After two days of racing cancelled due to bad weather, the Finn Gold Cup finally got underway yesterday (26 September, 2001). Two races were completed in sunny conditions and a light breeze of 6-8 knots.

After two races, it was Atlanta Silver Medallist, Sebastian Godefroid who took an early lead scoring consistently in the two races and finishing with an overall score of five points after day one. He leads by six points from Emilios Papathanasiou of Greece, who won the first race and then went on to score a 10th place in the second.

It was a great start for the RYA Team GBR sailors, Chris Brittle from Roundhill Sailing Club, who is now lying in fifth position overall out of 57 sailors, after finishing third in the first race and 14th in the second. Brittle was third Junior at the Finn Europeans in Lake Garda earlier this year. Two points behind him, in seventh place is top Junior Finn sailor Charlie Cumbley who was first Junior at the Finn Europeans. He scored an 18th in the first race, and in the second race, played the shifts well up the beats and overtook Andrew Pimental of USA on the last run to take the lead and secure his first win of the regatta.

A disappointing result for Andrew Simpson, who after day one is lying in 30th position, there is however, still a long way to go and plenty of time to make amends.

Results (after two races)

1st Sebastian Godefroid BEL 5 pts 2,3

2nd Emilios Papathanasiou GRE 11 pts 1,10

3rd Mathieu Deplanque FRA 11 pts 6,5

4th Andrew Pimental USA 14 pts 12,2

5th Chris Brittle GBR 17 pts 3,14

Other Team GBR

7th Charlie Cumbley 19 pts 18,1

11th Ian Clingan 31 pts 4,27

16th Adam Cowling 40 pts 33,7

27th Dave Mellor 53 pts 40,13

30th Andrew Simpson 57 pts 37,20

35th Tim Tavinor 65 pts 49,16