Ian Williams at the Portugal Matgch Cup in 2009. Image copyright Wander Roberto.
by Jo Gawith
Team GAC Pindar’s World Match Racing sailor, Ian Williams, returns to European waters this week for the Portimão Portugal Match Cup - Stage 4 of the ISAF World Match Racing Tour.
This year’s Portuguese Tour event will take place at the Marina de Portimâo, on the Algarve, following a new three-year venue agreement. The racing begins on Wednesday 23 June, where a total of 12 crews, including 8 of the current top 10 sailors in the official ISAF rankings, will battle it out for a share of the US $60,000 prize purse. Crews will race on the Tour’s SM40 match-racing boats, which were specially developed by Swedish designer, Pelle Petterson.
Williams and his Team GAC Pindar crew arrive in Portugal in good form, following a second place finish at the Korea Match Cup earlier this month, which boosted their Tour ranking from eighth to third place, despite having competed in just two of the three events. Mathieu Richard (French Match Racing Team) has secured a 26 point lead over his rivals and is clearly proving the skipper to beat this season. He heads the leader board on 65 points, followed by Adam Minoprio (Blackmatch Racing) on 39 points and Ian Williams (Team GAC Pindar) on 30 points.
Ian Williams at the Portugal Matgch Cup in 2009. Image copyright Wander Roberto.
Speaking from Portugal. Williams commented “I’m really pleased with how the team has performed so far this year. We topped the round robin stages in both Germany and Korea, so certainly seem to be sailing consistently, however it’s the knock out stages that really count. It promises to be a great week and we are particularly excited about racing at the new venue in Portimão.”
Portimão is the biggest town in the western Algarve and has played host to other major sailing events including the Audi Med Cup and the Portimão Global Ocean Race. The Portimão Portugal Junior Cup is also set to take place this week (23-25 June) followed by the Portimão Portugal Women’s Cup (30 Jun – 3 Jul), offering plenty of action for the spectators to enjoy.
Williams will be joined by his brother, Mark, who replaces Mark Nicholls on the crew for this week’s event. Team GAC Pindar: Ian Williams (Skipper), Mark Williams, Simon Shaw, Richard Sydenham and Mal Parker.
About the World Match Racing Tour
The World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) is the leading professional sailing series featuring 10 World Championship events across the globe, sanctioned by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) with “Special Event” status.
The World Tour awards over US$1.5million in prize money with points awarded at each event culminating in the crowning of the “ISAF Match Racing World Champion”. In addition, an incentive to compete in the world’s premier sailing series just got bigger. A US$250,000 overall prize pool for the top nine teams with a $50,000 bonus for the outright winner of next year’s World Match Racing Tour is now on offer.
Events utilise the same “match race” format used in the America’s Cup with racing taking place in identically supplied racing yachts which places a focuses on team work and skill. Racing takes place close to the shore for the general public to follow the races as virtual on-the-water stadiums.
Media and television highlights coverage reaches over 600 million households in excess of 100 countries around the world.
World Match Racing Tour calendar 2010
Stage Date Event Location Teams Boats
1) Apr 6 - 11 Match Race France Marseille, France 12 J80
2) May 19 - 24 Match Race Germany Langenargen, Germany 12 Bavaria 36
3) June 8 - 13 Korea Match Cup Gyeonggi, Korea 12 KM36
4) June 22 - 27 Portimão Portugal Match Cup Portimão, Algarve 12 SM40
5) Jul 5 - 11 STENA Match Cup Sweden Marstrand, Sweden 12 DS37
6) Aug 31 - Sept 5 St Moritz Match Race St Moritz, Switzerland 12 BLU26
7) Sep 8 - 12 Danish Open Bornholm, Denmark 12 DS37
8) Oct 4 - 10 Argo Group Gold Cup Hamilton, Bermuda 24 IOD
9) Oct 19-25 Qingdao Match Cup Qingdao, China 12 Beneteau First 40
10) Nov 30 - Dec 5 Monsoon Cup K.Terengganu, Malaysia 12 F36
Overall World Match Racing Tour Standings (after 3 of 10 events)
1. Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Team 65pts
2. Adam Minoprio (NZL) Blackmatch Racing 39pts
3. Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar 30pts
4. Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team 28pts
5. Francesco Bruni (ITA) Azzurra Paolo Cian 23pts
6. Ben Ainslie (GBR) Team Origin 20pts
=6. Jesper Radich (DEN) Radich Racing Team 20pts
7. Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing 18pts
WMRT Scoring regulations
- There are 100 points allocated to the top 8 places at every World Tour event except for the final event ( 2010 Monsoon Cup) which offers 150 points to the top 8 places.
- Skippers will count their best 5 scores plus points earned at the final event of the season.
- The skipper with the highest score at the end of the season will be recognized as the ISAF Match Racing World Champion.
Team GAC Pindar
World Match Racing Tour
