Andy Maloney, from New Zealand has taken a solid lead in the 86 boat Finn fleet 50 Trofeo S.A.R Princesa Sofia IBEROSTAR in Palma, Mallorca after two more races were completed on Tuesday in a light sea breeze.
While Maloney won both his group races, Olympic champion Giles Scott, from Britain had a consistent day to move up to second, and Josh Junior, also from New Zealand, and the winner here in 2016, won his second race of the week to move up to third.
On the second day of racing, there was a pleasant 8-10 knots onshore, but it got weaker through the afternoon for a challenging final race.
The Kiwis certainly seem to have done their homework over the winter, with Maloney and Junior winning their groups in the first race of the day.
Maloney won the pin in the second race to again control most of the race to take his third race win of the week to lead the fleet with a perfect score of 3 points.
The final win in the blue fleet went to Piotr Kula, from Poland, still hoping to win selection for his second Olympic Games.
Coming out of a long period of training and regattas in Australia over the winter, this is the first ‘big’ event for the Olympic champion Scott, since this time last year when he won with a day to spare.
On today’s conditions, he said, “Typical Palma sea breeze, light 7-10 knots and in the second one it died away to 6 or 7 knots, so those of us who have been here before had seen those conditions a lot over the years.”
“I was a bit more consistent than yesterday. I got a 2 and a 5. There were a few errors here and there but on a day like that you’d take seven points.”
On his own performance, he said, “I am feeling good. I think I am sailing quite well. That being said there are a lot of good sailors out there I have to try to beat.”
He said it is a great shame that the Finn looks likely to be out of the 2024 Olympics, “For me personally I suppose the timing isn’t as bad as it could be, but the guys I really feel for are those younger guys, who are big lads and don’t really have a whole heap of options outside the Finn class to fulfil their Olympic ambitions.”
Finn – Results after 4 races (86 entries)
1st NZL 61 Andrew Maloney – – 3 pts
2nd GBR 41 Giles Scott – – 8 pts
3rd NZL 24 Josh Junior – – 9 pts pts
4th SUI 1 Nils Theuninck – – 9 pts
5th NED 89 Nicholas Heiner – – 10 pts
6th TUR 21 Alican Kaynar – – 13 pts
7th GBR 11 Ed Wright – – 13 pts
8th ARG 48 Facu Olezza – – 15 pts
9th POL 17 Piotr Kula – – 16 pts
10th GER 259 Phillip Kasueske – – 17 pts