Korea Match Cup qualifier boat. Image copyright Zoke Kiwi Match.
by Logan Fraser
Zoke Kiwi Match is back for our third attempt at the Korea Match Cup Qualifier this week hosted at the Jeongok Marina in the Gyeonggi Province. We're hoping to emulate our success of 2 years ago and qualify for the Korea Match Cup World Tour Event to be held in June. Once again the event has attracted an impressive line-up of international teams all vying for the big prize, a shot at the World Tour.
We arrive here in Korea feeling well prepared after a 4 day training camp in Hong Kong which has really helped to bring the team together. It was a great opportunity to work hard on boat handling and manoeuvres, and we were lucky enough to have perfect weather to help in our build up. We enjoyed the hospitality of the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club and the assistance of our friend and supporter Chin Yew who provided his Flying Tiger 10 for us to train on. The Flying Tiger was a good platform to base our training on as we move into the KM36 for this regatta.
Seven International teams have made the trek to Korea from all over the world; 2 teams from Australia, 1 from Russia, 1 from Japan and 3 from New Zealand. 5 local teams from Korea complete the field and demonstrate the growing interest in sailing in Korea and Asia.
The boats for the Korea Match Cup qualifier. Image copyright Zoke Kiwi Match.
The event here is run on KM36 type boats designed by New Zealander Brett Bakewell-White. They are great boats built locally here in Korea especially for the Korea Match Cup and were the first race boats to be built and sailed in the country. They are a stiff and powerful boat and are configured with a retractable bowsprit and genneker. With a large open cockpit the set-up is ideal for match racing, and even includes a cameraman spot instead of a conventional companionway, ideal for onboard footage. These are one of our favourite boats to sail on the international tour and we're looking forward to an action packed week.
More regatta information can be found on the event website www.koreamatchcup.com and we will try and update our progress on our website www.kiwimatch-sailing.com. Thanks again to Zoke for their ongoing support and of course all our friends and family.
Zoke Kiwi Match is Laurie Jury, Logan Fraser, Mike Edmonds, Jarl Borthwick and Jono Rankine.
Zoke Kiwi Match
