The Open Finn European Championships stalled on the fourth day with no more races on the board despite spending four hours on the water trying. With two days to go and a maximum of four fleet races and the medal race to go Josh Junior (NZL) leads from Zsombor Berecz (HUN) and Pieter-Jan Postma (NED) in the 90 boat fleet.
The fleet was held onshore for two hours before being sent out in what looked like a promising breeze. Three attempts at a start were made, with five boats receiving a black flag penalty before the wind flipped 90 degrees and new breeze tried to fill in. At moments it looked quite nice but it never stabilised for long enough to keep the PRO happy enough to send the fleet away. After two hours of waiting, in what was now a huge swell going up the course, he sent the fleet ashore.
With the championship now three races behind schedule, a maximum of three can be sailed Friday, followed by the final fleet race and the medal race on Saturday. The forecast is for more light winds, but each day here has been different so the sailors are keeping fingers, toes and everything else crossed in the hope the wind will finally show up. Those who like the adage, 'It is never normally like this here' can take comfort from the fact that some locals are saying this is the worst week of wind that Barcelona has experienced since September last year.
The championship is safe after four races. One more race is required to bring in the discard, which a lot of sailors are really hoping for. The scheduled first warning signal on Friday is 12.00.
Results after four races
1 NZL 24 Josh Junior 20
2 HUN 40 Zsombor Berecz 29
3 NED 842 Pieter-Jan Postma 43
4 GBR 91 Ben Cornish 49
5 CRO 69 Milan Vujasinovic 51
6 BRA 109 Jorge Zarif 55
7 CAN 18 Tom Ramshaw 60
8 NOR 1 Anders Pedersen 65
9 GBR 11 Ed Wright 66
10 DEN 2 Jonas Høgh-Christensen 73
Full results: http://2016.finneuropeans.org/en/default/races/race-resultsall
– Robert Deaves
