Alpari World Match Racing Tour : Team Alpari FX runners up in Germany

Windy action at Match Race Germany - QF between Hansen and Minoprio, Race 4

by Dave Swete

After a fantastic week of sailing in Germany, dispatching Bjorn Hansen 3-2 in the quarterfinals and Mathieu Richard 3-1 in the semis, it all came down to one race in a shortened final due to lack of breeze on the last day of the regatta. Unfortunately for Team Alpari FX, it was defending World Champion Ian Williams and his GAC Pindar Team that took the victory, as the race committee did an excellent job to get even one race away. The British Skipper perhaps catching us off guard and doing an excellent job in the light conditions.

Ian Williams sent a pretty clear message to fellow Alpari World Match Racing competitors this past week, dominating the round robin and getting the edge on us in the final, however having been out of the game for a few years we are very happy with our performance in Germany. For a new team with a former World Champion and Top ISAF ranked Skipper who currently has a world ranking of 124, we are definitely satisfied with 2nd place and are hoping we can go one better in Korea next week.

With the majority of the team having a bit of R&R this week, Nick Blackman is managing to squeeze in a 52 Super Series event in Barcelona on the TP52 Gladiator and Maniac is sailing as Tactician on the newly launched Mini Maxi 72 Alegre.

Check out this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2dNOoPV4Og for some of the windy action we had last week. This was the final downwind of our must win 4th match against Bjorn Hansen.

Thank you for all your support and yet again we would like to thank our sponsors Alpari and Line 7 Events Clothing. Team Alpari FX are Adam Minoprio, Chris Main, Tom Powrie, David Swete and Nick Blackman. For more info please visit http://www.wmrt.com/ or follow us on twitter @TeamAlpariFX.