BlackMatch pushing Ben Ainslie. Image copyright Subzero Images/WMRT.
by David Swete
With one race left in our group today and the prospect of possibly qualifying directly through to the quarterfinals, a win over Ben Ainslie was needed but we failed to do this. As it happened Eric Monnin topped our group with 5 wins and 1 loss, while Ben Ainslie, Ourselves and fellow Kiwi Reuben Corbett were all tied on 4 wins 2 losses, with the young New Zealand team getting the nod to progress because of their win over the top qualifier Monnin.
The other confirmed quarterfinalists are Torvar Mirsky, Johnnie Berntsson, Jesper Radich and brilliant young talent Taylor Canfield, while the repechage series sees Ben Ainslie, Ian Williams, Bjorn Hansen, Alvaro Marinho, Phil Robertson and Us vying for the two remaining quarterfinal berths.
Our race against Ben Ainslie saw us slow off the start line which gave the Brit a slight advantage, while he capitalized on this around the track to take a convincing win. We were disappointed with how we approached this race in the light and shifty conditions that Hamilton Harbour dished up today and we improved on our mistakes in our first repechage race to take a clear win over Alvaro Marinho.
Although disappointed with not qualifying directly for the quarterfinals, we are definitely still in the regatta and will come out firing tomorrow. With regards to the overall World Match Racing Tour standings a very poor result this week from Mathieu Richard who failed to even qualify for the repechage, means that there are valuable points up for grabs and the chance to close the gap on the Frenchman’s lead. We will be doing our best to close this gap, but as it stands, it is looking like an awesome finale in Malaysia to decide this years World Tour Champion.
We would again like to say a special thank you to our sponsors FedEx Express and Events Clothing/Line 7. Owen Rutter from Events Clothing has supplied us with new sailing gear this season, keeping the boys looking very sharp. The ongoing support of our sponsors is helping make this opportunity possible for the BlackMatch boys and we would also like to thank Emirates Team New Zealand and Steinlager Pure.
BlackMatch is Adam Minoprio, Tom Powrie, Nick Blackman and David Swete.
BlackMatch Racing
World Match Racing Tour
