Ed Wright extended his lead on day 2 of the of the 2023 Finn Gold Cup at the Coconut Grove SC, Miami, on Saturday.
Wright added a 2 and 1 to open a six point lead from Domonkos Nemeth (5, 2) of Hungary, with European champion, Miguel Fernandez (3, 5) of Spain now third, a further five points back.
It was a blustery day on Biscayne Bay with winds up to 17-18 knots, and with slightly bigger seas.
It was a tough, but exciting and exhilarating day for everyone, not least Federico Colaninno of Italy who won the first race ahead of Wright and Fernandez, after Nemeth capsized.
After winning his first ever Finn Gold Cup race Colaninno commented . . .“Winning a race in the Gold Cup is something special. It’s an unbelievable feeling. I am really happy about the first race.”
Unfortunately for Colaninno just as he looked to be setting-up a second win . . . leading at the top mark from Nemeth and Wright, his boom pin exploded and pulled out.
Wright then passed Nemeth downwind and extended for a big win.
Nemeth crossed second with Laurent Hay, from France, having a great race to cross in third and move into fourth overall.
The US Finn Secretary Rodion Mazin (4, 6) moves into fifth overall and Paul Mckenzie of Australia (12/SCP, 7) is sixth.
Following his retirement from race 4, Colaninno drops to 13th overall in the 57 strong fleet.
Two more races are scheduled for Bacardi Race Day on Sunday with slightly lighter winds and sunnier skies forecast.
The event concludes on Tuesday.
2023 Finn Gold Cup – Leaders after Race 4 (57 entries)
1st GBR 111 Ed Wright 1 1 2 1 – – 5 pts
2nd HUN 80 Domonkos Nemeth 2 2 5 2 – – 11 pts
3rd ESP 161 Miguel Fernandez 4 4 3 5 – – 16 pts
4th FRA 75 Laurent HAY 8 5 8 3 – – 24 pts
5th USA 16 Rodion Mazin 12 6 4 6 – – 28 pts
6th AUS 22 Paul Mckenzie 5 10 12/SCP 7 – – 34 pts
7th BRA 32 Pedro Lodovici 9 7 14 9 – – 39 pts
8th BRA 53 Pedro Trouche 7 17 9 8 – – 41 pts
9th USA 186 James Golden 6 13 10 19 – – 48 pts
10th USA 81 Jack Jennings 11 14 19 12 – – 56 pts
11th FRA 99 Marc Allain des Beauvais 16 20 12 13 – – 61 pts
12th NZL 2 Ray Hall 15 12 16 22 – – 65 pts
13th ITA 171 Federico Colaninno 3 3 1 59/DNF – – 66 pts
14th POR 73 Nuno ES Silva 18 16 21 11 – – 66 pts
15th USA 69 John F Dane 14 11 32 14 – – 71 pts
16th NED 977 Sjoerd Hofland 13 15 25 21 – – 74 pts
17th USA 9 Rob Coutts 22 26 11 17 – – 76 pts
18th USA 1138 Scott Griffiths 31 18 15 15 – – 79 pts
19th FRA 38 Michel Audoin 24 19 20 16 – – 79 pts
20th ITA 40 Marko Kolic 10 59/OCS 7 4 – – 80 pts