Tuesday 2 June 2009

WMRT: MRT Falls Short as Ainslie Takes Out Germany


Mirsky Racing Team take on BlackMatch Racing at the 2008 Korea Match Cup. Image copyright Chris Cameron/World Match Racing Tour.

by Kinley Fowler, Mirsky Racing Team

Fickle winds, new boats and a new venue for the Mirsky Racing Team saw them finishing in 10th place at Match Race Germany earlier this week. Although it was a disappointing result for the young team who went into the event seeded in 4th place, a short debrief and an early flight to Korea has got them pumped up for the Korea Match Cup starting tomorrow morning.

As a team, MRT excel in manipulating the boats to generate as much speed out of situations where most teams are slow, but with Match Race Germany being raced in Bavaria’s designed for cruising, their advantage was taken away. This has opened their eyes to the need for improving this style of sailing in order to become the world’s best match racers.

For now however, the team has shifted their focus onto the Korea Match Cup, which is expecting to play host to 400,000 spectators over the 5 days. 12 teams are competing for the biggest prize pool of 300,000 Korean Won, including Ben Ainslie who only won Match Race Germany today. Laurie Jury from New Zealand qualified for the event 2 weeks ago, and could prove to be a threat after spending a week in the tough venue, with tides up to 4 metres.

A special thanks to Line7, Harken and the Royal Perth Yacht Club for their support.

FINAL RESULTS FOR MATCH RACE GERMANY

1st Ben Ainslie (GBR) Team Origin
2nd Damien Iehl (FRA) French Match Racing Team
3rd Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing
4th Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team
5th Ian Williams (GBR) Bahrain Team Pindar
6th Francesco Bruni (ITA) Joe Fly Match Race
7th Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing
8th Sébastien Col (FRA) French Match Racing Team/K-Challenge
9th Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Team Onboard
10th Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing
11th Eric Monnin (SUI) Team Search.ch
12th Carsten Kemmling (GER)

Mirsky Racing Team
World Match Racing Tour

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