WORLD MATCH RACING TOUR - MONSOON CUP 2008

Elated Gilmour King of the Monsoon Cup

King of the 2008 Monsoon Cup for the second time is Peter Gilmour and his Yanmar Racing team.

Challenged on every part of the race course through four very tough races, Gilmour and his team of Yasuhiro Yaji, Rod Dawson, Thierry Douillard and Kazuhiko Sofuku, are deserved winners of the 2008 Monsoon Cup.

After several months of leading the Monsoon Cup event management team, Gilmour then had to turn around and focus his energies on the competition. It is a testament to the skills of this sailor that he was able to make the seamless move from Race Advisor to successful skipper.

“I feel very elated. It has been a long few months for us to pull the event together and then the deck was pretty well stacked against me for doing well here. I have tremendous crew here, which kept me concentrating, kept me sailing. They are not too hard on me when I make basic mistakes like running into committee boats and just keep me rolling along.

“Clearly we were very lucky to be in the final. We probably did not deserve to be on the race course, but here we are and we won the final.

“The result is great for 2009. We look forward to going on the Tour and being a part of all that. It is very exciting,” a clearly elated Gilmour said.

Gilmour had a tough trip to the top, finishing tied on five match wins with Sébastien Col, Magnus Holmberg and Ben Ainslie at the end of the round robin series. On a count-back Gilmour went through to the quarter finals where he raced Col, winning his semi final place after five hard and at times, controversial matches.

The semi final for Gilmour was an extraordinary situation where his opponent was 22-year-old Torvar Mirsky, a one-time match racing student of Gilmour’s. It was a battle of wits; skill and experience which saw Gilmour dominate the matches to win 3-0.

2008 ISAF Match Racing World Championship
Ian Williams has taken out the 2008 ISAF Match Racing World Championship ahead of Sébastien Col (French Match Racing Team/K-Challenge) in second place and Mathieu Richard (French Match Racing Team/French Spirit) in the third.

Petite Finals
In the Petite Final Torvar Mirsky (Mirsky Racing Team) and recently anointed Match Racing World Champion, Ian Williams (Bahrain Team Pindar), took to the water to redress their semi final losses as they both refocused and looked to finish third in the event. A tough battle between the two with Mirsky dominating both matches to take out third place Monsoon Cup honours.

Watch the racing on the internet: http://www.sail.tv
Monsoon Cup website: http://www.monsooncup.my
WMRT 08 website: http://www.worldmatchracingtour.com/

Overall Monsoon Cup Results
1st Peter Gilmour, Yanmar Racing (AUS)
2nd Adam Minoprio, ETNZ/Black Match Racing (NZL)
3rd Torvar Mirsky, Mirsky Racing Team (AUS)
4th Ian Williams, Bahrain Team Pindar (GBR)
5th Paolo Cian, Team Shosholoza (ITA)
6th Sébastien Col, French Match Racing Team / K-Challenge (FRA)
7th Magnus Holmberg, Victory Challenge (SWE)
8th Mathieu Richard, French Match Racing Team / French Spirit (FRA)
9th Ben Ainslie, Team Origin (GBR)
10th Keith Swinton, Black Swan Racing (AUS)
11th Johnie Berntsson, Berntsson Sailing Team (SWE)
12th Nurul Ain bt Md Isa, Perak Sailing Team (MAS)

WORLD MATCH RACING TOUR - MONSOON CUP 2008

Minoprio plans to spoil Gilmour's finals party

Battling strong winds and brilliant competition the top four match racing teams met this morning to complete the final races of the Monsoon Cup semi finals.

The result - Adam Minoprio (ETNZ/Black Match Racing) and Peter Gilmour (Yanmar Racing) are through to the final.

Minoprio fought current World Match Racing Champion, Ian Williams (Bahrain Team Pindar), through five incredibly hard matches winning three matches to two.

The day started with Williams two up on Minoprio. The third race of their battle proved Minoprio was not daunted by the skill of his opponent. Two unforced errors by Williams and he had effectively given the race away. Minoprio still kept digging away at his advantage to take the race by four boat lengths. Minoprio then went on to take out the fourth match and even the score. By this stage Williams must have been wondering what was happening with his campaign as he mulled over the errors and incorrect top mark rounding of this flight.

The final and fifth match was one heck of a fight between two great teams. Luffing duels, tack for tack windward works and close challenges right on the bottom mark; this was world class match racing. Minoprio, despite his young age, dominated throughout the match to deliver a stunning win for the New Zealand team and a berth in the finals.

Minoprio's semi final has also delivered his team a much sought-after invitation to compete in the 2009 World Match Racing Tour

'We came here knowing we had to beat Torvar Mirsky. We were equal on points before we got here. He had the choice. He could have picked us for the semi finals and tried to win the tour card there, but he thought he would make it hard for us and make us race the world champion, Ian Williams. And he raced Gilmour. It could have gone either way. If he had beaten Gilmour and we had lost to Ian, he would have had it. I think that was his plan. It would have been mine. It back fired on him (Mirsky). We are stoked.'

Minoprio now needs to refocus himself and his crew for the all important finals matches. 'It is pretty simple for us. Gilmour picked us last year when he won the round robin and we came second. So it is going to be a bit of a revenge and a rematch. We would love to spoil Gilmour's party here.'

Torvar Mirksy (Mirsky Racing Team) planned to 'take Gilmour down' in the second day of their semi final racing. Mirsky had already one loss to carry so dominance in race two was vital to the psychology of his team. Gilmour, even with a red flag penalty, was on top of Mirsky the whole race. Mirsky looked like winning the match until Gilmour pounced in the last 20 seconds forcing an incredible battle of wits and pushing his bow through to take the match.

It was then a heart-breaking finish to Mirsky's semi finals battle when, while dominating Gilmour in the pre-start of the third match, he collected the start boat anchor line and gave the race away to Gilmour. Mirsky's team freed their boat and kept racing to finish the semi finals with straight three losses to Gilmour.

Gilmour does not expect his tactics of the last race against Mirsky will be seen in the finals matches. 'They really did it themselves. They tried to shut us out, but once they got to this point our only hope was to keep on dragging them up towards the start boat. By the time they tried to turn away it was too late. It is not something that I expect to see happen in the future.'

Mirsky now goes into the Petite Final against Williams.

Fighting for fifth to eighth places in the 2008 Monsoon Cup are Paolo Cian, Magnus Holmberg, Mathieu Richard and Sebastian Col. Col has secured second place in the 2008 ISAF World Match Racing Champion. Richard is still in with a chance of taking out third place in the overall pointscore, if he can finish fifth overall.

WORLD MATCH RACING TOUR - MONSOON CUP 2008

WILLIAMS RETAINS HIS CROWN

Ian Williams of Bahrain Team Pindar, match racing skipper extraordinaire, has retained his world title taking out the 2008 ISAF Match Racing World Championship trophy.

Williams led the championship point score with 92 points going into the final event of the World Match Racing Tour. His nearest rivals for the title, Sébastien Col and Mathieu Richard, had to make it to through the quarter finals of the Monsoon Cup to stay in the hunt for the championship trophy.

Both Col and Richard were knocked out of the quarter finals leaving the pathway open for Williams to storm through and hold onto the coveted World Championship trophy.

In the final event of the Tour, the 2008 Monsoon Cup, Williams was effectively handed the World Championship title after Col lost his last quarter final match against Peter Gilmour after a technical protest.

“It was a strange to win on a protest decision that didn’t involve us, but I really felt we deserved it, The way we sailed today, we deserved to win. Mathieu (Richard) sailed really well against us and we just didn’t give him any chances. To beat him 3-0 is unprecedented.

“We are really satisfied with the way we performed when the pressure came on. When it came to the quarter finals, Mathieu threw down the gauntlet by choosing us and we responded extremely well and stepped up our game.”

With the Monsoon Cup still at stake nothing could stop the best international match racers in their quest to win their quarter final matches to secure one of the four semi-final berths.

The Monsoon Cup is the final event in the World Match Racing Tour and was the deciding event in the 2008 ISAF World Match Racing Championship.

The eight teams contesting the quarter final stage had to battle heavy monsoon downpours, strong river current and gusty 15 to 20 knot winds.

Through to the semi finals are Torvar Mirsky and his Mirsky Racing Team, World Champion Ian Williams and his Bahrain Team Pindar, Adam Minoprio and his ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing and Peter Gilmour’s Yanmar Racing.
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Round Robin winner Italian Paolo Cian (Team Shosholoza) was up against 23-year-old kiwi Adam Minoprio. It took four matches for Minoprio to shake off the event leader.

“Fantastic result. To get picked again after the round robin; last year we missed out on the semi-finals finishing 2-3 to Gilmour and this year we beat Cian 3-1, we are stoked. We had our time on distance really sorted and we were feeling very comfortable in the boat. We managed to win every start.

“In the first race (they lost to Cian) we mucked up the tactics on the beat and then in the rest of the races we sorted it out,” Minoprio said.

Veteran match racing circuit skipper, Sweden’s Magnus Holmberg (Victory Challenge), team went up against Australian Torvar Mirsky. Mirsky dominated each of their three matches, the last one showing just why Mirsky is at the top of the international rankings as he drove home his advantage to beat Holmberg by over four boat lengths.

“We convincingly beat Magnus. He is such a big name in the sport. It feels like all of our hard work and all of our experience, and all the practice we have had this year is finally paying off at the best and biggest event. We are really happy with how we are going,” Mirsky said.

Mathieu Richard (French Match Racing Team/Team French Spirit), who held third place on the world match racing championship score board going into the Monsoon Cup, was up against defending Monsoon Cup champion Ian Williams. Williams came out of the start line in each of their matches with incredible aggression. And was on fire winning three straight matches and qualifying for the semi-final stage.

“I don’t think we have ever beaten Richard 3-0 in a best of five before. We have had so many close races over the years. To come out 3-0; we are really pleased with how we performed,” Williams said.

Dato’ Peter Gilmour faced Sébastien Col (French Match Racing Team/K-Challenge) in his quarter final bout. Col going into the Monsoon Cup was second on the World Match Racing Tour scoreboard. In the first match Gilmour made the fatal mistake, for the second time in this event, drifting into the line of the race committee boat and collecting the anchor line. This closed him out of the first match.

He rebounded in the second, lost out in the third, fought back again in the fourth, and then again in the fifth sailing a tactically clever final race, hunting Col down to the last second. Col was awarded the win over the finish line but after a controversial jury decision the race was awarded to Gilmour. Sebastien’s hopes of gaining the World Championship title were snatched away in a hearing rather than on the water. “I did not agree with decision however I will discuss this further with the umpires and learn from it” said Col.

Semi Finals resume tomorrow with Ian William’s leading Adam Minoprio 2-0 and Peter Gilmour leading Torvar Mirsky 1-0. Follow the action live on the internet from 10am and on TV screens near you from 2.30-4.30 Malaysian time.

WORLD MATCH RACING TOUR - MONSOON CUP 2008

Youth and aggression fights age and experience

Nothing could stop the best international match racers in the world, in their quest to win enough Monsoon Cup quarter final matches to secure one of the four semi-final berths.

The Monsoon Cup is the final event in the World Match Racing Tour and the deciding event in the 2008 ISAF World Match Racing Championship.

The eight teams contesting the quarter final stage had to battle heavy monsoonal downpours, strong river current and gusty 15 to 20 knots winds.

Through to the semi finals are Torvar Mirsky and his Mirsky Racing Team, current World Champion Ian Williams and his Bahrain Team Pindar, Adam Minoprio and his Black Match Racing/ETNZ team, and Peter Gilmour and his Yanmar Racing team.

Round Robin stage champion Italian Paolo Cian (Team Shosholoza) was up against 23-year-old New Zealand Adam Minoprio. It took four matches for Minoprio to shake off the event leader.

'Fantastic result. To get picked again after the round robin; last year we missed out on the semi-finals finishing 2-3 to Gilmour and this year we beat Cian 3-1, we are stoked. We had our time on distance really sorted and we were feeling very comfortable in the boat. We managed to win every start.

'In the first race (lost to Cian) we mucked up the tactics on the beat and then in the rest of the races we sorted it out,' Minoprio said.

Veteran match racing circuit skipper, Sweden's Magnus Holmberg (Victory Challenge) went up against Australian Torvar Mirsky. Mirsky dominated each of their three matches, the last one showing just why Mirsky is up the top of the international rankings, as he drove home his advantage to beat Holmberg by over four boat lengths.

'We convincingly beat Magnus. He is such a big name in the sport. It feels like all of our hard work and all of our experience, and all the practice we have had this year is finally paying off at the best and biggest event. We are really happy with how we are going,' Mirsky said.

Mathieu Richard (French Sailing Team/French Spirit), who held third place on the world match racing championship score board going into the Monsoon Cup, was up against defending Monsoon Cup champion Ian Williams. Williams came out of the start line in the each of their matches with incredible aggression and was on fire winning three straight matches and qualifying for the semi-final stage.

'I don't think we have ever beaten Richard 3-0 in a best of five before. We have had so many close races over the years. To come out 3-0; we are really pleased with how we performed,' Williams said.

Dato' Peter Gilmour faced Sebastien Col (French Sailing Team/K-Challenge) in his quarter final bout. Col going into the Monsoon Cup was second on the World Match Racing Tour scoreboard. In the first match Gilmour made the fatal mistake, for the second time in this event, of drifting into the line of the race committee boat and collecting their anchor line. This closed him out of the first match.

He rebounded in the second, lost out in the third, fought back again in the fourth, and then again in the fifth sailing a tactically clever final race, hunting Col down to the last seconds of the final leg and winning the flight 3-2. This result takes Gilmour and his team through to the semi finals.

WORLD MATCH RACING TOUR - MONSOON CUP 2008

Anxious start to last ditch Monsoon match races

Day 3: Monsoon Cup match racers, while waiting for the sea breeze to settle, anxiously eyed off their competition before the start of the last six flights of the Round Robin.

For several of the great names in international match racing, every bit of energy, concentration and skill they could muster will be needed to get them through the next few hours of matches. Mathieu Richard, Ian Williams, Sebastien Col and Magnus Holmberg are all on the edge. Each of them have tough competition to face today; there will no easy matches.

On the other end of the point score Keith Swinton’s Black Swan Racing and Nurul Ain bt. Md Isa’s Perak Sailing Team are out of contention for the quarter finals. Both teams have sailed incredibly hard and well in the final event of the World Match Racing Tour.

In the first match of the day Ian Williams(Bahrain Team Pindar) and SebastienCol (K-Challenge) went into the match with an equal number of wins from the previous days racing. Williams beat Col after a tactically challenging race in a soft, shifty breeze. It was only in the last leg of the course that Williams caught a soft puff on the left-hand shore and lead Col to the finish by five boat lengths.

Third on the World Match Racing Tour leader board, but with only two match wins so far, Mathieu Richard has been on the back foot and fighting for survival in the Monsoon Cup. Magnus Holmberg has had a better event with four wins, but with the awarding of a penalty against him for Level C damage to Williams’ boat in the re-sail match yesterday, he went into their match with three wins on the score board. Richard came out on top of this match to give him a total of three wins, still below the mark for quarter final qualification.

The big question this morning was; could Dato’ Peter Gilmour and his Yanmar Racing Team slip into the top eight with a solid round of match performances today ? He faced ISAF Sailor of the Year Ben Ainslie, a relative newcomer to the match racing Tour, who came into the match with four wins. Gilmour dominated with some smart sailing to win the match and move up the scoreboard with four wins.

Ainslie then immediately went into his next match, this time against Monsoon Cup round robin leader, Paolo Cian. The Bahrain Team Pindar needed to win this match to secure their quarter final berth. Cian challenged them every moment of the match, but Ainslie took the lead to finish clearly ahead of Cain to be one place behind Cian on the point score.

At the mid-way point of the day Cian and Adam Minoprio lead the field on seven wins each and have secured their quarter final berth. Torvar Mirsky with six wins also looks secure. Williams, Ainslie and Gilmour are all placed in a strong position to qualify for the quarter finals with five wins each.

It is now down to Col, Richard, Holmberg and Berntsson to fight it out for the quarter final. Their battles will be the highlight of this afternoon’s racing as the final flights of the Round Robin stage continue.

Watch the racing on the internet: http://www.sail.tv
Monsoon Cup website: http://www.monsooncup.my
WMRT 08 website: http://www.worldmatchracingtour.com/

WORLD MATCH RACING TOUR - MONSOON CUP 2008

A Game Of Snakes And Ladders

Day 2: The leaders are struggling and the followers are powering through to deliver wining results as the top match racing teams finish day two in the 2008 Monsoon Cup.

The day was full of exciting racing with crashes, penalties, mistakes and celebrations as the top 12 international match racing teams fought for dominance on the waters of Terengganu, Malaysia, in the final event of the World Match Racing Tour.

The excellent conditions allowed the race committee to complete eight flights.

Today’s results are a reflection of the true challenges of match racing as leaders falter in their performance in one event and yet can pull up and deliver podium finishes in other tour events. This year alone the tour has eight different winners over the eight events preceding the Monsoon Cup.

At the start of the event Ian Williams’ Bahrain Team Pindar holds the top place in the ISAF Match Racing World Championship on 92 points. In second place is Sebastien Col’s K-Challenge team on 88 points and Mathieu Richard’s French Spirit team on 77 points. Facing down the competition today in shifty breezes, strong currents and strong competition, all three leading teams are going to have to work harder, and look for a lot of luck, to keep themselves in the running if they want to qualify for the quarter final.

At the top of the leader board so far in the round robin stage with seven wins and only one loss is Paolo Cian’s Team Shosholoza.

Cian has now beaten Mathieu Richard, Adam Minoprio, Torvar Mirsky, Magnus Holmberg, Johnie Berntsson, Nurul Ain and Dato’ Peter Gilmour. His only loss has been to Williams in yesterday’s racing. Cian’s dominance on the race course playing the shifts and working the strong current has been outstanding.

“It is an important event and an important Tour for Team Shosholoza. I strongly believe the World Match Racing Tour is an important part of world match racing. My team is sailing the boat very well so I am confident enough that I can come back into the race and this is an important approach to match racing. If you make a mistake, you are still in the match.

“It is just the beginning. We are going to the quarter finals and then we start again,” Cian said.

On only just beating Keith Swinton by a matter of seconds Cian said “I must congratulate them (Swinton’s Black Swan Racing Team) and the way they are sailing the event. They don’t look like newcomers. They sail the boat very well and I am not the only one to get penalties in the pre-starts.”

Hot on the tail of Cian is Torvar Mirsky’s Mirsky Racing Team and Adam Minoprio’s Black Match Racing Team both with six wins each. Mirsky has rolled over the top of Richard, Holmberg, Berntsson, Ainslie, Swinton and Nurul Ain. His losses were to Cian and Minoprio.

Minoprio sailing with good boat speed and confident crew work has now beaten Williams, Col, Mirsky, Ainslie, Gilmour and Swinton. His only loss was to Cian. “We had a good day plus a win against Ian (Williams) in one race. We got lucky and the rest of the race was really close and the lead changed a lot,” Minoprio said.

So the pattern emerges as Cian stands out from the two nearest challengers who are yet to beat the feisty Italian.

The match of the day was undoubtedly the battle between 22 year-old Torvar Mirsky and 23 year-old Adam Minoprio. Both were placed equal fourth on the World Match Racing Tour leader board going into the Monsoon Cup. Their match really was a battle of the young guns.

Mirsky went into the match with five wins while Minoprio had four. It was race of determination and tactics as the two young crews showed why they are placed equal fourth on Match Racing Tour score board. Minoprio timed his start brilliantly and was right on time crossing the line a boat length clear of Mirsky. Outstanding crew work from the Mirsky racing Team crew had them gaining ground, but as Mirsky tacked the jib caught around the winch slowing the Mirsky Racing Team down. Mirsky continued to bite away at Minoprio’s lead covering every move of the other team, but it was not enough with Minoprio and his Black Match Racing Team taking a decisive victory over Mirsky and his Mirsky Racing Team.

Olympic champion turned match racer, Ben Ainslie and his Team Origin, created high drama this afternoon when they collected the committee boat anchor chain at the start as they went into the last few seconds of their match start against Minoprio and his Black Match Racing Team. Both teams were fighting closely when they approached the start line. Minoprio pushed Ainslie from behind forcing him close to the boat. Battling the strong tide, Ainslie collected the anchor line while Minoprio sailed away comfortably.

Ainslie in commenting on his anchor chain experience noted he was under quite a bit of pressure at the time.

“To be honest we did not sail a great race today. We made a lot of bad mistakes. But, I have a really good team around me and we will just keep plugging away. It is all part of match racing; getting through the rounds and getting better each time.”

If that wasn’t enough Peter Gilmour and his newly named Yanmar Racing Team, in his late afternoon match against Cian, also hit the committee boat at the start allowing Cian to sail freely away. Gilmour’s team freed the boat and continued sailing, but he still carried a penalty out of that incident.

Gilmour said afterwards “it was quite simply a mistake. The rope on the anchor is very, very long out there. Sometimes the committee boat is at a slightly different angle. You turn downwind and put the keel abeam of the flow of the current. It is like a trap if you don’t realise it is coming up. In fact we were watching Ben (Ainslie) and that was how we worked out how to get off quickly”.

The match between Williams and Holmberg was re-sailed late in the afternoon after Williams asked for redress from the committee for taking the VIP guest off Holmberg’s boat and leaving an extra passenger with Williams, which in his opinion slowed him enough to lose the race.. The first match was sailed with Holmberg winning. But, on hearing the protest, the decision was made to re-sail the match. The drama did not stop there with two huge collisions between the two boats in the pre-start doing nothing to help the tension between the two teams as they lined up for second attempt at their match race. Williams sailed the match with a noticeable hole in the starboard side. The resulting protest committee hearing for the damage caused resulted in Holmberg being deducted one point.

Swinton and his Black Swan Racing team delivered two of the more surprising results of the day Young Swinton is new to the international match racing circuit with his first major World Match Racing Tour event the King Edward VII Bermuda World Cup where he finished sixth. Today Swinton out matched tour leader Ian Williams and second placed Sébastien Col.

"It was definitely good to beat the two top-ranked guys. We have had lots of races when were in a good position to win and we made some really bad mistakes. It has really come down to experience, which we do lack compared to some of the other guys here. Compared to Bermuda, the boats here are similar to most of the other boats on the tour so everyone starts fairly evenly. It has come down to teamwork and experience,”
Swinton said.

After collisions with the committee boat from Ainslie (twice), Gilmour (once) and the wing umpire Principal Race Officer David Tallis said “I feel like I’ve done four rounds with Mohammed Ali today. It was an eventful day what with all the close racing and collisions it just didn’t stop.”

Win/Loss Record
Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Shosholoza 7 – 1
Adam Minoprio (NZL) Emirates Team New Zealand/Blackmatch Racing Team 6 – 1
Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team 6 – 2
Ian Williams (GBR) Team Pindar 4 - 3
Ben Ainslie (GBR) Team Origin 4 – 3
Sebastien Col (FRA) French Match Racing Team/K Challenge 4 – 3
Dato Peter Gilmour (AUS) Yanmar Racing 3 – 4
Magnus Holmberg (SWE) Victory Challenge 3* – 4
Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team/Team French Spirit 2 - 5
Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team 2 - 6
Keith Swinton (AUS) Black Swan Racing 2 – 6
Nurul Ain Bt Md Isa (MAS) Perak Sailing Team 0 - 7

* Deducted 1 point for damage

Watch the racing on the internet: http://www.sail.tv
Monsoon Cup website: http://www.monsooncup.my
WMRT 08 website: http://www.worldmatchracingtour.com/

WORLD MATCH RACING TOUR - MONSOON CUP 2008

CAUTIOUS PRE STARTS FOR HOT MONSOON CUP MATCH RACERS

The first day of the Monsoon Cup started with pomp and ceremony as the fourth edition of the Monsoon Cup was officially launched today in Terengganu, Malaysia.

On the water three flights were conducted in the late afternoon breeze with tactics and strategy the key factor in achieving success on a race course with challenging tidal conditions and shifting breezes.

In Flight 1 the toughest match was between Sebastien Col and Ben Ainslie. From the start Ainslie kept a tight cover on Col. On the last leg Col gybed to get into less current, but Ainslie still held the lead. Col then tried to use the left-hand side of the course to utilise the western river current successfully closing the gap between the boats. The finish was a heart-stopper as both boats slipped gently towards the finish with only a matter of half a boat length between them on the line.

In the other Flight 1 matches Nurul Ain raced against her mentor, Peter Gilmour. Even with good boat speed she found it tough to match the skills of Gilmour and his team. Gilmour played the highly favoured right-hand side of the course finally taking out the match about three boat lengths ahead of Nurul Ain. Keith Swinton raced Mathieu Richard with Richard winning by a comfortable margin.

“It was a pretty tough day today. We found the pre-starts against Richard really tough,” Swinton said.

Paolo Cian and Magnus Holmberg met in the final match of the flight. Cian held a comfortable lead throughout the match to finish first.

In Flight 2 Torvar Mirsky met Ben Ainslie. Mirksy started aggressively and found the breeze which took him around the course ahead of Ainslie. A decision to take the left-hand side of the course in last work of the match cost Ainslie as he sailed into a glassy patch. At the finish Mirsky finished over one minute ahead of Ainslie.

In the other Flight 2 matches Magnus Holmberg comfortably beat Keith Swinton, Paolo Cian beat Mathieu Richard and Sebastien Col beat Johnie Berntsson.

For Berntsson it was his first time racing the Monsoon Cup. “We are trying to learn conditions. It is pretty much what we expected, but we did not handle the situations as we should so this was a learning day for us and hopefully we will get better tomorrow,” Berntsson said after racing today.

Four matches were held in the last flight of the day with Ben Ainslie out-sailing Johnie Berntsson and young-gun Torvar Mirsky beating Mathieu Richard adding another second match to his results for the day. In the match between Sebastien Col and Adam Minoprio both struggled with the current in the pre-start with Col running into Minoprio's stern. At the finish Minoprio led Col by only a few boat lengths.

At one from one on the results Minoprio is happy with his day. “We had a tough race with Sebastien Col. He had just done two before us. We did all right.”

Col says his start against Minoprio was not his best as he was looking too much at the current. “In match racing, you need good starts,” Col said.

The toughest match of the day was between defending Monsoon Cup champion Ian Williams and his old foe Paolo Cian. Cian went into the match unbeaten in the regatta with two wins already to his name. Cian won the start with Williams squeezed under the start boat. A red flag penalty on the start did not deter Cian from hunting Williams around the course as the breeze softened and shifted. On the last leg Williams covered Cian gybe to gybe to win his first match in the 2008 Monsoon Cup.

There was clearly some difference of opinion on the incident between Williams and Cian on the start of their match.

“I thought the call was reasonably clear. We thought Paolo had gone through head to wind initially and we flew a flag which the umpires ‘greened’. I guess they considered Paolo had not gone through head to wind. And then later on he definitely did go through head to wind and we had to avoid him,” Williams said.

From Cian’s side he said “there was not a change of control. I was not very happy about the flag and then not very happy about the red flag. I think we were in the controlling position. After the penalty I think we were still in control so maybe it was an aggressive red penalty. You must take into account that this can happen. The way we came back into the race means we are sailing the boat really fast”.

Tomorrow is the second day of racing with the continuation of the round robin stage.

Monsoon Cup TV Coverage
Asia’s ESPN Star Sport telecast each night at 10.30pm highlights from the day’s racing.

Watch the racing on the internet: http://www.sail.tv
Monsoon Cup website: http://www.monsooncup.my
WMRT 08 website: http://www.worldmatchracingtour.com/

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