Caleb Paine happy with overall lead on Day 1 of 2012 Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta
Opening day of the 2012 Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta featured only one race on the Portland Harbour and Weymouth Bay waters because there was no winds to have a good sail. However, the Finn fleet started their first day proceedings with determination and
was able to formulate the initial results.
With some outstanding sailing genius in the only race of the day, the 2012 Delta Lloyd Regatta Finn class winner, America’s Caleb Paine hit the top spot in the overall fleet standings at the conclusion of the day.
Paine was on lead from the very beginning of the race and retained the top position until the finish of the race. After grabbing the overall lead of the fleet, Paine was quite excited as it seemed his first step towards the title victory.
Speaking to the local media at the conclusion of the first day, Paine said, “It was fairly close after the first weather leg, and the distance (on the fleet) stayed the same on the first reach. It was all in the first downwind. I stayed with all the boats
and sailed in the pressure.”
He added, “There was an opportunity for me to either to stay with boats on right, looking downwind, or go to the guys on the left. I jibed over and took the pressure on the left side, and after rounding the mark it was a pretty easy beat by hitting the right
side and I just extended.”
The upcoming days will be tough for Paine as he has big guns of Finn sailing in the fleet. These big names of the sport include the British champion Ben Ainslie, Mark Andrews and his compatriot Zach Railey who can challenge him at any stage of the fleet
racing.
Overall standing positions at the end of Day 1:
1. USA 11 Caleb PAINE USACP 65 = 1 Point
2. RUS 1 Aleksey SELIVANOV RUSAS 8 = 2 Points
3. GBR 88 Mark ANDREWS GBRMA 18= 3 Points
4. USA 4 Zach RAILEY USAZR 1 = 4 Points
5. GBR 3 Ben AINSLIE GBRCA 1 = 5 Points
6. ESP 100 Rafael TRUJILLO ESPRT 7 = 6 Points
7. CRO 524 Ivan KLJAKOVIC GASPIC CROIK 3 = 7 Points
8. GBR 85 Andrew MILLS GBRAM 55 = 8 Points
9. BRA 109 Jorge ZARIF BRAJZ 4 = 9 Points
10. NZL 24 Josh JUNIOR NZLJJ 1 = 10 Points
11. NZL 8 Matt COUTTS NZLMC 2 = 11 Points
12. SWE 11 Daniel BIRGMARK SWEDB 1 = 12 Points
Tags: