WMRT: Williams and Mirsky Dominate Day Two of Match Race Germany

The ISAF World Match Racing Tour Events Sustain the Passion of Sailors, Organisers and Fans


Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar wins his match against Peter Gilmour. Image copyright Gareth Cooke/Subzero Images.

by Cailah Leask

Lake Constance transformed itself today into a match racing idle on the second day of Match Race Germany, Stage 2 of the ISAF World Match Racing Tour (WMRT). As the clouds lifted, the sun shone down on the racing and the teams completed an impressive 9 flights. Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar, who started his 2010 Tour campaign here and Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team, dominated day 2 of the match race.

Meanwhile, Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team has kept up his consistent performance and is on level with Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing and Jesper Radich (DEN) Radich Racing Team. On these short courses the trend is for victors to take a slight lead from the start and then work to be in an established position in front by the top mark, maintaining this to the finish.

Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar, enjoyed day 2 of racing, “The breeze and the sun were back today and we had 5 straight wins so we are very pleased. The team kept relaxed today and we picked up the good shifts. I was leading into the top marks which made our position easier to defend than yesterday”.

Williams is definitely taking a different approach to this year’s campaign, “Match Race Germany is our first event on the ISAF World Match Racing Tour for 2010 and we are a little behind as we didn’t compete in Marseille. This year I am approaching the Tour in a more laid back fashion and keeping positive, we are planning on taking one event at a time which is something we haven’t done previously”.


Light breeze and sun on day two of Match Race Germany. Image copyright Gareth Cooke/Subzero Images.

Mirsky related day 2 through his eyes, “The day was better than we expected. We had 5-10 knots of breeze when we were only expecting 2-3 knots, so in that respect it was a good day. We are really emphasizing on preparing for our starts here because if you aren’t the team out in front following the start it can be hard to get ahead. They are fairly short courses here and in these light winds it is simpler to keep the lead if you have a strong start. We lost two starts today and lost two matches”.

Mirsky still had to contend with the ‘Master of the World Match Racing Tour’ Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing and today the Apprentice, Mirsky, was beaten “I said before the regatta that the tough competitor at this event would be Gilmour. He loves it here, the tricky wind conditions and the German built Bavaria 35 Match.

Gilmour was in fighting spirit as he hit the shore this afternoon saying, “From our point of view, we are in the early days of the regatta and are delighted to have beaten Mirsky today as he has been sailing very well with a good team. We often say that we start off slow and then we get a rumble on as things get going and we have done that today”.

“There are several teams sailing very well here in Langenargen. It comes down to strategy and handling close matches. You have to be cool under fire and, of course, the extra decade of added experience helps!” he added.

Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team, currently top on the Tour leader board after Match Race France, had a day of mixed fortunes. “We had a good morning winning both our matches. This afternoon we lost to Magnus Holmberg in our third match and our fourth match resulted in a protest against Jesper Radich which we lost”.

For many of the Tour Card Holders the sport of sailing is now their main occupation, having made the decision to pursue their passion and develop it into a career. The sailors rely on the water and the power of the racing world as their main source of income. With prize money for the 2010 Tour now valued at over US$1.5million, the rewards of being a winning skipper on this year’s circuit are significant.

Video Highlights of Match Race Germany 2010, Day 2


Day 2: Round Robin Result

Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar7-1
Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team6-2
Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team5-2
Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing5-2
Jesper Radich (DEN) Radich Racing Team5-2
Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing5-3
Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Italia3-5
Ian Ainslie (RSA) Team Proximo2-5
Magnus Holmberg (SWE) Victory Challenge2-5
Kathrin Kadelbach (GER) EWE Sailing Team2-6
Mads Ebler (DEN) Ebler Matchracing2-6
Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Gill Global Team1-6

Match Race Germany
World Match Racing Tour