Giles Scott will take his Finn dinghy to Auckland, as he did to Cagliari, to maintain his chances of a gold medal at the rescheduled 2020 Olympic Games.
Scott, a key member of Ben Ainlsie’s INEOS Team UK AC36 crew, will be shipping his trusty Finn to New Zealand when the British America’s Cup team head to New Zealand for the 36th edition of the America’s Cup.
In an interview with Tom Cary of the Daily Telegraph, Scott said that he intends to defend his Olympic title at the Tokyo Games in July 2021, and hopes to get in some Finn sailing whenever possible.
He could be helped in this by the two top Kiwi Finn sailors, Josh Junior and Andy Maloney, who are competing for New Zealand Olympic selection and are also members of the Emirates Team New Zealand AC36 crew.
Josh Junior took the 2019 Finn Gold Cup (Worlds) title in Melbourne last December, when Scott only managed to finish fourth and described the result as a “wake-up call”.
The 2020 Finn Gold Cup, scheduled for May in Palma, Mallorca has been postponed to October, adding to the logitic problems for Scott
There are also the Finn Europeans in Gydinia, Poland, set for July, Scott is the title holder but the event date is now under review.
While Scott is not directly involved, the Ineos Great Britain SailGP team have events scheduled at Cowes Week (14-15 August) and Copenhagen in September . . . if coronavirus restrictions allow.
INEOS Team UK are expected to be in Auckland from October with their new AC75 to start testing and training for the pre-Cup events in December.
The actual Cup events are not until early March 2021, but there is a round of the America’s Cup World Series scheduled for 17 to 20 December in Auckland.
This is then followed by the PRADA Cup Challenger Selection Series from 15 January to 22 February 2021., and then the America’s Cup Matc from 6 to 15 March.
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