Deniss Karpak from Estonia is the back in the lead at the 2025 Finn Gold Cup after three windy races were completed in Cascais, Portugal on Thursday. Italy’s Arkadii Kistanov is up to second with Valerian Lebrun, from France, in third. The race wins went to Oskari Muhonen, from Finland and Karpak.
After a challenging opening two days at the Finn Gold Cup, hosted by Club Naval de Cascais from 3–6 September, the fleet caught up to full schedule today with three hard-fought races completed in demanding conditions.
Conditions were already stronger than in the previous days, with the breeze having shifted overnight from yesterday’s north-westerly to today’s more northerly flow. The fleet launched into 15–17 knots at the start of Race 1, with bigger waves than before and a shifty, tricky breeze that kept the sailors working hard.
In the opening race, defending champion Muhonen claimed the win, followed by Kistanov and Karpak. By the second race, the breeze had built to 18–20 knots, but Muhonen continued his strong form, taking his second victory of the day with exceptional downwind speed. This time, Karpak crossed in second with Kistanov again in third.
Race three became a real test of endurance, with winds averaging 20–22 knots and a steadily building sea state. The big, ocean-like waves and 60–70 minute race duration demanded resilience from the fleet. Karpak quickly seized the lead and held it all the way to the finish, while Muhonen fought back from a poor start to climb into second. Jesse Kylänpää, also from Finland, completed the top three.
It was the day they were all waiting for and though many came ashore broken men (and woman), they were all satisfied with an exceptionally tough day of Finn Gold Cup racing. It’s why they came to Cascais.
Muhonen explained that he had, “a pretty difficult start to the regatta. The first two days were pretty difficult for me, but managed to pull it together today, with two bullets in the first two races, which was really nice. I think I found a really good speed both actually on upwind and downwind. In the third one I had a pretty tricky start and Deniss managed to find a really good shift on the right side and he was controlling the race pretty well. I just climbed up back up to second which was really good as well, but man, the legs are dead now. Some more wind probably tomorrow and should be pretty windy again”
Karpak is back in the overall lead again with a 13 point margin. “It was a brutal tough day, three races strong wind, huge waves, free pumping, hiking, it was everything we love Finn sailing in Cascais for. It was a good day for me, 3-2-1. I’m happy with that. I’m really proud of the Master fleet, they’re doing really good and also the rest of the fleet is doing great. Tomorrow according to the forecast it’s going to be the same or maybe a little.”
Due to a very light and unstable forecast for Saturday, three more races have been scheduled for Friday, for which the forecast suggests a continuation of today’s northerly direction, but with even stronger winds expected. It will likely be another big day in Cascais.
Racing continues until Saturday.
Results after 6 races
1 EST 2 Deniss KARPAK 11
2 ITA 51 Arkadii KISTANOV 25
3 FRA 111 Valerian LEBRUN 34
4 ITA 1103 Alessandro MAREGA 36
5 FRA 75 Laurent HAY 38
6 POR 5 Frederico MELO 40
7 FIN 99 Jesse KYLÄNPÄÄ 41
8 NED 6 Martijn VAN MUYDEN 41
9 FIN 8 Oskari MUHONEN 42
10 NED 148 Peter PEET 49
