing the Turk closely. However Fekci managed to keep his direct opponents at bay qualiying his country and himself for the Olympics. Junior European champion in the Finn in 1993, Ali Kemal Fekci had stopped racing in the Finn in 1996 to try his luck in the Laser. “I was coaching the Chinese Laser team in Qingdao and realised that it could be my type of conditions. I asked my Federation and started again in the Finn two month ago.”First country to qualify for the Olympic Games is Italy with Giorgio Poggi in 19th position. “I am very happy with my results. I had an intense training with Emilios, Pieter-Jan, and other good guys in Greece and I can see my progress. I now hope that my Federation will send me or one of us to the Olympics.”2007 European Champion, Edouard Skornyakov (RUS) is taking the second place in 25th position. Other countries to qualify are Cyprus, Austria, Germany and Turkey.Source: http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/?article=139916Primary event site : http://www.sailmelbourne.com.au/event/finngoldcup2008
February 10, 2008
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Giles Scott 4th in Finn Class at 2007 Sydney International Regatta - 18th Dec 2007
Triple Olympic sailing medallist Ben Ainslie has further staked his claim to the sole British Finn berth for Beijing, sweeping to victory today (18 December) at the Sydney International Regatta. The four-day event was the first of a potential four regattas to be used as selection trials in the heavyweight dinghy class between Ainslie and fellow Skandia Team GBR sailor Ed Wright, with the reigning Olympic champion assuming pole position from the first day amidst a mixed bag of conditions in Sydney Harbour.
Wright pulled up into third place with the help of a race win and two seconds from the penultimate day of racing on Monday, but with a scorecard boasting six race wins from the eight race series, Ainslie was unshakeable from the top of the leaderboard. At the site of his first Olympic victory in Sydney Harbour, Ainslie struck gold again – 17 points ahead of the 2006 World Champion Jonas Hoegh-Christensen of Denmark in second with reigning World Champion Rafael Trujillo in third.
2012 hopeful Giles Scott put in an impressive performance, just missing out on the medals on countback to finish fourth overall on equal points with the Spanish bronze medallist, while Wright’s 12,7,2 from Tuesday’s three races saw him drop to fifth in the final standings.
“It’s always a lot harder than the results might suggest, as we had some pretty windy conditions at times,” Ainslie commented.
“It was great to be back in Sydney, obviously in a different boat and a different fleet than in 2000, but I pulled off a few of the old tricks I’ve learned from racing here before – it really is a great place to sail.”
“I’d hope that with this win and with the results from China this year and last year that it’ll make things quite clear, but that’s really up to the selectors now so I’ll just have to wait and see!”
RYA Olympic Manager Stephen Park was out in Sydney for the regatta: “It’s been a fantastic sailing week, and all the British sailors did very well but at this regatta there’s no doubt that Ben Ainslie has been the class act.”
The RYA’s Olympic Selection Committee will continue their discussions over the Christmas period, with a decision as to whether to select, or to continue the trials in the Finn class, expected to be made early in the new year.
2007 Sydney International Regatta - results
Finn
1. Ben Ainslie, GBR (10pts)
2. Jonas Hoegh-Christensen, DEN (27pts)
3. Rafael Trujillo, ESP (30pts)
Other GBR
4. Giles Scott (30pts)
5. Ed Wright (32pts)
8. Ed Greig (54pts)
10. Mark Andrews (56pts)
13. Andrew Mills (13pts)
Source: http://www.rya.org.uk/NewsAndEvents/newsroom/news/sirs07_post.htm
Primary event site results: http://www.nsw.yachting.org.au/site/yachting/nsw/downloads/sir/2007/results/finn/Series%20Results%20-%20finn.html
February 10, 2008
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RYA National Ranking Series 2007 winners crowned at Weymouth - Giles Scott Wins Finn Dinghy Series - 22nd October 2007
The RYA Olympic Classes National Ranking Series drew to a close this weekend, with both seasoned campaigners and young guns clinching victories after the final event of the three-weekend Series at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy (20-21 October, 2007).
Winning this weekend by a single point over Paul Campbell-James and Mark Asquith, World Champions Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes also took the overall Series crown in the 49er class, while victory this weekend in the 470 class for Luke Patience and Chris Grube also handed them a second National Ranking Series title.
But it was the performance of the recently-crowned Techno 293 Under 17 windsurfing world champion Ali Masters which once again caught the eye. Having only just moved on to the larger RS:X 8.5 board, the 15-year-old took a clean sweep of race wins at WPNSA this weekend, which saw him take the overall Series title by one point over more experienced racers in the class.
Skandia Team GBR’s world bronze medallist Nick Dempsey put in a solid performance this weekend to top the leaderboard in the RS:X 9.5 class, only to then be hit with disqualification from his last two races for failing to wear a buoyancy aid. The weekend win went to Leo McCallin, who also claimed victory in the overall Series with development squad sailors Elliot Carney and Richard Hamilton enjoying their share of the spoils in second and third.
Double Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie swept to victory this weekend in the Finn class, although didn’t quite have it all his own way after initially sailing the wrong course in the opening race of the event. However, it was Giles Scott who, with a string of consistent performances across the three events, took the overall Series crown after just a year competing in the class.
In the Tornado class, former 49er World Champion Chris Draper did a fine job of standing in for Leigh McMillan, competing with Will Howden for Saturday’s racing as McMillan was on usher duty at a friend’s wedding. But the Beijing-nominated helmsman returned for Sunday and continued where Draper left off with him and Howden taking the weekend win by a point over Andy Walsh and Ed Barney, who themselves took the overall Series crown. Tornado performance squad sailors Rob Wilson and Mark Bulkeley missed out on the podium this weekend, but had a share of the chocolates, finishing second in the overall Series standings ahead of John Gimson and Stuart Bithell.
Ali Martin and Beth Carden took the weekend win in the 470 women’s class, but it’s world bronze medallists Christina Bassadone and Saskia Clark who take the National Ranking Series title over Hannah Mills and Katrina Hughes.
The 2.4mR class missed out on the two previous Series events due to a clash with the IFDS World Disabled Championships in Rochester, USA, but they were in action for this final event this weekend. With racing open to disabled and able-bodied sailors, Skandia Team GBR’s 2.4mR coach Adam May took the opportunity to race against his charges Helena Lucas and Megan Pascoe, and clinched victory with four wins from the six races – Lucas finished second with Pascoe in third.
2007 RYA Olympic Classes National Ranking Series:
Finn
1. Giles Scott
2. Mark Andrews
3. Andrew Mills
49er
1. Stevie Morrison-Ben Rhodes
2. Paul Campbell-James-Mark Asquith
3. John Pink-Simon Wheeler
470 Men
1. Luke Patience-Chris Grube
2. Nic Asher-Elliot Willis
3. Nick Rogers-Joe Glanfield
470 Women
1. Christina Bassadone-Saskia Clark
RS:X 9.5
1. Leo McCallin
2. Elliot Carney
3. Richard Hamilton
RS:X 8.5
1. Ali Masters
2. Beth Williamson
3. Tom Eskdale
Tornado
1. Andrew Walsh-Ed Barney
2. Rob Wilson-Mark Bulkeley
3. John Gimson-Stuart Bithell
Source : http://www.rya.org.uk/NewsAndEvents/newsroom/news/nrs07_post.htm
February 10, 2008
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Giles Scott wins 2007 UK Finn National Championships at Christchurch Sailing Club - 20 June 2007
41 Finns from all over the UK plus two from France gathered at Christchurch SC to contest the 2007 National title. The event attracted a whole range of sailors and illustrates the beauty of a sport where ‘mature’ club sailors and juniors can line up against top Skandia Team GBR sailors and multiple world champions.
Held in Christchurch Bay, Friday’s first race started in a healthy 14 knots and Nick Craig, fresh from his ‘Top Brit’ result at the Finn Europeans the week before hit the far right of the course to gain the tidal push out of the harbour, The gambit worked and he managed to hold off the rapidly advancing Giles Scott for the first two laps of the triangle/sausage course, followed by fellow squad member Andrew Mills. Scott was faster downwind and past Nick Craig on the run, before closely covering Mills up the final beat, This allowed Craig to work out to the favoured right-hand side and round the windward mark ahead of the two squad sailors and then managed to hold them off to the downwind finish to record a great win. Fourth was Allen Burrell, who pulled up well from 8th and 5th John Tremlett from Mengeham Rye.
Just as the fleet were getting the hang of the right hand side ‘Gulf Stream’ effect of the harbour, the tide tuned for race two and saw the leaders pile in from the left with a good shift and favourable tide. The breeze was now at 18 plus knots and with big rollers developing the reaches were real screamers with long surfs to the downwind finish. Giles Scott, 2005 ISAF Youth World Champion in the Laser dominated the race to take a commanding lead ahead of Mills in second, Craig in third and squad veteran John Greenwood in 4th.
Saturday’s forecast was for even more breeze and Christchurch Bay served up one of the most exhilarating days racing the fleet will remember for a long time. It clearly did not phase the lanky Giles, who won all three races of the day, the final one in 25 knots and big waves that saw many experienced Finn sailors take an un-expected swim! Scott’s’ speed and boat handling was noticeable better than the rest of the field and some of the leads he pulled out were just impertaint, allowing him to not bother pumping downwind.
John Tremlett from Mengeham Rye showed a liking for the stronger conditions scoring a 3, 5, and 4 for the day whilst Nick Craig and Andrew Mills battled for the second place slot all day. For the rest of the fleet the downwind sailing was the best part of the day and immensely challenging in the big waves that would just pick you up and roll the boat from under you on the reach. There were several collisions at the leeward mark as boats suddenly surfed into last minute overlaps and a few freak collisions as people sailed into capsized boats. Dave Potter from West Kirby managed a good result to finish 11th only to turn turtle right on the rather narrow finish line! Of the 27 sailors that finished the race, everyone had a grin from ear to ear, even though they needed lifting out of the boat at the end of a long and bruising day.
Sunday’s final two races brought some relief from the wind and waves, with the breeze occasionally dropping below 12 knots in the first race, which meant the pumping flag was on and off throughout the race. Ex Solo Champion and Finn Grand Master Tony Lock showed the youngsters how to start with a memorable port tack start that saw him cross the fleet who were still all piling up at the Committee Boat end. Tony rounded the mark with the leading bunch and finished a strong 9th.As the sun came out, more of the Masters’ sailors showed their form with Allen Burrell chalking up two 5ths, Marc Allain De Beavais ( FRA) two 6th’s and the rapidly improving Martin Hughes and 8th and 4th.
Needless to say Giles Scott won race 6 and with two discards was able to take an early shower before the final race to leave a perfect score line of 5 firsts. His departure left Nick Craig and Andrew Mills to battle for the runner-up trophy, with Craig’s victory in the final race sealing it from Mills, both on 10 points. Later Nick admitted Mills had superior speed and fitness but explained he was able to steal the win on his tidal strategy, picking up the benefit of the tide change that favoured the left hand side.
At the prize giving all agreed that 2007 Finn National champion Giles Scott is certainly a talent in the Finn and one to perhaps challenge for gold in 2012. First Master was John Greenwood, second Allen Burrell and third Marc Allain De Beavais. First Grand master went to Richard Hart who held off the challenge from local helm Tony Lock.
British Finn Association chairman Andy Denison closed the prize giving by acknowledging the event’s main sponsor Yachts and Yachting for their contributions and support of the event, one which will certainly remain in the memory for its competitors for a long time.
Source : http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/?article=136982
