Three fight out great Finn finish

Press, 23 February 1980, Page 60

Three fight out great Finn finish

From JOHN COFFEY in Auckland “Bov, was I ever stupid,” said the Canadian helmsman, Larry Lemieux, after coming off second best in one of the greatest finishes in the 25year history of the World Finn Gold Cup yachting championship. Lemieux, John Bertrand (United States), and Graham Deegan (New Zealand) had been the principals in an enthralling three-way tussle throughout the last five legs of the course, and they settled down to a tense tacking duel on the final beat. Even within 30m of the finishing line Lemieux held the upper, hand, but he stayed on port tack for too long and allowed the thoroughly tenacious Bertrand to slip across and claim the winner’s gun. Having lost that battle, Lemieux had to act quickly to keep Deegan out of second. Only one boat length separated Bertrand from Lemieux, and there was a similar margin to. Deegan. The time span between the first three was a mere 2s, incredibly close at the end of a race which had covered eight nautical miles in conditions which steadily freshened to about 20 knots. It would have been impossible to have stage-managed such a pulsating event as this. Apart from a brief bid by Derek Breitenstein (Finland), who was third around the top mark behind' Lemieux and Deegan, the first three shared all the attention. By the wing buoy Lemieux was still in front, with Deegan challenging enthusiastically 6s away and Bertrand gradually closing the gap in menacing fashion. Deegan did best on the second reach and raised the hopes of his home-town supporters when he led Lemieux and Bertrand at the end of the triangle. Bertrand was soon to pounce when the fleet turned back into the wind and the excitement mounted. Rounding the mark Bertrand was trailed by Is by Deegan, with only another 5s to Lemieux. Down to the bottom mark they went again and they were still just as tightly bunched, but now the order was Lemieux, Bertrand, and Deegan. Most of the pressure was on the 24-year-old Canadian, who was posed the problem of keeping both Bertrand and Deegan at bay. So earnestly did Lemieux toil over that- exhausting 1.7 nautical mile leg that he deserved to have his second win of the series. But, in his own words, he “blew it’’ so close to home. “I was tacking in front all the way up the beat until the last few metres, when I thought that I had enough leeway to . reach the line first. It was a mistake. I just relaxed a little too much,” Lemieux said. Bertrand, an old foe of Lemieux’s in North American and world championships, had a wry smile on his face and made' certain Lemieux

was within earshot when he said: “1 knew 1 had it the whole time because 1 knew who I was racing against.” But, even as he washed down his boat, he still looked very relieved. The victory promoted Bertrand to .the top <>f the aggregate points table, -ahead of the defending title-holder. Cam Lewis (United States), who improved from an early eighth to be fourth most of the way yesterday. Bertrand has conceded 16 points, five less than Lewis. Both have a seventh placing to discard. However, Lemieux is still very much a danger to the United States representatives. He was not discouraged by his sixteenth on Thursday and if only- the best two performances are counted, Lemieux is equal with Bertrand with a first and a second each. The North Americans must also be very much aware of the Swede, Kent Carlson, who has been in the top six in every heat. To recover sixth yesterday, Carlson —“I was very’ slow on the first beat” — worked strenuously after having languished out of the top 20 for a time. Another obvious threat is the 1976 champion, Chris Law, of Britain. Once he discards his disqualification of the opening race he will be* very much in the picture, and there is more than a hint that a photo-finish will be required for this championship. Deegan, who has spent the last four years in England furthering his yachting experience, is now eighth over all, and the third New Zealander, behind the Dodson brothers, Richard and Tom. For the second consecutive afternoon, it was the younger Richard Dodson who nudged his brother out. Richard Dodson is now fifth, Tom Dodson seventh, and between them is the third United States contender, Andrew Menkart, who was a modest twelfth yesterday. Freerk Kempkers was again the best Canterbury skipper, his twenty-fourth, leaving him eighteenth in the standings, Peter Lester, a disappointing thirty-first, has fallen to twenty-fifth. After a promising start Peter Kempkers was back in sixty-third yesterday, five places behind Ben Winters. ‘ Second race: J. J. Bertrand (U.S.) 1, L. Lemieux (Can) 2, G. Deegan (N.Z.) 3, C. Lewis (U.S.) 4, C. J, Law (G. 8. 5, K. Carlson (Swe) 6, R. Dodson (N.Z.) 7, T. W. Dodson (N.Z.) 8, J. Lindhardtsen (Den) 9, D. Brietenstein (Fin) 10, 11. Nissen (Ger) 11, A. Menkart (U.S.) 12, R, Woodbury (Can) 13, J. Douglas (N.Z.) 14, B. Deegan (N.Z.) 15, M. van Leeuwen (Hol) 16, P. D. Page (N.Z.) 17, L. van Keirsbilck (Belg) 18, D. Schmidt (N.Z.) 19, L. Armit (N.Z.) 20. Others: F. Kempkers 24, P. Lester 31, B; Winters 58, P. Kempkers 63. Over-all aggregates: Bertrand; 16 points. 1; Lewis, 21, 2; Lemieux, 25. 3; Carlson, 33.4, 4; R. Dodson, 33.7, 5; Menkart, 49, 6; T. Dodson. 50. 7; G. Deegan, 51.7. 8; Schmidt, 62, 9; Armit, 63. 10; B. Deegan, 64, 11; J. Ferguson (Aust), and G. Woodroffe (N.Z.), 65, eoual 12; Nissen and van Leeuwen, 69, equal 14; J. Rogge (Belg), 77, 16; van Keirsblick, 82, 17; F. Kempkers and Breitenstein, 85, equal 18; T. Jungblut (Ger), 87, 20. Others: Lester, 92, 25: P. Kempkers. 172, equal 54; Winters, 186, equal 60.