Friday 11 June 2010

WMRT: MRT Fire Up on Day Two in Korea

After another tough day on the water, MRT come out on top with 4 wins, 3 losses


Torvar Mirsky. Korea Match Cup 2010. World Match Racing Tour. Gyeonggi, Korea. 9th June 2010. Image copyright Ian Roman/Subzero Images.

by Kinley Fowler

After a long delay with no wind keeping the teams ashore, MRT went out to take on Team Azzura, lead by Italy's America's Cup hopeful Francesco Bruni.

Both teams came out firing, eager to get some much needed points on the board, but it was MRT who came out on top with a penalty on Azzura off the start line, and a small lead which the Australian team extended on to take out their first win of the day.

The team then moved on to the French Match Racing Team's Mathieu Richard in another match that came down to the wire.

After being over at the start, MRT fought hard and won the lead on the upwind, only to let the French Match Racing Team gybe off to gain back the lead at the bottom mark, but with a faster rounding they were right back in the game for the second upwind. Keeping the game tight, MRT slowly made gains back on Richard and began to roll over the top of the French into the finish. In a last ditch attempt, Richard luffed his boat up to hit MRT, but missed. As MRT celebrated, the umpires gave them a penalty for not keeping clear, handing the race to Richard.

"We were really frustrated when we saw that they had given us the penalty, because we feel pretty strongly that it wasn't the right call. Having said that though, we made some mistakes that let Richard take the lead, so we are trying to focus on those points going into tomorrow." - Tudur Owen

Mirsky Racing Team
World Match Racing Tour