Monday 23 May 2011

FMJ Racing Win the Maritim Cup


FMJ Racing win the Maritim Cup in Helsinki. Supplied image.

by Will Tiller

After three days of racing in picturesque Finland we have won the Maritim Cup grade 2, topping the round robin with a score line of 9-1 and then taking out the semis and finals 2-0 and 3-0 respectively. The team put in a solid effort throughout the regatta to come away being only beaten once.

After finishing the round robin on top of the leader board we chose to race local sailor Robert Nyberg. We led from start to finish in both races to put us straight into the finals where we met Olli-Pekka Lumijärvi. In the finals we won the first two races with clean starts and accurate breeze calls but in the third we started slightly disadvantaged but after picking a couple of shifts we were leading by the top mark and we extended from there to win the regatta.

We have started the European leg of our tour with a solid win and hope to build on that going into Match Race Germany, the 2nd World Match Racing Tour event of the year, next week. The regatta starts Tuesday the 24th so look out for our reports and you can follow the racing at http://www.matchrace.de/ or the team website www.fmjracing.com

FINAL RESULTS

1. William Tiller (NZL)
2. Olli-Pekka Lumijärvi (FIN)
3. Nicolai Sehested (DEN)
4. Robert Nyberg (FIN)
5. David Chapman (AUS)
6. Mathieu Durand (FRA)
7. Joachim Aschenbrenner (DEN)
8. Jan Mattson (FIN)
9. Lauri Kääpä (FIN)
10. Leonid Vasiliev (USA)
11. Tuomas Riski (FIN)

We would like to thank our principal sponsor Chris Meads, SLAM and the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.

FMJ Racing is:
Will Tiller – Skipper
Brad Farrand - Tactician
Harry Thurston - Trimmer
Shaun Mason - Bow
Daniel Pooley
Jono Spurdle

FMJ Racing
Maritim Cup