Semaine Olympique Francaise - Day five - Thursday 29 April 2010

9:56 PM Thu 29 Apr 2010 GMT

'Olympic Series - Semaine Olympique Francaise - Hyeres 2010' Jean Marie Liot &copy

Croatians Marin Misura and Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic will go into the Finn medal race at the SOF Hyeres, the fourth leg of the 2010 ISAF Sailing World Cup, separated by only two points after three more races were completed in more light winds on Thursday. Gasper Vincec (SLO) climbs three places to go into the medal race in third, a further eight points behind.

With another, albeit shorter delay, the Finn fleet got in three races in light and patchy wins to bring its qualification series to eight races - almost respectable after the way the series opened.

Race six, sailed in 5-7 knots, went to Rafal Szukiel (POL) from the young Ioannis Mitakis (GRE) and yesterday's final race winner Jonathan Lobert (FRA).

Szukiel said, 'Today was OK, and the shifts were not as big as recent days. I think that the most important moment was the start. I won it and went as fast as I could to the left side, but in the middle I decided to make a tack to cover the group."

"At this moment I lost the first place to Giannis [Mitakis] who stayed on left and took the lead. Then on the first downwind I went little bit more to the left side where there was more wind and I got the lead back with some advantage.'

Olympic Series - Semaine Olympique Francaise - Hyeres 2010 - Jean Marie Liot &copy

Mitakis tells the same story, 'My first race today was very good. I started from the pin end with a very good start and the wind was on my side so I passed the first mark in first but Rafal choose the right side on the downwind and passed me easily."

"As he didn't make any mistake I didn't find any chance to pass him. The weather today was light and really tricky. Both sides had wind so you had to be a bit lucky when you decided to cross the fleet that the wind is on your side.'

After placing fourth in race six, regatta leader Marin Misura went on to win race seven to extend his lead at the top to 11 points from fellow Croatian Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO). Gaspic, the regatta leader after day two, placed third in the race, with Thomas Le Breton (FRA) in second.

Misura said, 'I am very fast in these conditions. I had good starts which is important to get clear wind. Hycres is my first regatta this year and it's good preparation for the Europeans next week in my hometown, Split.'

The final race was won by Vincec with Kljakovic Gaspic in second and Ed Wright (GBR) in third. However with his second high score of the week in race seven, Wright had already effectively lost his chances of a third consecutive World Cup regatta win. With Misura placing 11th, the gap between the two Croatians was now down to two points.

Kljakovic Gaspic said, 'All the week we had current from left, so left hand side was paying out all the week. But today after first race current started changing and it was more from right so the concept was opposite."

Olympic Series - Semaine Olympique Francaise - Hyeres 2010 - Jean Marie Liot &copy

"Gasper got it right on the first downwind and he got out really well. After that he was smart and used all occasions to improve. When the current changed, not many guys realized it. But in the end this makes sailing interesting.'

'It has been a really light wind week. We all thought that last year was light but this year there was even less wind.'

Also out of the medals was race one winner Zach Railey (USA). He said, 'It was a very tough day again. Like all week it was hard to know what the wind was going to do."

"The last race was just like most of the rest really just hard to predict what was going to happen. Overall, it is good to see there are some things I need to improve on so we will go and work on stuff before the next regatta.'

The title will go to Misura, Kljakovic Gaspic, Vincec or Le Breton.

Follow Friday's race live online at the event website.

Top ten going into the medal race:

1 CRO 25 MISURA Marin 34.00
2 CRO 524 KLJAKOVIC GASPIC Ivan 36.00
3 SLO 5 VINCEC Gasper 44.00
4 FRA 115 LE BRETON Thomas 48.00
5 GBR 11 WRIGHT Edward 56.00
6 FRA 112 LOBERT Jonathan 59.00
7 POL 7 SZUKIEL Rafal 69.00
8 ESP 100 TRUJILLO Rafael 81.00
9 USA 4 RAILEY Zach 83.00
10 RUS 9 SKORNYAKOV Eduard 85.00

The event website can be found at: sof.ffvoile.net

by Robert Deaves