Danish Open: Full Metal Jacket Racing Report on Day 2

by Will Tiller

It was a better day for the boys on the second day at the Danish Open, with an onshore breeze ranging from 15 – 18kts the racing was very tough sailing at the top end of the number 1’s. After a huge day, hitting the water at 9 and not getting in till 6, completing eight races we are all exhausted but stoked with the four wins we managed today.

In our first race we lead from start to finish extending all the way around the course. Next up we were against Peter Gilmour, after an even start we protected the right up the beat and held a solid 2-3 boat length lead for the majority of the race. Going into the final run we choose not to symo gybe him, this gave him the left and he picked up the puff of the day. Within about 2 lengths of the line he just managed to roll us and take the win which was tough for us.

We had some very close racing in our next three matches against Tovar Mirsky, Ben Ainslie and Francesco Bruni, pushing them all hard at stages but we came out on the wrong side going down in each.

However we picked ourselves up from these loses to win our final three races, beating Bertrand Pace and Bjorn Hansen in some very exciting racing including double penalties, rig clashes and intense tacking duels.

We would like to say thanks to our principal sponsor Chris Meads from Full Metal Jacket, SLAM, Aon New Zealand and The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.

FMJ Racing is William Tiller, Harry Thurston, James Maloney, Jono Spurdle and Shaun Mason.

Full Metal Jacket Racing
World Match Racing Tour