Sunday 31 May 2009

WMRT: Richard Breezes Through As Scores Close Up After Day Two


Mirsky Racing Team in action on Lake Constance/Bodensee. Supplied image.

by Kyle Langford, Mirsky Racing Team

A tough day at Match Race Germany saw variable conditions, collisions and the scoreboard close up as the event moves towards its final stages.

This morning's races saw near impossible conditions, with extreme shifts of up to 50 degrees and dramatic changes in pressure, making it hard for both competitors and race organisers alike. We faced defending champion Damien Iehl in the first match of the day. We won the prestart, but lost our advantage when Iehl picked up a large shift and sailed straight past us. It was a similar story against Iehl's French Match Racing teammate Sebastian Col in the next race, who managed to gain a marginal lead off the line, and maintained it throughout the race to win comfotably.

We spent the next few hours ashore refocusing and analysing our previous races whilst the other group completed their races.

For the afternoon session we stepped on to face Team Origin skippered by Ben Ainslie, and managed to link a few shifts together to comfortably defeat Team Origin. Unfortunately we did not execute our plans in the shifty conditions for the 2 remaining races of the day, and finished the day with 1 win from 5 races.

Tomorrow we will need to secure victories over Blackmatch (Adam Minopro), Bahrain Team Pindar (Ian Williams) and current round robin leader Mattheui Richard and his French Match Racing Team to advance through to the next stage of the event - a tough, yet achievable task.

A special thanks to Line7, Harken and the Royal Perth Yacht Club for their support.

Results
Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Team 7-1
Francesco Bruni (ITA) Team Joe Fly 6.5-1
Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing 5.66-2
Ian Williams (GBR) Bahrain Team Pindar 5-3
Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing 4-4
Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Team Onboard 4-4
Sébastien Col (FRA) French Team/K-Challenge 4-4
Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team 3-5
Ben Ainslie (GBR) Team Origin 3-5
Damien Iehl (FRA) French Team 2.33-5
Eric Monnin (SUI) Team Search.ch 2-6
Carsten Kemmling (GER) 0-8

Mirsky Racing Team
World Match Racing Tour

No comments: