Argo Group Gold Cup racing, Bermuda. Image copyright Subzero Images/WMRT.
by Reuben Corbett
Leaving the docks as the sun rose set the scene for day five of racing. We started off with a shifty northerly breeze coming over the buildings near the top of the course.The length of the course was restricted to around 500m by the width of Hamilton Harbour, these two factors meant that winning the start was crucial. We were up against Jesper Radich, 2002 Gold Cup Champion, in a first to 3 points quarterfinal. It was not a good morning for us with Jesper getting the better of us 3-0. This left us to fight for the minor placings.
In our match for 5th and 6th place we were paired with Adam Minoprio and the Black Match team, our start was even and we lead around the first two marks to then slip up on a couple of shift calls putting us too far behind to attack on the downwind leg. Now the best we could finish was 7th place. This match was against Torvar Mirsky, we started to leeward but not quite close enough to have any affect on him. We followed him around the top mark, made gains downwind and pressured him at the bottom mark, we then fake tacked to get out of phase and got to the favoured left side of the course. By the top mark we had a 5 boat length lead that we kept until the finish.
We ended up in 7th place for the World Match Racing Tours penultimate event the Argo Group Bermuda Gold Cup, it was not the start we were looking for but we have learnt a lot and are looking forward to the next event!
We would like to thank the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, family and friends for their ongoing support. We could not do it without you!
Black Sheep Racing
World Match Racing Tour
