WMRT: 2009 Monsoon Cup Preview

by Rob Kothe

The Monsoon Cup, the final event of the nine stage 2009 World Match Racing Tour, will commence on the Pulau Duyong Basin course in Kuala Terengganu on 2nd December and the stage is set for an epic battle.

Heavy monsoon rains have been falling in eastern Malaysia for the last week and today the World Tour's top match racing crews were on the water acclimatising to the conditions.

The leader of the 2009 Tour, New Zealander Adam Minoprio commented as he came ashore this afternoon 'We are set for a very challenging event this week and there is a lot at stake, the biggest prize money of any sailing event in the world (around US$450,000) and the 2009 World Match Racing Championship.

'Interesting times! With all this rain the river current is running pretty hard, so there will be a lot of current across the course. When the sea breeze is blowing the course is relatively predictable, but if its light or there are monsoon squalls as there have been today, this would be amongst the toughest courses on the World Match Tour.

'We are glad we had the Australia Cup practice event last week, we certainly needed more time in these boats (Foundation 36s) and we will really need to be on the top of our game to hold out Torvar Mirsky and his MRT Racing Team. The battle for podium placings is going to be exciting.'

The World Match Racing Tour's second ranked sailor, Australian Torvar Mirsky, stated 'On paper it seems simple enough, we are 12 points behind Adam. We'd like to win and have Adam finish fourth. But the reality is much harder than that, the standard is so high and so even that if any of us stumble, we can fall pretty hard. Last year here, we made it to the semi-finals and then Peter Gilmour knocked us out, before going on to win.

'Ian Williams or Mathieu Richard can take the World Tour crown too, so it's getting tense.'

Peter Gilmour, the defending Monsoon Cup champion commented, 'We are all in for an interesting week. It's a very strong field and a challenging course. We can't wait to get racing tomorrow.'

World Match Racing Tour Director Craig Mitchell summed up the situation this afternoon. 'With six crews in contention for podium places, the event is wide open. The points awarded in this deciding event are one and a half times that of regular tour events which means that with 150 points to be won, the World Match Racing Tour Championship is far from decided.'

2009 World Championship Standings

1. Adam Minoprio ETNZ/BlackMatch - 5/5 100
2. Torvar Mirsky Mirsky Racing Team - 5/5 88
3. Ian Williams Team Pindar - 5/5 75
4. Mathieu Richard French Team - 5/5 74
5. Peter Gilmour YANMAR Racing - 5/5 71
6 Ben Ainslie Team Origin - 3/5 65
7. Damien Iehl French Team - 4/5 48
8. Sebastien Col French Team - 5/5 41

As befits an event as significant as this, the 2009 Monsoon Cup will be seen by a giant television audience around the world. Full schedules will be provided tomorrow.

2009 Monsoon Cup Teams

TEAM Team Pindar
Skipper Ian Williams
Crew 1 Simon Shaw
Crew 2 Mark Nicholls
Crew 3 Richard Sydenham
Crew 4 Gerry Mitchell

TEAM French Match Racing Team
Skipper Damien Iehl
Crew 1 Fred Guilmin
Crew 2 Francois Verdier
Crew 3 Devan Le Bihan
Crew 4 Erwan Vanier

TEAM ALL4ONE
Skipper Sebastien Col
Crew 1 Erwan Israel
Crew 2 Jean Marie Dauris
Crew 3 Christian Scherrer
Crew 4 Gilles Favennec

TEAM WAKA Racing
Skipper Phil Robertson
Crew 1 Garth Ellingham
Crew 2 James Williamson
Crew 3 Sam Bell
Crew 4 Adam Martin

TEAM French Match Racing Team
Skipper Mathieu Richard
Crew 1 Greg Evrard
Crew 2 Olivier Herledant
Crew 3 Yannick Simon
Crew 4 Thierry Briend

TEAM Team ORIGIN
Skipper Ben Ainsle
Crew 1 Iain Percy
Crew 2 Matthew Cornwell
Crew 3 Christian Kamp
Crew 4 Mike Mottl

TEAM BlackMatch Racing
Skipper Adam Minoprio
Crew 1 Daniel McLean
Crew 2 Dave Swete
Crew 3 Tom Powrie
Crew 4 Nick Blackman

TEAM Yanmar Racing
Skipper Peter Gilmour
Crew 1 Yasuhiro Yaji
Crew 2 Thierry Doulliard
Crew 3 Cameron Dunn
Crew 4 Kazuhiko Sofuku

TEAM Mirsky Racing Team
Skipper Torvar Mirsky
Crew 1 Tudur Owen
Crew 2 Kyle Langford
Crew 3 Graeme Spence
Crew 4 Kinley Fowler

TEAM Taring Pelangi
Skipper Hazwan Hazim
Crew 1 Syed Syahmi
Crew 2 Mohd Rezaki
Crew 3 Mohd Shahrizal
Crew 4 Mohd Saifullah

TEAM Victory Challenge
Skipper Magnus Holmberg
Crew 1 Sten Mohr
Crew 2 Johan Barhe
Crew 3 Mikkel Rossberg
Crew 4 Jann Neergaard

TEAM Team Azzurra
Skipper Francesco Bruni
Crew 1 Pietro Mantovani
Crew 2 Benjamin Durham
Crew 3 Pierluigi de Felice
Crew 4 Matteo Auguadro

Monsoon Cup