Fantastic coverage from Valencia Sailing here
MINOPRIO DEFEATS AINSLIE
ISAF Match Racing World Champion defeats triple Olympic Gold medallist
Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia(6 December, 2009) – The Monsoon Cup, the final event of the World Match Racing Tour, with MYR 1.57 millon (approxUS$454,000) prize money was sailed on the Pulau Duyong basin in Kuala Terengganu in Malaysia this week.
Yesterday Adam Minoprio and his ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing crew of Tom Powrie, David Swete, Nick Blackman and Dan McLean won the ISAF World Match Racing Championship on the way to the Monsoon Cup finals.
Today the new World Champion sailed against the legendary Ben Ainslie, 32 year old British sailor, three-time Olympic gold medallist and ISAF World Sailor of the Year in 1998, 2002 and 2008. Ainslie’s mainsheet hand is double Olympic Gold medallist Iain Percy and the balance of his crew Matt Cornwell, Christian Kamp and Mike Mottl are considered amongst the best in the world.
The drama started even before the pre-start when the New Zealand skipper Minoprio sailed out of the sailing area and ran aground. Crew member Dave Swete stripped to his shorts and went into the water to check the keel for damage and to clean off any of the river mud that may have stuck.
In the first match of the final, Minoprio entered on port but headed to the starboard end of the box and had the pre-start advantage.
Ainslie was over early and was penalized for failing to keep clear. Minoprio too was over early but was able to duck back while Ainslie almost stalled and was slow to get back.
Minoprio had a massive advantage; he was in the current and steaming around the top mark while Ainslie was 18 seconds behind. In a risky attempt to close the gap, at the bottom of the course Ainslie went right and sailed into softer air.
Minoprio extended on the left and headed for home with a massive ten boat length lead and crossed the finish line first.
Now all the pressure was on Ainslie and TeamOrigin.
Across the line Minoprio commented ‘A good race. We wanted the pin and we got it. We won’t be happy until its 3-0.
2009 ISAF MATCH RACING WORLD CHAMPION CROWNED
Adam Minoprio (NZL) and his ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing team win the ISAF Match Racing World Championship
Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia (5 December) – The 2009 ISAF Match Racing World Championship was at stake on morning four of the Monsoon Cup, the final round of the World Match Racing Tour in Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia.
When this regatta started Australian Torvar Mirsky and his Match Racing Team crew were number two ranked on the Tour leader board and 12 points behind New Zealander Adam Minoprio and his Emirates Team New Zealand BlackMatch Racing.
Mirsky was down 0-2 against the defending Monsoon Cup champion, America’s Cup and World Match Racing Tour veteran Peter Gilmour.
The maths showed that if Mirsky was eliminated in the Monsoon Cup quarter finals and Adam Minoprio was to win his battle with Mathieu Richard, Minoprio would become the World Match Racing Champion.
Entering the starting box Minoprio had his game face on… he nailed the start and was two lengths ahead on the left of the course.
Richard was on the right. The two boats came back fast with Richard having gained on the right. After contact at the top mark Minoprio was given a penalty; Richard a red flag, meaning he had to take an immediate penalty.
Minoprio extinguished his penalty and went on to win the match. Dockside the BlackMatch skipper was calm as he said ‘We were feeling the pressure a little before that last match. The current is very hard to read, its varying with the tide and there are swirls and eddies. You have to watch the match ahead of you to see who does best, left or right and then it might not mean much anyway.’
Mirsky beat Gilmour in the third race; the scoreline was now 1-2.
Mirsky had to win the next match in order to earn a fifth and final match that he would also need to win.
Peter Gilmour needed to win the match and then the Monsoon Cup in order to come second on the World Tour.
AINSLIE VERSUS MINOPRIO
Ben Ainslie (GBR) of Team Origin and recently crowned ISAF Match Racing World Champion Adam Minoprio (NZL) of ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing to meet at the Monsoon Cup final
Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia (5 December 2009) – It’s been a drama filled day of match racing at the Monsoon Cup, the final event of the World Match Racing Tour, being sailed on the Pulau Duyong basin in Kuala Terengganu in Malaysia.
Earlier today 24 year old Adam Minoprio and his ETNZ BlackMatch crew of Tom Powrie, David Swete, Nick Blackman and Dan McLean won the ISAF World Match Racing Championship.
With the quarter finals concluded, this afternoon in eight to twelve knots of breeze, the semi finals of the Monsoon Cup were sailed.
In one semi final Peter Gilmour, four time Match Racing World Champion and defending Monsoon Cup champion, was up against Adam Minoprio.
The ‘wiliest of wiley’ old foxes, 49 year old Gilmour figured that after the elation and excitement of winning the World Championship, the new champions might drop the ball. Gilmour only ever needs a sniff of a chance and he is often most dangerous when he just scrapes into the quarter finals.
But Minoprio and his BlackMatch Team went into their battle against Gilmour with the adrenalin pumping. A vigorous pre-start battle ensued, but the veteran champion received a red penalty and had to take it immediately after the start.
Perhaps the new World champion was not distracted after all. Minoprio led by over a minute after the first of three laps and then sailed away with the match.
The young Kiwis had their eyes on two very prestigious trophies coming into this final World Match Racing Tour event and they already had their hands on one.
In the next match, Minoprio was given a penalty in the pre-start and then made a hash of the final approach to the finish line, with the two boats colliding. Another penalty.
Chalk this match up to Gilmour and his YANMAR Racing crew.
Now 1-1, in the third match the two crews stalled in light air on the start line. Gilmour edged out away but Minoprio, with no speed drifted into the Race Committee boat, catching on the committee boat chain. He was rewarded with a penalty, certainly not the way he wanted to start such a crucial match.
Alinghi’s giant catamaran was out sailing again today after a brief stint ashore. The team left the dock at 10:00 and spent the day testing and training, returning at sundown.
Extended video footage from the team chase boat is available for Alinghi Friends.
Crunch time for the skippers is fast approaching as they will soon need to decide when to start heading north east towards Geraldton. If they go too soon they risk running into no wind in the high pressure system further north. If they go too late they may end up sailing a lot of extra miles, a decision which could prove unnecessarily costly if the high pressure system were to move further north.
Turning to port and heading north east was something that Spirit of Australia was unable to do for a short while this morning. A problem which had been caused by two pieces of the steering system, the rudder stock and the steering quadrant, coming out of alignment.
“As soon as it was noticed, our engineering team sprang into action,” says skipper Brendan Hall. “We stopped the boat dead in the water so they could re-align the two pieces. They have now been locked back together in such a way that should make it impossible for them to come out of alignment again.
“We’re not sore about losing the miles,” he adds. “That’s just ocean racing. We’ll get them back, don’t you worry!”
Team Finland’s kangaroo hunting has been relentless and the hour the Australian team took to re-align the steering system has enabled the Finnish entry to narrow the gap to just three nautical miles. Having made the decision to move south towards Spirit of Australia, the crew will be looking hard for any signs of the boat on the horizon.
Doesn’t Get Much Better!
We’ve had that messy sea and squally conditions for the last few days but the clouds and squalls have well and truly cleared out today, leaving Ella’s Pink Lady to fly along in picture perfect trade wind conditions. The trade winds are the name given to the band of steady south easterly winds in this part of the world but what the books don’t say is how lovely the sunshine is, how nice it is to have a steady breeze and how amazingly blue the water looks speckled with whitecaps. Maybe it’s just that I’m just in a particularly good mood and seeing everything through happy glasses but I don’t think it gets much better than this!
On the down side the south easterly trade winds are also a bit of a pain, because south east is exactly where I’d like to be going! We’ve been able to make some great progress south but we’re not getting anywhere when it comes to making ground to the east. Still nothing to worry about because as we go further south the wind will drop off and probably come from a bit of everywhere (this areas known as the variables or subtropics) before settling in from the west when we get down south to the roaring 40′s. Bob’s latest forecast gives us around another week on this course with similar conditions before we’re able to turn on to a more direct line to Cape Horn.
ISAF Announces Approval Of International Jury For The 33rd America’s Cup
David Tillett (r) is chairman of the Jury for the 33rd America’s Cup, whilst Bryan Willis (l) is also a Jury member
©Jonathan Drake/Getty Images
33rd America’s Cup
The International Sailing Federation (ISAF) today announced the ISAF approval for the appointment of the International Jury for the 33rd America’s Cup.
The 33rd America’s Cup Match is scheduled to be held in Valencia, Spain in February 2010 between the Société Nautique Genève of Switzerland and the Golden Gate Yacht Club of the United States of America.
The five-person International Jury will be:
more later, need to dig some holes in the garden
This post is tagged 33rd Americas Cup, Adam Minoprio, alinghi, Ben Ainslie, blackmatch, clipper, Dan McLean, David Swete, Jessica Watson, Nick Blackman, Tom Powrie, valencia sailing
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