Annual Season Review 2010 by WORLD MATCH RACING TOUR

WORLD MATCH RACING TOUR

2010

CONTENTS 6 Picture perfect – WMRT photographers

58 Mathieu Richards

9 A vision for the future – from Patrick Lim

62 Ian Williams

10 The history of match racing

66 Match Race France

22 Bold new era

76 Match Race Germany

24 2010 Tour Heroes

86 Korea Match Cup

26 Ben Ainslie

96 Portimão Portugal Match Cup

30 Francesco Bruni

106 STENA Match Cup Sweden

34 Peter Gilmour

116 St Moritz Match Race

38 Björn Hansen

126 Danish Open

42 Adam Minoprio

136 Argo Group Gold Cup

46 Torvar Mirsky

146 Monsoon Cup

50 Bertrand Pacé

156 World Match Racing Tour in numbers

Editorial contributors Mark Chisnell Richard Bundy Capitalize Ltd Photography Subzero Images Myimage.ch Chris Davies John Roberson Photography Gordon Smith Photography (Denmark) Design & Production Tobias Little, Capitalize Ltd

Copyright © 2011 Pro Match Tour Ltd ISBN 978-1-61364-411-9 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

54 Jesper Radich

Picture perfect

ith match racing pitching crews against one another in fiercely fought close combat racing, the clash of the world’s best skippers battling it out on the Tour provides a wealth of high octane action images over the course of a season. Couple this with the stunning back-drops around the globe on which the drama of the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) is played out and you have a recipe for a feast of spectacular images which tell the story of the 2010 WMRT. With WMRT working with a selection of leading sailing photographers, the following pages give a vivid account of the thrilling 2010 season and all the extra activities that go into making WMRT the world’s best sailing series.

GARETH COOKE SUBZERO IMAGES

LORIS VON SIEBENTHAL MYIMAGE.CH

IAN ROMAN ©IAN ROMAN

Having started working as a photographer in the late 1990s Gareth took a break to ‘go sailing’, taking part in the Volvo Ocean Race in 2001/02 and again in 2005/06. With two races under his belt Gareth settled back on dry land and founded Subzero Images. “For me match racing is so interesting as a photographer as it’s more confrontational than regular sailing. It’s not the classical, romantic, beautiful sailing, there is more of an element of combat one on one. Hence the real action in match racing is the people and crews. As a photographer you also need to anticipate a lot more with match racing.” With the 2010 series going down to the final day of the final regatta, Ben Ainslie’s triumph in Malaysia stands out as special memory for the New Zealander, “The drama at the Monsoon Cup has to be the best memory. Defending champions capitulating, the series leader faltering, and the world’s best sailor coming in with the knock-out punch to win the title. All at an event that has the capacity to take advantage of all the dramas.”

A professional photographer since 2001, Loris has worked on a wide variety of sailing events, while also finding time to compete in the occasional event on the WMRT himself as part of Eric Monnin’s Oklays-Corum team. Explaining his fascination with match racing Loris said, “In a usual sailing competition, all teams have to sail the best they can. In a match race they just need to beat their rivals and what’s more they are all evenly matched as they have the same boats. “This head to head nature of match racing also makes it a psychology fight. It’s great for a photographer to be able to take pictures of this emotional side and show the public how intense the racing is.” For Loris STENA Match Cup Sweden is a particular favourite, “I was impressed by the location in Marstrand. The place is a natural amphitheatre of rock which looks as if it was specially designed for match racing. Also there’s a fantastic crowd who really understand the racing.”.

A professional photographer for the last five years Ian Roman has established a reputation as one of the best sailing photographers in the business. Having worked on the America’s Cup in 2007 Ian is experienced at capturing the drama and beauty of match racing. “For me the beauty of match racing is its purity, its two sailors pitting their sites against each other,” said Roman. “A standout memory for me from the Tour is the beauty of St Moritz in the summer. It is reminiscent of the times in the late 1800s when people would leave the cities and holiday in the Alps to take the air.”

A vision for the future

t is hard to imagine a more exciting sporting series than the 2010 World Match Racing Tour; in 30-odd days of one-on-one racing, in nine regattas over nine months, there was not a day that didn’t involve us in a white-knuckle ride of tight finishes, controversial penalties, emotionally charged protests, collisions and bluff and counter-bluff. The sheer quality of the skippers and teams taking part in WMRT 2010 would have been enough to confirm our position at the pinnacle of spectator sport, but the efforts put in by the venues lifted the event to an even higher level – not just sport for the connoisseur, but fantastic entertainment for all the family. We could not have scripted the culmination of the series in Malaysia – no one would have believed it. To go into the final with five skippers and their teams in with a chance of carrying off the championship was just great and to have Ben Ainslie, lying a remote third at the start, storm through and win both the Match Racing World Championship and the Monsoon Cup was simply sensational. Many congratulations to Ben and his team.

If the performances of all our competitors during 2010 had not confirmed the Tour as leaders in the field of monohull match racing – which I think they clearly did – the decision by the America’s Cup holders to compete for the trophy in vast multihulls confirmed WMRT’s position as the leading series at the pinnacle of the sport of match racing. For exciting, closely fought racing, there is only one Tour to follow. However, we are not about to rest on our laurels. Progress is essential in an ever-changing world and there are great innovations on the way, with new venues to be announced for 2013, new boat designs that are being unveiled this year and a new digital communications platform which will enable us to engage with greater numbers of fans all around the world than ever before. Couple in some exciting new Tour Card Holders to add to the mix for 2011 and we have a mouth-watering cocktail of action and excitement for you. So welcome to them and thanks to all of those who made 2010 such a success – I hope you enjoy the 2011 season as much as we will. Patrick Lim WMRT Executive Chairman

The history of match racing 10

ne against one, head to head, you versus me, a struggle between two contestants culminating in one leaving in triumph and the other in disappointment. It is the simplest and oldest form of competition known to man and perfectly exemplified on the yachting racecourse. The success of the World Match Racing Tour is a tribute to the fact that, in spite of the sophistication of the technology and the finetuning of the rules of competition, the races are just races; first across the line comes first, and second – well, as the unnamed courtier is reported to have answered Queen Victoria’s question on the day of the first America’s Cup, “Your Majesty, there is no second.” It is the America’s Cup that is generally credited with the foundation of match racing, but it began a long time before that. In some form or other, there has been match racing as long as there has been sailing but, in the western world at least, one-on-one racing seems to have started in Holland in the 17th century and been brought to England by none other than King Charles II, the Merrie Monarch. Charles was a devoted and habitual sailor and, while living in exile in Bruges, he discovered the joys of yachting. The jaght (derived from the middle low German “jachtschiff” or hunting ship) was a fast sailing boat, largely used for the pursuit of pirates in shallow waters, but also for recreation, and they provided a welcome break for the beleaguered and impoverished king. In 1660, the year of his restoration, Charles commissioned a new 100-ton yacht, Catherine, from Phineas Pitt, of Deptford. At the same time, James, Duke of York, took delivery of Anne, another

100-tonner, and the brothers raced from Greenwich to Gravesend and back for a purse of 100 guineas, with the Duke leading at the windward mark but the king overhauling him on the run home. Racing on the Thames continued as an aristocratic pursuit over the next hundred years, and was formalised in 1775 by the Duke of Cumberland, brother of King George III, who formed the Cumberland Fleet. The Fleet’s first recorded race was held in July 1775, for a silver cup – the first Cumberland Cup – put up by the Duke. Over the next seven years, the Cumberland Fleet held annual races for its members, who competed for further Cumberland Cups. In those days, these trophies were won outright and became the property of their winners and, while the original 1775 Cup was destroyed in a fire, the cups of 1776, 1777, 1780, 1781 and 1782 have over the years all been traced and recovered. They are now displayed in the entrance hall at 60 Knightsbridge, the present clubhouse in London of the Cumberland Fleet, now the Royal Thames Yacht Club and, perhaps coincidentally, the home club of Ben Ainslie, ISAF Match Racing World Champion of 2010. In North America, the development of yacht racing was remarkably similar, finding its origins with the Dutch in New York in the 17th century and continuing unabated when the British took over. The first official yachting association was the Detroit Boat Club, founded in 1839, five years ahead of John C Stevens’ foundation of the New York Yacht Club. Match racing still flourishes at the Detroit Boat Club, where the onedesign of choice is the Flying Scot, designed in 1957 by Gordon K “Sandy” Douglass.

12 A

Two of the original Cumberland Cups of the late 1770s and early 1780s which marked the formalisation of racing.

13 B

Racing in the Thames Estuary for the Cumberland Cup.

13 C

The first ever America’s Cup.

14 A

C. Sheman Hoyt, winner of the first ever King Edward VII Gold Cup in Bermuda.

14 B

Peter Gilmour battles with Chris Dickson, winner of three of the first four Match Racing World Championships.

15 C

The first ever Match Racing World Championships in 1988 in Feemantle which were won by Chris Dickson.

15 D

Already synonymous with the King Edward VII Cup, Bermuda played host to The Match Racing World Championships of 1991.

Although the America’s Cup is often cited as the archetype of match racing, the impression created by this is very misleading. The basic tenet of match racing is the ‘level playing field’, resulting in the only difference between the competitors, as far as it is possible to ensure, being the human element, whether strategic, tactical or physical (but not numerical). Thus the boats being employed in a match should be complete one-designs; totally interchangeable. This, over the 160-year history of the America’s Cup, has only really been the case for a very brief period. The America’s Cup has always been a competition of deep pocketed owners attempting to design, build and sail a yacht that is capable of beating their competitor’s. Things have not always gone to plan however which has resulted in protracted legal disputes with sometimes acrimonious outcomes. The principle of one-design racing came about partly because of the search for a level playing field, but mostly because of the escalating expense of the existing ‘Class’ system, which was based on mathematical formulae. This allowed for design development and the frequent building of new boats, providing employment for designers, builders and sail-makers but also led to yachts being outclassed after a few seasons. The first one-design was created by Thomas Middleton of the Shankill Corinthian Club, situated 10 miles south of Dublin, in 1887. The onedesigns he proposed, a class of double ended open dinghies of simple clinker-built pine construction with a lifting boiler plate, were know as Water Wags and can still be found racing in Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin.

If the lack of conformity was proving expensive for the dinghy sailor, then the America’s Cup was careering completely out of control; boats just got bigger and bigger and more and more expensive. Looking at them now, it is hard to believe that the J-Class was introduced to the America’s Cup primarily because it was affordable – the rich didn’t want to look rich during the depression – but compared to the behemoths that would undoubtedly have appeared had they not been chosen in 1929, the Js were positively bargainbasement stuff. The Js campaigned until 1937, to be succeeded in 1958 (there was a 20 year hiatus in Cup activity during and after World War II) by the 12-metre Rule. These two classes of boats were more nearly identical than anything that had preceded them, but they constantly incorporated innovations that gave one team a major advantage – most famously with the winged keel of Australia II in 1983 – and the individual design of the boat was then – and remains – the most significant factor in the America’s Cup. Apart from two venerable competitions on the Great Lakes, the Richardson Trophy and the Canada Cup, prior to the 1960s, there was only one regular match-racing event on the yachting calendar, the King Edward VII Gold Cup, sailed for annually at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club. It was given at the TriCentenary Regatta at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1907 by King Edward VII in commemoration of the 300th Anniversary of the first permanent settlement in America. C. Sherman Hoyt won the regatta and was the first to accept the now historic cup.

After three decades of holding the Cup, Mr. Hoyt gave it to the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club and proposed a regular one-on-one match race series in 6-metre yachts. In his letter he expressed the propriety of “my returning a British Royal trophy to the custody of your club, with its long record of clean sportsmanship and keenly contested races between your Bermuda yachts and ours of Long Island Sound, and elsewhere...”. The first winner of the Cup in its new format was the celebrated Briggs Cunningham, who was also the first skipper to win the America’s Cup in a 12-Metre. The club placed the Cup in competition in 1956 for match racing in yachts of the International One Design Class. Bert Darrell had the honour of being first to defend the Cup in this class and won it a total of six times. By winning his seventh championship in 2004, Russell Coutts surpassed Darrell to become the event’s all-time winner. In spite of the introduction of two new match racing regattas to join the Gold Cup, the Congressional Cup, at Long Beach, California in 1964 and the Royal Lymington Cup in the Solent in the following year, one-on-one boat racing, just like the America’s Cup, remained very much an elite sport. Racing was still the preserve of the established yacht clubs and the governing rules of racing precluded any intrusion by recent innovations such as television or the mood of the populace. The three match racing competitions, Bermuda, Congressional and Lymington, survived through the ’70s, while similar events emerged across the world and, for the most part, died again. It became increasingly obvious that, as with every other sport, the age of the professional had arrived and, if match racing were to survive in a global environment, some radical changes needed to be made.

The public’s appetite was for instant sporting events with instant results, racing that was understandable and televisual. The America’s Cup in Fremantle in 1987, when whole nights were spent in the protest room, brought to a head the problem with the way sailing was still being run in a world where instant gratification was the norm. It was simply not good enough to have the facilities to broadcast the spectacle of live yachting and then to have to wait several hours for the result. The idea of umpiring on the water, with instant protests and penalties, was tried out with success at a Maxi regatta in Newport Rhode Island later in 1987 and then adopted for the 1988 Congressional Cup, won by Peter Gilmour* – not only did the umpiring work, it added to the spectacle. The following year, the World Championship of Match Race Sailing at Lymington (won by Chris Dickson) used the same system (the term “Match Racing” was not yet formally used), and the International Yacht Racing Union (renamed ISAF in 1996) set up a classification system for match racing. And they were off! Now that the sport was comprehensible, the sponsors moved in and, now that the sport was sponsored, the stars began to emerge. Match racing moved the sailing hero into the public domain; from being an anonymous figure in a blazer, closeted in an exclusive yacht club, he became one of us. The World Match Racing Conference, created in 1985, moved sailing from the yacht club bar into the beer tent – sailing became ‘street’. In 1985, the average person would have heard of Dennis Conner and maybe John Bertrand, but hardly anyone else; now there was a whole new range of sailing celebrities about to enter the public consciousness.

16 A

The America’s Cup in Freemantle in 1987, where whole nights were spent in the protest room, proved to be the catalyst for the revolutionary development of on water umpiring.

16 B

No-one has been more dominant in Bermuda than Russell Coutts, winner of the Argo Group Gold Cup a record 7 times.

17 C

Peter Gilmour celebrates victory in Bermuda in 1995.

18 A

Chris Dickson celebrates his second consecutive World Championship in 1989.

19 B

From left to right: Match Racing legends Peter Holmberg, Dennis Conner, Ed Baird and James Spithill.

19 C

One of the greatest match racers of all time, Russell Coutts celebrates winning the 1993 World Championship.

The Match Racing World Championship, a single, rolling venue regatta until 2006, was first held in 1988, in Fremantle, and was won by Chris Dickson of New Zealand, who went on to win the next year in Lymington and in Bermuda in 1991. Australian Peter Gilmour won in 1990, ’97 and ’98 in New Zealand, Sweden and Japan and Kiwi Russell Coutts in Australia, the US and Croatia in ’92, ’93 and ’96. American Ed Baird triumphed in 1995 in Auckland, in 2003 in Italy and 2004 in Russia; Frenchman Bertrand Pacé, in 1994, Jesper Bank of Denmark, in 1999, Poland’s Karol Jablonski in 2002 and Australian James Spithill in 2005 were the other winners before the World Match Racing Tour took over. Match racing received a tremendous fillip in 1995, when a sponsorship deal was brokered by Scott MacLeod, the eminence grise of the World Match Racing Association, with the cosmetics manufacturer Fabergé, under the title of Brut by Fabergé. Brut’s sponsorship ran for two years and comprised the match racing regattas at Bermuda, San Francisco, New York and Lymington, as well as the Brut Cup of France. Brut produced a cash prize of $250,000 for the overall winner, the highest prize yet awarded in any form of sailing, with a very lucrative ancillary prize pool to go with it. To win the big prize – and the ‘Fabergé Egg’ – a competitor had to win three of the five races; in 1997, Russell Coutts’ Team Magic won them all. Brut had raised the bar for the sport, but left it abruptly and in something of a state of limbo. The three years between Brut leaving and Swedish

Match taking over represent something of the Dark Ages in World Match Racing, with the events continuing independently against a backdrop of internal disputes. By this time, product managers and venues had come to appreciate the efficacy of sponsoring and hosting events, giving birth to such occasions as the Hoya Royal Lymington Cup and the ACI Cup of Croatia, but the cohesion of the world tour was lost until 2000, when negotiations were completed with Swedish Match, who had been sponsoring the event in Sweden since 1996 and were just coming out of a Whitbread Round-the-World sponsorship. “In 1998-99 we began creating the Swedish Match Tour,” says Scott MacLeod. “Swedish Match had been sponsoring the event in Marstrand since ’96 and had just finished the Whitbread. They were looking for something else; we were looking for a way to bring everybody back together and it needed to be structured in such a way that nobody could screw around with it, basically. “We wanted to keep it at nine or ten events and build up the quality. We wanted the top sailors who sowed the seed for the sponsorship, but always with room for the up-and-coming guys to have a shot. This came from when we started Bermuda in 1989, when it was always about qualifiers and letting them have a shot at the big boys. “A lot of guys came through that system,” Scott goes on. “Ed Baird, Peter Holmberg. James Spithill – I remember James Spithill’s dad calling me up and saying could we get a spot for him in Bermuda. They obviously proved themselves once we got them in there.”

In addition to more than $800,000 in individual event prize money, the Swedish Match Tour awarded $200,000 to the top eight sailors on the Tour, with the first-place skipper netting $60,000. The Swedish Match Tour produced an annual 155 hours of television coverage reaching more than 426 million households worldwide. In 2006, the Swedish Match Tour became the World Match Racing Tour, a cohesive, worldwide competition held at nine venues and incorporating a World Championship, sanctioned by ISAF. Since its inception, WMRT has constantly been evolving and improving and the latest chapter has been the development of Asian participation in the circuit. In 2005, the inaugural Monsoon Cup, held in Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia, was the 50th event of the Swedish Match Tour and it has proceeded, over the next five years, to become the jewel in the crown of the World Match Race Tour, being the culminating race of the year and carrying decisive points towards the Championship. Much of the credit for the creation of the Monsoon Cup goes to Malaysian Prime Minister at the time, Dato’ Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who decided, while on a fishing trip to Kuala Terengganu, that the monsoon season should be used as an advantage to the state and his people rather than being seen as a hurdle. The economic objectives included making the Monsoon Cup a catalyst for development in the state and creating economic opportunities in services and manufacturing sectors related to the event. Among them are hotels, tourism, restaurants, boat-building, food supplies, textiles and souvenirs. The Monsoon Cup has turned the event venue, Pulau Duyong at the mouth of Terengganu River, from a sleepy fishing and boat-making village into modern and internationalclass resort and marina.

The success of the Monsoon Cup, sailed in Foundation 36s, from Western Australia, has led to the ignition of tremendous interest in match racing throughout Asia and the inauguration, in 2008, of a further WMRT event, the Korea Match Cup. Besides having a shoreside venue located in a brand-new marina complex 70 km south of Seoul on Korea’s west coast, the Korea Match Cup has also invested in a fleet of new KM 36s built locally in Hwaseong City by Advanced Marine Tech. The boats are the first racing yacht to be built and sailed in Korea, with a match-race version produced for this event and a subsequent racer/cruiser edition planned for export. Besides having a centreline retracting carbon bowsprit and asymmetric spinnakers, a unique feature of this match racing version is the addition of a cameraman’s cupola in the deck where there would usually be the main companionway: onboard cameramen are thus in a perfect position to capture the all the action up close. At the opening ceremony for the 2010 event, together with the Korean International Boat Show, the governor of Gyeonggi province, said: “The ISAF World Match Racing Tour has inspired the people of Gyeonggi, it is one of Korea’s largest annual sporting events and is a powerful event for this region. It is rewarding to host such a high calibre set of sailors and will continue to create young talent for South Korea’s next generation of sailing sport enthusiasts.” Some 350 years on since King Charles II took part in the first ever recorded match race the sport is in a stronger and healthier position than ever before. With new boat designs, new venues and ever more competitive skippers and crews the World Match Racing Tour presents the most accessible and competitive monohull racing the world has ever seen.

20 A

Great rivals Peter Gilmour and Russell Coutts lock horns at the Monsoon Cup in Malaysia, the flagship event of the World Match Racing Tour.

20 B

No form of sailing is closer than match racing as shown by Chris Dickson and Bertrand Pacé.

21 C

Gilmour and Coutts give no quarter in Bermuda.

21 D

2010 ISAF Match Racing World Champion, Ben Ainslie.

Bold New Era

ollowing the phenomenal success of the 2010 season, the World Match Racing Tour is really gathering impetus to change, to improve and to innovate. Nothing stays successful by standing still and WMRT is constantly questing to please its public and to broaden its appeal. Without doubt, the most important innovation of the last year was the appointment of the new CEO, Jim O’Toole, in July 2010. With a 20-year history of working in sports marketing and management, Jim’s consultancy clients have included such global brands and rights holders as Moneygram International, Manchester United FC, FIFA, Williams F1, AIG and Vodafone but his most closely related experience has been as CEO of the Powerboat P1 World Championship. When asked what first impressed him with the sport, Jim unhesitatingly replies that it is the “robust sporting integrity”. “It’s been compared to all sorts of things, like a cross between chess and boxing, but it is a straight contest between two teams, manoeuvring all their equipment and attempting to manoeuvre their opponents – and the winding up is fantastic! “And the overall qualities of the competitors – the athletes. Look at Torvar Mirsky, for instance: he’s 24 years old and he’s a competitor and athlete, sure, but he’s also the chief executive of a multinational company. He manages an international team; he manages finance in multiple currencies and tax regimes; he does sponsorship acquisition and management; he handles media relations every day he’s with us; he’s doing HR, having to manage a team of people. And he’s also trying to focus on his sailing on the water. “All these skippers are full-on businessmen as well as sportsmen and it’s a big responsibility for young athletes who are trying to build a sailing reputation also to be building their business and making sure the numbers are black…” The innovations that Jim O’Toole is masterminding and directing cover every aspect of the Tour, with new venues, new boats, a new digital communications platform and, naturally, new Tour Card Holders. The aim is always to please visitors and satisfy promoters, to attract sponsors and generally to build the brand and, with this aim in mind, all the impending innovations are interconnected. All the changes and improvements are part of the evolution of the Tour, which started with amateur, inter-club racing and has progressed into a hitech, fully professional business.

NEW VENUES

“The series was invented,” says O’Toole, “around the concept of clubs putting on events, inviting their peers and competitors from other clubs to compete in each other’s events and – hey presto! – next thing you know you have an international tour based around yacht clubs. That was then commercialised and professionalised and – I suppose you’d call it – formalised in 2000, when the commercial rights of the tour were consolidated and were then brought in under ProMatch Tour Limited, the holding company of the World Match Racing Tour brand. “So there is a range of event promoters. At one end we have the Corinthian yacht clubs; at the other end we have businesses that have been set up specifically to handle the WMRT event and to exploit and leverage that event over the whole year, rather than just for the week of the event.” The Tour has moved inexorably towards the business end of the range. “Fundamental to the business model is that the host organisation understands that this is not a one-week relationship. If they do it correctly – for example along the lines of the Monsoon Cup in Malaysia – there is no reason that it shouldn’t be a 52-week-a-year business, where they maximise the use of the equipment, ie, the boats, and the expertise they have built up running a WMRT event.” Applications were invited at the end of last year for bids from new venues and a massive 57 venues from seven continents registered their interest. This overwhelming response will be whittled down to a total of 15 venues for the 2013 series, as opposed to the nine venues that the Tour currently comprises.

NEW BOATS

The event promoters own the boats in which the events are sailed and, in order to optimise the sailing, a degree of standardisation in the boat design is required. However, the prevailing conditions differ and so exactly the same one-design boat would not work in every venue. “We need 38-48 foot boats with five crew suitable for racing close to shore,” says O’Toole. “So we sent out invitations to 18 designers, giving them certain parameters, to enter a competition and see what they would come up with. We have now narrowed it down to seven one-design boats from which the event sponsors can choose a design that is best suited to the conditions in their venue.”

NEW COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

Exciting, robust and popular though the Tour undoubtedly is, there is no getting away from the fact that it is a minority sport. But, like all sports in the 21st century, it has to be able to deliver a stream of – preferably live – information to its fan-base. “If you wanted to invent a boat and have a world championship,” says O’Toole, “you could do it. It’s like the Wild West out there. But if you think you’re going to get prime time TV for it, then you’re kidding yourself. “The mantra for this is that we have to be able to deliver access to WMRT to the audience – who either know about it or who will know about it – on their devices at a time and in a way that they wish to receive it. If that means their computer or their mobile phone or handheld device as well as the traditional route of television then that’s great. “And we are gearing up to doing exactly that with a complex multimedia platform that will deliver short bursts of WMRT activity – or very long bursts – depending on how the fan wishes to consume the championship. It’s live streaming, it’s live television for

broadcasters, it’s access to red-button technology on handheld devices and computers.” This gives you the ability to view the racing from a multitude of angles and even to decide which team you want to race with.

NEW TOUR CARD HOLDERS

One element of the World Match Racing Tour that will not be changing is the number of Tour Card Holders. This will be maintained at nine but it will not remain the same nine. When Adam Minoprio won the Tour in 2009 he was just 24 years old – absurdly young for all those responsibilities Jim O’Toole describes, we thought at the time. Then Torvar Mirsky joined the Tour in 2006 at the age of 20. Current young gun is 23-year-old Kiwi Phil Robertson, who made a terrific impact in his debut year and starts 2011 as a Tour Card Holder. Next year – who knows? There are always new competitors coming through the qualifying and wild-card system. The World Match Race Tour will always be a mix of talent and experience, aggression and strategic knowhow, style and substance. What we can be sure of is that it will keep getting better and will be coming to a venue somewhere near you.

2010 Tour Heroes 24

Ben Ainslie A

There are not many titles or accolades in the world of sailing which don’t have Ben Ainslie’s name etched on them, so when Ainslie and his team TeamOrigin committed to the World Match Racing Tour for the first time in 2010 they were among the red hot favourites. Despite languishing in 5th with just two races left of the season Ainslie produced the type of heroics for which he is now synonymous and created the most thrilling climax ever to the WMRT.

ngland’s Ben Ainslie is the King; whatever he applies his mind to in sailing, he ends up winning. A haul of three gold and a silver medal over the past four Olympic Games is testament not only to his prodigious talent, but to an undentable determination. He is also living proof that nice guys do win – well, he’s nice enough ashore, but he’s a killer afloat. Last year, 2010, was the first year that Ben had made a major commitment to the ISAF World Match Racing Tour; representing the now disbanded TeamOrigin, he was able to pull together a team of talent that was unparalleled on the Tour. However, anyone who looked at his results from the four events he competed in in 2009 would have realised that, although match racing hadn’t been his speciality, he was pretty good at it. In 2009 he scored two firsts – Germany and Bermuda – was second at the Monsoon Cup and third in Korea. So it should have been no surprise that when he returned

28 A

Ben Ainslie in characteristic position, leading another race in the 2010 season which saw him produce one of the most dramatic finishes to a season ever seen on the World Match Racing Tour.

more committed than before to the Tour, he was to be taken seriously. He opened the season with a second at the French regatta in Marseille, beaten by Frenchman Mathieu Richard, much to the delight of the local crowd. Ainslie did not sail the next three events, but came back to the Tour with a blistering win in Marstrand, Sweden, at the STENA Match Cup Sweden. On the final day in Marstrand he dispatched Australian Torvar Mirsky 3 – 1 in the semi-finals, before demolishing Dane Jesper Radich 2 – 0 in the finals, sailed in testing light winds. Things could have gone better for him in St Moritz and Denmark where he finished fourth and seventh respectively, but you never write off a man of Ainslie’s talent. By the time he got to Bermuda in October, the TeamOrigin America’s Cup challenge had been withdrawn. The disappointment of the whole team was palpable but they saw no reason not to give the

30 A

Ainslie’s triumph at the Argo Group Gold Cup catapulted him back into the Championship and set up a thrilling finale at the Monsoon Cup.

30 B

Defying all the odds Ainslie and his TEAMORIGIN crew win the Monsoon Cup to take the coveted title of 2010 ISAF Match Racing World Champion.

31 C

Ainslie competes against the backdrop of the Swiss Alps at the St Moritz Match Race, just one of the stunning locations on the World Match Racing Tour.

A C B

Argo Group Gold Cup their best, particularly as they were defending Ben’s title. In one of the toughest Bermuda Gold Cups in many years, Ainslie and his team had to battle through every round. He eliminated Adam Minoprio in a hard fought quarter final, then had a similar tussle with Sweden’s Johnie Berntsson in the semis. The final was a replay of the Swedish final, only harder and tighter, with penalties scattered through each encounter, and more than one collision, before Ben and his boys lifted the huge Gold Cup for the second successive year. This put Ainslie in third place on the leaderboard going into the Monsoon Cup, seventeen points behind Tour leader Mathieu Richard, and just two behind Adam Minoprio. Isn’t it amazing how just the presence of a competitor with a big, big reputation can affect the performance of his rivals? Richard and Minoprio just collapsed under the Ainslie threat. Tuned up and determined to show those that had pulled the pin on the TeamOrigin challenge just how good a team they were letting go, the Olympic champion put on his blinkers and focussed on the prize. He finished second in the qualifying rounds behind fellow Briton and former world champion Ian Williams, while Minoprio failed to make the cut – second place on the Tour was guaranteed. In the quarter-final he would face up to the man who had led the Tour since the opening round, Mathieu Richard, and he eliminated him 3 – 1, to go on and face Björn Hansen in the semis. Ainslie was on fire, despatching the Swede in two races. Then Richard handed over the title he had been so close to all season, by failing to finish better than fifth in the sail-off for the minor places. The world title was in new hands, then came the battle for the Monsoon Cup, and the final against Torvar Mirsky went to the full five races, but the well-oiled Australian team couldn’t hold out the sheer determination and combined skill of Ainslie and his crew. Ainslie will probably be back on the Tour at sometime in the future, but for now he is off in search of that fourth gold medal, which if he wins it in British waters in 2012 will be a very big occasion for the King.

Tale of the Season OVERALL POSITION

Mathieu Richard Ben Ainslie Francesco Bruni Adam Minoprio Jesper Radich Torvar Mirsky Ian Williams Bertrand Pacé Peter Gilmour Björn Hansen Magnus Holmberg

LOWER OR UNRANKED

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th MATCH RACE FRANCE

MATCH RACE GERMANY

KOREA MATCH CUP

PORTIMÃO STENA ST MORITZ PORTUGAL MATCH CUP MATCH MATCH CUP SWEDEN RACE

DANISH OPEN

ARGO MONSOON GROUP CUP GOLD CUP

“It’s fantastic for us as a team, it’s always a big ask to overtake Adam Minoprio and Mathieu Richard – they are two incredibly strong teams. We had a lot on this week, but as a team we did everything right throughout the boat and I can’t thank the guys enough. It’s been a tough year for us, for TeamOrigin, and this is a fantastic way to end it.” After winning the World Match Racing Tour at the Monsoon Cup. 29

“You can’t just come to the WMRT and win an event – it doesn’t happen, the level is so high. You need to get to the semi finals first and only then think about winning one. You don’t get a lucky win. ” Bruni acknowledges the severity of the challenge of competing in The World Match Racing Tour. 30

Francesco Bruni A

Francesco Bruni was one of the most experienced sailors on Tour in 2010, but despite a strong start to the season the Italian consistently struggled to make his mark in the final knockout stages. While Bruni’s season included some classic encounters – most notably with France’s Mathieu Richard, it lacked the consistency which is needed when facing the world’s best sailors in the toughest of series.

t was a tough season on the ISAF World Match Racing Tour for Italian sailor Francesco Bruni. The skipper of the Azzurra Team is one of his country’s great talents, and has an amazingly varied portfolio of successes. He has been in the top ten on the Tour for some years, but those podium results that help to keep you in the top half of the leaderboard, seemed elusive in 2010. The season started with a strong performance to take a creditable third place at the opening event of the Tour in Marseilles, France. Though beaten by the

32 A

With Olympic and America’s Cup campaigns under his belt Francesco Bruni is one of Italy’s most successful sailors, but reputations count for nothing on the World Match Racing Tour where Bruni endured a frustrating season with strong qualifying performances often followed by disappointing knockout stages.

eventual winner, Frenchman Mathieu Richard in the semi-finals, he managed to win the petit-final, to give himself a psychological boost to take forward. At the Korea Match Cup, Bruni again found himself facing Mathieu Richard, but this time earlier in the series, when the Frenchman chose him as his opponent in the quarter-finals. The pair traded wins for three races, but it was Bruni who got to match point first – only for Richard to level it again in the fourth race. The fifth and decider was a contender for the Race of the Year;

34 A

Another frustrating result for Buni at the STENA Match Cup Sweden saw the Italian finish in 6th place.

34 B

The Danish Open proved to be a happier hunting ground for Bruni who finished in 4th spot.

35 C

Despite only managing one podium finish – in the opening race of the season at Match Race France – Bruni was one of the Tour’s most consistent performers with 6 top 8 finishes.

C B

it had the spectators enthralled; the tension was palpable. The two boats were just a few metres apart all the way round; there were two passes and a red flag penalty. In the end, Richard took it – but Bruni couldn’t have got closer without going through to the semis. The Italian salvaged a sixth place for the series, and must have hoped this was the low point of the season. However, it would be the Danish Open in September until he got close to that elusive top three again, finishing fourth. Reaching the semi-final in Denmark, he faced the reigning world champion, and eventual winner of the event, Kiwi Adam Minoprio and went down in three straight races. Then it was yet again Mathieu Richard who he found himself facing in the petit-final, and yet again it was the Frenchman who got the upper hand. At the end of his first season is was a seventh place in the Monsoon Cup, which cemented his seventh place on the Tour leaderboard. There is no doubt that in 2011 Francesco Bruni will be determined to climb that ladder, and demonstrate that talent that he certainly has in abundance.

Tale of the Season OVERALL POSITION

Mathieu Richard Ben Ainslie Francesco Bruni Adam Minoprio Jesper Radich Torvar Mirsky Ian Williams Bertrand Pacé Peter Gilmour Björn Hansen Magnus Holmberg

LOWER OR UNRANKED

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th MATCH RACE FRANCE

MATCH RACE GERMANY

KOREA MATCH CUP

PORTIMÃO STENA ST MORITZ PORTUGAL MATCH CUP MATCH MATCH CUP SWEDEN RACE

DANISH OPEN

ARGO MONSOON GROUP CUP GOLD CUP

“We’re a little bit upset, because we always get very close to the semi-finals, but so far only Marseille… We are always very close and there is something wrong with our luck…” After a 3-2 defeat by Jesper Radich in the quarter finals at STENA Match Cup Sweden. 33

Peter Gilmour A

37 A

It is hard to imagine a sailing world without the great Peter Gilmour at the top of it. Now in his 50s, the peerless Australian is a four-time ISAF Match Racing World Champion and is still unbeatable on his day as he showed in Portugal in 2010.

The 4 time World Champion endured a low key year by his own high standards. However the veteran showed he could still mix it with the young guns with victory at the Portimão Portugal Match Cup.

eter Gilmour is one of the modern match racing legends. The Australian skipper came to the world’s attention in 1987, at the wheel of the America’s Cup defender, Kookaburra and has subsequently won more big events than some of his younger peer group have competed in. The list includes victory at an incredible 16 individual Tour events, and four World Match Racing titles. The last of the overall titles came in 2006, when he completed a hat-trick of Tour victories, but since

then Gilmour has struggled to maintain the same consistent brilliance. The 2010 season started poorly, missing the cut in qualifying at Match Race France, and ending up with an 11th. Quarter-final defeats in Germany and Korea at the hands of Torvar Mirsky and Björn Hansen respectively were an improvement, but nothing like the form Gilmour needed to take what would be an extraordinary seventh title. It was at the Portimão Portugal Match Cup that the old sparkle returned, with Gilmour clinically despatching

“For all the teams on the WMRT success is about winning the Tour. It’s the most competitive Tour in sailing and the toughest to win so any victory is very special.” Echoing the competitive sentiments of all teams on Tour Peter Gilmour admits it’s not the taking part that counts but winning is all that matters. 36

opponents to progress to the final. And there he met Torvar Mirsky, fellow Western Australian, one-time protégé, and his recent nemesis at Match Race Germany. It was one of those days when you absolutely had to win the left-hand side of the start line and the racecourse. Gilmour’s experience and guile got it in all three races, though in the first, Mirsky’s sheer aggression came to the fore and he managed to pin the master on the buoy and Gilmour was too slow off the line to take advantage of his position. But in the next two races it was all Gilmour, at speed on the buoy and tightly tucked to leeward of Mirsky. There was no coming back from either start for Mirsky, and Gilmour took the Portimão Portugal Match Cup 2-1. That was the highlight of Gilmour’s season and he failed to make the top half of the leaderboard again on the Tour last year. In Marstrand at the STENA Match Cup Sweden, an event he practically owned in the ’90s, and also won in ’05 and ’09, he finished tenth. At the Danish Open he managed sixth place, and finished the Tour with a seventh at the Monsoon Cup, another event in which he has an enviable history.

38 A

Gilmour was at his imperious best in Portugal defeating his protégée Torvar Mirsky in the final to take the title.

39 B

Always a favourite with the crowd, Peter Gilmour attends the boat draw for the knockout stages of the Monsoon Cup in Malaysia.

39 C

Peter Gilmour and his YANMAR Racing Team receive their trophies for winning the Portimão Portugal Match Cup.

39 D

Dato’ Peter Gilmour greets His Majesty Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin at the Monsoon Cup.

B A C

Peter Gilmour was awarded Darjah Dato’ Paduka Mahkota Terengganu (DPMT), which carries the title Dato’ by His Majesty Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin in 2007 for his contribution in developing the Monsoon Cup in Terengganu, Malaysia and for inspiring international relations in the sport of sailing.

Tale of the Season OVERALL POSITION

Mathieu Richard Ben Ainslie Francesco Bruni Adam Minoprio Jesper Radich Torvar Mirsky Ian Williams Bertrand Pacé Peter Gilmour Björn Hansen Magnus Holmberg

LOWER OR UNRANKED

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th MATCH RACE FRANCE

MATCH RACE GERMANY

KOREA MATCH CUP

PORTIMÃO STENA ST MORITZ PORTUGAL MATCH CUP MATCH MATCH CUP SWEDEN RACE

DANISH OPEN

ARGO MONSOON GROUP CUP GOLD CUP

Björn Hansen A

41 A

Björn Hansen is a great match racer who keeps a lot of balls in the air, also running the Stockholm Match Racing Centre. He is an unpredictable genius who, on his day, can beat the best and was involved in some memorable tussles on Tour in 2010.

Björn Hansen guides his crew to 5th place at the Danish Open in a rollercoaster season which was littered with inconsistency but also moments of brilliance.

t is an indication of his longevity on the international match racing scene, and his huge depth of experience, that Swedish skipper Björn Hansen has been running the Stockholm Match Racing Centre for the past five years – while still competing in the World Match Racing Tour. This discipline of the sport of sailing has been his life since he first appeared in the world arena back in the early ’90s. Björn is a quiet, self-effacing man who you would never suspect of being the ruthless competitor he is when at the top of his game. In more than fifteen

years of international competition he has accrued some impressive results, though he does tend to be inconsistent, something that is amply illustrated by the wide range of finishing positions on the 2010 ISAF World Match Racing Tour. His opening event for the year was Match Race Germany, in which he finished a very disappointing twelfth, but immediately followed it with an impressive third at the Korea Match Cup. That was the story for his year, up at one event, down at the next, though ending the season on an

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hansen is an unpredictable genius who, on his day, can beat the best.â&#x20AC;? Top commentator and match racing expert Mark Chisnell pays tribute to the Swedish match racer. 40

improving run, going from sixth at the St Moritz Match Race to fifth place in the Danish Open, before a very creditable fourth at the Monsoon Cup. Probably the highlight year of his match racing career was 2007, when he won the Match Cup Sweden, took second place at the Bermuda Gold Cup, followed by a strong third at the Monsoon Cup. His third place at the 2010 Korea Match Cup was marked by a phenomenal come-back against veteran Peter Gilmour in the quarter final, when, from 2-0 down, he clawed his way back to level the score at 2-2, before winning the decider in spectacular style. Hansen grabbed the victory after taking an unbelievably tight penalty turn on the finishing line, done with just fractions of a second to spare as Gilmour blasted in for the kill. There is no doubt that dividing his time between his job, running the Match Racing Centre, and competing in the Tour is a tough call, and prevents him from really making the most of his ample talent. He is a great sailor, and valuable ambassador for the sport.

A A A A

42-43 A

One of the most popular skippers on Tour, Björn Hansen is also one of the most tenacious sailors who loves the battle of match racing. Hansen’s best finish of the year was third place at the Korea Match Cup and signed of the season on a high with a fourth at the Monsoon Cup.

Tale of the Season OVERALL POSITION

Mathieu Richard Ben Ainslie Francesco Bruni Adam Minoprio Jesper Radich Torvar Mirsky Ian Williams Bertrand Pacé Peter Gilmour Björn Hansen Magnus Holmberg

LOWER OR UNRANKED

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th MATCH RACE FRANCE

MATCH RACE GERMANY

KOREA MATCH CUP

PORTIMÃO STENA ST MORITZ PORTUGAL MATCH CUP MATCH MATCH CUP SWEDEN RACE

DANISH OPEN

ARGO MONSOON GROUP CUP GOLD CUP

Adam Minoprio A

Adam Minoprio was just 20 years old when he burst onto the scene in 2006 and announced himself at the top table of sailing when winning the 2009 ISAF World Match Racing Tour. His Championships season was characterised by highs and lows and 2010 was no different as he bounced back from some indifferent mid-season performances to head into the title-deciding Monsoon Cup, breathing down the neck of tour leader Mathieu Richard’s.

hen Adam Minoprio first appeared on the youth match racing scene, and won the 2006 Warren Jones International Youth Regatta in Perth, Western Australia, any seasoned observer would have recognised this aggressive new talent as a potential world-beater. It didn’t take him long to fulfil that promise, winning the ISAF World Match Racing Tour just three years later in 2009, and many were already comparing him to a young Chris Dickson or Russell Coutts. Throwing himself and his ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing team whole-heartedly into the Tour, with a little help from Emirates Team New Zealand, Adam Minoprio demonstrated that the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron’s famous match racing programme was still turning out winners. He started his big year in 2009 a little falteringly, but showed that essential quality that a great sportsman must have, the ability to pick himself up

44 A

After stealing the 2009 World Championship at the last gasp Adam Minoprio was one of the favourites for the 2010 title, and after a season of highs and lows headed into the final race of the season poised to strike in second place.

off the canvas and turn disappointment into victory. Although he won the opening event of the season, France’s Marseilles Match Race, this was followed by seventh and fifth places in Germany and Korea. The rollercoaster was on the upward trend with a second in Portugal, before diving to tenth place in Sweden. Showing great resilience, he came back to win in St Moritz, before dropping to seventh in Denmark, but a second at the Bermuda Gold Cup took him to the season’s finale at the Monsoon Cup with a twelve point lead over his arch rival, Australia’s Torvar Mirsky. The young Australian skipper knew that for him to rob Minoprio of the title he would have to win the event with the Kiwi fourth or worse. With Adam Minoprio’s results having been up and down like a yo-yo throughout the year, anything was possible, but he put on a masterful performance to win the Monsoon Cup and the title.

46 A

Adam Minoprio with his ETNZ / BlackMatch Racing Team.

46 B

Always a favourite with the media, Adam Minoprio conducts one of many television interviews during the 2010 season.

47 C

Adam Minoprio in action in one of the most thrilling races of the entire season in the final of the Danish Open. His sudden death victory over fellow young gun Torvar Mirsky placed him firmly back in the running for the World Championship.

A C B

The now familiar erratic pattern was evident early on in 2010, as the defending champion went from sixth in France to a German win, then down to seventh in Korea. Meanwhile, Frenchman Mathieu Richard was putting together a string of top three places and owned the top place of the Tour leaderboard throughout the season. Then after an 11th place at the STENA Match Cup Sweden, Minoprio bounced back with a third place in St Moritz, before winning the Danish Open, coming back from 2-0 down in one of the matches of the season. Could this be the comeback that would hand him a second title? After an acceptable fifth place in Bermuda he went to the Monsoon Cup trailing the Frenchman by just fifteen points, but with three other skippers all with a chance of grabbing the title, Ben Ainslie and Ian Williams from England, and Torvar Mirsky. Unfortunately, his results graph was on a downward swing, and it plunged in Malaysia, handing him a ninth place for the regatta, but he wasn’t alone in his disappointment with Mathieu Richard only one place better in eighth. Or perhaps it was just the super determination of event and tour winner Ben Ainslie that unseated the two skippers who seemed the most likely champions. Adam Minoprio ended the 2010 Tour in fourth place, and as he bows out of the circuit to pursue an opportunity to compete in the Volvo Ocean Race around the world, he can hold his head high having risen from a top youth sailor to World Champion in meteoric style, and put his name amongst the greats of match racing. In joining a Volvo race campaign he is following in the footsteps of many great New Zealanders before him, and will no doubt make his mark in ocean racing as he has in match racing. Maybe, after circling the world he will return to the Tour; he is young enough to have many more years on the circuit.

Tale of the Season OVERALL POSITION

Mathieu Richard Ben Ainslie Francesco Bruni Adam Minoprio Jesper Radich Torvar Mirsky Ian Williams Bertrand Pacé Peter Gilmour Björn Hansen Magnus Holmberg

LOWER OR UNRANKED

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th MATCH RACE FRANCE

MATCH RACE GERMANY

KOREA MATCH CUP

PORTIMÃO STENA ST MORITZ PORTUGAL MATCH CUP MATCH MATCH CUP SWEDEN RACE

DANISH OPEN

ARGO MONSOON GROUP CUP GOLD CUP

“That was the best match race we’ve been in. We looked to be up against it when the scores were 2-2 and we were trailing but I’m really pleased that we had the skill to stay in there and catch them. The result is so important for us.” Adam Minoprio recognises the magnitude of his epic 3-2 victory against Torvar Mirsky at the Danish Open. 45

Torvar Mirsky A

Once protégé to fellow West Australian Peter Gilmour but now out of the master’s shadow, 24-year-old Torvar Mirsky is one of the most exciting talents on the Tour. It’s an unusual day that doesn’t find him high on the leader board and 2010 saw him feature in some of the most memorable battles of the season.

orvar Mirsky’s match racing career has been characterised by his relationship with two men. The first is the legendary Peter Gilmour, another favourite son of Western Australia, who saw Mirsky’s talent emerge on the youth circuit and ushered him onto the Tour. The second is Adam Minoprio – the pair have been rivals since junior match racing, and exploded on to the professional Tour at the same time. The 2009 season was the breakthrough year for Mirsky, his duel with Minoprio was only settled after a bitter Monsoon Cup quarter final defeat at the hands of Peter Gilmour. While Adam Minoprio went on to win the Monsoon Cup, and the World Match Racing Tour. In 2010, Mirsky came back looking to turn second to first, but after making it to six semi-finals he lost three of them, and then the sail-off for third place as well. It seemed his youth and enthusiasm just wasn’t quite a match for the experience and guile he was

48 A

One of the most exciting and daring skippers on Tour, Torvar Mirsky went into the 2010 season as one of the hot favourites after finishing runner-up in 2009.

up against. He didn’t fare much better in the three finals that he did reach. The first was at Portimão Portugal Match Cup, an event he won in 2009. In 2010 Mirsky found himself up against Gilmour and won the first race but then let Gilmour control and win two consecutive starts, to lose it 2-1. The Danish Open was another defining moment in Mirsky’s season. Despite going 2-0 down to Mathieu Richard in the semi-final, Mirsky dug deep to turn it around, taking the next three races in a cliffhanger duel to defeat the overall Tour leader. It seemed he had an unstoppable momentum to carry into the final against Adam Minoprio. Twice Minoprio took the lead in the best of five, and twice Mirsky pegged him back to level. Mirsky then took control of the first lap of the decider, it seemed that at last a victory was within his grasp, but in the heat of the battle he failed to stick to basic tactics, and fatally gave Minoprio just 50m too much separation on the

50 A

Mirsky was to enjoy many classic battles with Ainslie throughout the year but it was the young Australian who got the better of the eventual World Champion at the Danish Open.

50 B

Despite being the youngest of the Tour Card Holders, Mirsky feared no-one and was prepared to go toe-to-toe with the world’s best, including Ben Ainslie.

51 C

Torvar Mirsky in action at the Danish Open where he defied the odds to come back from 2-0 down against Mathieu Richard in his semi-final and book a place in the final against his old enemy Adam Minoprio. The final was a classic encounter with Mirsky twice coming from behind to level the scores before losing out in sudden death.

C A

left of the race track on the third leg, and Minoprio sailed round him to take the win – once again the bridesmaid to his Kiwi rival. Mirsky arrived at the Monsoon Cup with a slim but credible chance of taking the Tour title, and gained some satisfaction and a boost to his chances when Minoprio bombed out badly by failing to make the quarter-finals. Mirsky’s hopes were further boosted when he reversed his 2009 result by beating his mentor Peter Gilmour 3-0 in the quarters. He went on to his third final, but again his youthful enthusiasm couldn’t contain the steely-eyed determination of triple gold medallist Ben Ainslie. Mirsky was 2-1 up, and leading at the first mark of race four, but then caved to a 3-2 defeat. The consolation was that second place at the Monsoon Cup jumped him over Minoprio for a third overall on the 2010 Tour. Only time will tell whether he can take control of his potential in 2011 and finally nail the title.

Tale of the Season OVERALL POSITION

Mathieu Richard Ben Ainslie Francesco Bruni Adam Minoprio Jesper Radich Torvar Mirsky Ian Williams Bertrand Pacé Peter Gilmour Björn Hansen Magnus Holmberg

LOWER OR UNRANKED

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th MATCH RACE FRANCE

MATCH RACE GERMANY

KOREA MATCH CUP

PORTIMÃO STENA ST MORITZ PORTUGAL MATCH CUP MATCH MATCH CUP SWEDEN RACE

DANISH OPEN

ARGO MONSOON GROUP CUP GOLD CUP

“We’ve made the semi-final six times, and we made the final three times, and we never really converted to winning the regatta. We’ve just got to concentrate on keeping our composure all the way through to the end of the event.” Mirsky reflects on a successful but ultimately frustrating 2010 World Match Racing Tour campaign. 49

Bertrand Pacé A

53 A

Legendary match race sailor Bertrand Pacé was the first champion of the Tour in 2000 and showed the young guns of 2010 that he was still a considerable force to be reckoned with.

A legend of the match racing circuit and a former winner of the Tour in 2010, Pacé enjoyed a quiet season by his own high standards finishing the Tour in 11th place.

renchman Bertrand Pacé is one of the legends of the world match racing scene, having been around for quarter of a century. Like Australia’s Peter Gilmour, he is one of the veterans of the discipline, starting his career back in the mid-1980s; his introduction was at the highest level, being chosen by fellow countryman Marc Pajot as his navigator for the French Kiss challenge for the 1987 America’s Cup in Fremantle. He has been involved with the America’s Cup almost continuously since Fremantle, sticking with French teams initially, but joining Team New Zealand for the 2003 Cup in Auckland. However for the next series in 2013 he has returned to his roots, and will lead the Aleph Team France challenge. Naturally in the days when the America’s Cup was sailed in mono-hulls, the Match Racing Tour was an essential training ground, and Bertrand Pacé has been on the international circuit since the late ’80s.

Always near the top of the rankings in the ’90s and early ‘Noughties’, he won the World Championship in ’94 when it was sailed in La Rochelle, France. When the Tour was officially inaugurated in 2000, he won the first season convincingly despite declining to sail in the Bermuda Gold Cup, an event he avoids to this day, because he does not feel comfortable in the traditional International One Design boats used there. He also reached Number One on the World Rankings in 2003. He has spent less time touring since then, though he won the ACI Cup in Croatia in ’04. Major match racing events he has won during his career include the Swedish Match Cup in ’96, and the Slovenia Cup in the same year, a success he repeated in ’97, as well as winning the Cottonfield Cup in Denmark. He won Auckland’s Steinlager Cup in 2000 and 2001, and took Match Race Germany in 2000. But just to list the events he has won does not do him justice, as his CV is littered with top three places.

“It would be a very foolish young skipper who did not take Bertrand Pacé very seriously when facing him on the water.” Top commentator and match racing expert Mark Chisnell salutes Pacé’s enduring skills. 52

He returned to the ISAF World Match Racing Tour in 2010, to take on the young guns, and showed that he can still pull a few tricks. Despite not being fully committed to the Tour due to his duties with his America’s Cup campaign, he managed to land a few punches in the events he did attend, with his best result being at the St Moritz Match Race in Switzerland, where he finished fifth, knocked out in the quarter final by the eventual winner and fellow countryman Mathieu Richard. There were several higher ranked skippers below him on the leaderboard, including Torvar Mirsky, Francesco Bruni and Björn Hansen. As many learnt at their peril, it would be a very foolish young skipper who did not take Bertrand Pacé very seriously when facing him on the water.

Tale of the Season

A C

54 A

Pacé in action at the Danish Open; despite being twice a runner-up in the event the Frenchman was unable to draw on his experience and finished a disappointing 8th.

55 B

Pacé proved too strong for American qualifier Mike Buckley at the Danish Open.

55 C

Pacé and his Aleph Sailing Team round the top mark at Match Race France.

55 D

With four decades of sailing experience, Pacé shares his wisdom.

OVERALL POSITION

Mathieu Richard Ben Ainslie Francesco Bruni Adam Minoprio Jesper Radich Torvar Mirsky Ian Williams Bertrand Pacé Peter Gilmour Björn Hansen Magnus Holmberg

LOWER OR UNRANKED

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th MATCH RACE FRANCE

MATCH RACE GERMANY

KOREA MATCH CUP

PORTIMÃO STENA ST MORITZ PORTUGAL MATCH CUP MATCH MATCH CUP SWEDEN RACE

DANISH OPEN

ARGO MONSOON GROUP CUP GOLD CUP

Jesper Radich A

57 A

Denmark produces great match racers and none greater than Jesper Radich. Having won the Tour in 2003, Radich has only performed in brief and brilliant cameos in recent years. 2010 saw Radich at his imperious best making three finals in three appearances to qualify for the Monsoon Cup.

Although Radich was not a Tour Card Holder in 2010 his form in the regattas he competed in was so impressive – three runner-up positions from three starts – that he qualified for the season-ending Monsoon Cup.

enmark’s Jesper Radich knows the sweet smell of success; he joined the World Match Racing Tour in 2000, and by 2003 had hit the top, achieving the honour of being the youngest skipper to win the title, a record he held onto until Adam Minoprio’s victory in 2009. Radich had come out of the Danish hothouse of match racing that has produced a number of top skippers over the years, and after his success in ’03, he was hired as a helmsman for the 2007 America’s Cup by the Spanish team Desafio Espanol. Through that period he only managed a couple of Tour events a year, just enough to remind people of his devastating talent. This was amply demonstrated in 2007 when he slotted home a first and a third at the Danish Open and Match Cup Sweden – just to remind everyone that he still had the moves. Although he wasn’t a Tour Card Holder in 2010, he gained wildcard entries to three events, performing

sufficiently well to qualify for the Monsoon Cup – though not enough to contest the title – but it was nevertheless quite a cameo. It started at Match Race Germany. After a shaky qualifying round, Radich progressed to the final, beating Tour leader Mathieu Richard in the semis en route. Whether he could also have taken down the reigning World Champion, Adam Minoprio, we’ll never know. The final had to be abandoned due to lack of wind and Minoprio won on countback. Jesper Radich followed that up with two more finals – both against Ben Ainslie – an achievement unmatched by any other wildcard entry and a testament to his natural ability. The first was at STENA Match Cup Sweden, where he climbed over such stars of the scene as Peter Gilmour, Ian Williams and Adam Minoprio to reach the final; Ainslie was a comfortable winner, controlling the start and extending from there to win 2-0. When the two met again in Bermuda it

“Match racing has such intensity, it’s as close to the pure sport of sailing as you can get – while other branches of the sport become more about technological advancement match racing is all about sailing.” Radich explains the appeal of match racing. 56

was a fistfight – two of the most aggressive and determined skippers in the world going at it like prize fighters, with penalties, collisions and non-stop action until Ainslie emerged bloodied but victorious On the strength of three second places, Radich qualified for the Monsoon Cup, and although he could not win the title, he could inflict some damage on other skippers’ chances, and their eventual positions on the leaderboard. He put on another strong performance to make it into the semi-finals where he came up against Torvar Mirsky. The Australian skipper was to end the Dane’s run and the chance of another shot at Ainslie in a final. This curtailed involvement in the 2010 Tour has whetted Radich’s appetite for battle, with the Dane set to compete as a Tour Card Holder in 2011 and has served as a warming to the other skippers – the Dane is back.

58 A

Radich in action at the STENA Match Cup Sweden where he lost out to old foe Ben Ainslie in the final.

59 B

Radich has won over many fans around the world particularly at the Monsoon Cup in Malaysia.

59 C

Radich against Ainslie was a familiar sight in 2010 but this time at the Monsoon Cup Radich had to settle for third place as Ainslie went onto win the regatta and the World Championship.

B A C

Tale of the Season OVERALL POSITION

Mathieu Richard Ben Ainslie Francesco Bruni Adam Minoprio Jesper Radich Torvar Mirsky Ian Williams Bertrand Pacé Peter Gilmour Björn Hansen Magnus Holmberg

LOWER OR UNRANKED

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th MATCH RACE FRANCE

MATCH RACE GERMANY

KOREA MATCH CUP

PORTIMÃO STENA ST MORITZ PORTUGAL MATCH CUP MATCH MATCH CUP SWEDEN RACE

DANISH OPEN

ARGO MONSOON GROUP CUP GOLD CUP

Mathieu Richard A

One of the most consistent performers on the World Match Racing Tour with two podium finishes in the previous three years, Mathieu Richard went into the 2010 season as one of the leading contenders to take the title of World Champion. A blistering start to the season ensured the Frenchman led the standings right up until the thrilling climax of the season at The Monsoon Cup where the title would ultimately be decided among scenes of high drama.

athieu Richard started the 2010 ISAF World Match Racing Tour in stunning form, and with consistent good results appeared to be on course for the title. The Frenchman and his team had come so close in the previous three years, with two podium positions but no title that, when Richard blasted out of the start gate at Match Race France with a win over Ben Ainslie, it looked as if this was finally going to be his year. This feeling was only reinforced after a sensational opening salvo of events: a third in Germany and then another win in Korea where he defeated former World Champion Ian Williams in the final. It was not till the Portimão Portugal Match Cup and then the STENA Match Cup Sweden that Richard started to appear mortal again – first Adam Minoprio and then Ben Ainslie won quarter-final matches, resulting in two seventh places for the Frenchman. We had to wait for the end of the mid-season, summer break to find out how Richard would respond.

60 A

Mathieu Richard shows the concentration that led him to three wins on the World Match Racing Tour in 2010.

The action restarted in St Moritz and Richard’s consummate preparation ensured that he delivered a blistering response – dumping his title rival Ben Ainslie out of the semi-final – before going on to take his third event win for the season from Ian Williams. It looked like normal service had been resumed and, with Richard 2-0 up against Torvar Mirsky in the semi-final of the Danish Open the following week, a fourth victory beckoned. Then it all started to go off the rails. Mirsky rallied to win three straight races and put Richard out of the Danish Open. Interestingly, in 2009 Richard was renowned for always doing well in qualifying and then falling in knock outs – he tried to focus in the winter of 2009/10 on practicing at saving mental energy and only doing what was necessary in qualifying rounds. Was it a case that by half way through the year he was tired, having used up his mental energy? Bermuda followed, and a disastrous qualifying round that saw Richard going home early. The season long lead was

62 A

Mathieu Richard is gracious in defeat after losing to Ben Ainslie at the Monsoon Cup, a result which ended his chances of winning the World Championship.

62 B

Heartbreak for Richard as he lets the World Championships slip from his grasp. Defeat by Ainslie meant that having led the Tour since the start of the season the Frenchman had to settle for second place and another wait for the illusive World Championship.

63 C

Richard in action at the St Moritz Match Race where he defeated Ian Williams to take the title.

cut to a 15-point lead over Adam Minoprio, and a 17-point advantage over Ben Ainslie. The ghosts of seasons past started to swirl at the Monsoon Cup, where Richard again struggled in qualifying. First there was a desperate match with Adam Minoprio, which both sailors had to win to scrape through qualifying. The reigning champion lost, went out of the running for the title and out of the Monsoon Cup. Richard had survived one challenge, but Ben Ainslie was to prove a different matter. Richard’s weak qualifying score meant that Ainslie was able to call out Richard for the gunfight at the OK Corral – choosing him for a quarter final that would prove decisive. Drama piled on drama as Mathieu Richard let it slip away in the final moments of the season. He lost to Ainslie 3-1, then went on to lose both his matches to decide the minor places. An eighth and just six Tour points for Richard meant that if Ainslie reached the final of the Monsoon Cup he would snatch that elusive title from the Frenchman’s grasp – and the Brit achieved that with a 2-0 defeat of Björn Hansen. Richard was runner up on the Tour again, disappointing, but surely the most consistent performer over recent years and one who should enter the 2011 arena with his confidence high.

Tale of the Season OVERALL POSITION

Mathieu Richard Ben Ainslie Francesco Bruni Adam Minoprio Jesper Radich Torvar Mirsky Ian Williams Bertrand Pacé Peter Gilmour Björn Hansen Magnus Holmberg

LOWER OR UNRANKED

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th MATCH RACE FRANCE

MATCH RACE GERMANY

KOREA MATCH CUP

PORTIMÃO STENA ST MORITZ PORTUGAL MATCH CUP MATCH MATCH CUP SWEDEN RACE

DANISH OPEN

ARGO MONSOON GROUP CUP GOLD CUP

â&#x20AC;&#x153;We had a fantastic season, we won three events and finished on the podium five times â&#x20AC;&#x201C; so we did great things, but we also had some up and downs, and some bad results which cost us the title. Ben and his team are a very strong team, and I knew that there would be a fight for the title to the end. And at the end, they got it. So well done to them, they are a very strong team and deserve to be world champions.â&#x20AC;? A magnanimous Mathieu Richard reflects on missing out on winning his first World Championship. 61

Ian Williams A

Twice the World Champion Ian Williams is a tactical master but has endured a disappointing couple of years since winning the second of his back to back titles in 2008. However two final appearances in 2010 which left the Englishman with an outside chance of winning a third title going into the season finale at the Monsoon Cup showed Williams is still a force to be reckoned with.

wice crowned champion of the ISAF World Match Racing Tour, in the 2007 and 2008 seasons, there is no doubting the ability and determination of England’s Ian Williams. However in this intense competition, with so many equally talented and well organised skippers and teams, it doesn’t take much to fall from the pedestal. In 2009, the end of some long-term sponsorship deals that reduced his funding meant that Williams had difficulty keeping his highly tuned crew together,

64 A

Double world champion Ian Williams had a frustrating 2010 season performing well in Qualifying but failing to convert into results.

and reduced the amount of time he could spend training. He didn’t just slip from the pedestal, it was a nosedive down to sixth place on the leaderboard. Interestingly, the skipper who took over the crown, Adam Minoprio, had a similar fall from grace the following year. The sponsorship and funding situation didn’t improve coming into 2010, and it was no real surprise to observers when this season went much the same way as the previous one.

A C B

66 A

The World Match Racing Tour brings out the fiercest of rivalries: Ian Williams and old rival Mathieu Richard prepare to lock horns.

66 B

Ian Williams protects his lead as the action heats up.

67 C

Williams and Team GAC Pindar on their way to a fifth-place finish at the Portimão Portugal Match Cup.

A former lawyer, with a thoughtful, methodical approach to the game, Williams still showed plenty of flashes of his analytical brilliance, particularly in the pre-starts, but his performance was too inconsistent to maintain a serious title challenge to the end of the season. There were plenty of high points and he was often at the top of the leaderboard at the end of the qualifying rounds – on two occasions making it to the finals, at the Korea Match Cup and St Moritz Match Race. At both these events it was Frenchman Mathieu Richard who robbed Williams of the trophy, and on each occasion after the Englishman had taken an early lead. The season ended on a low note, going out of the qualifying repechâge round at the Argo Group Gold Cup in Bermuda in controversial circumstances. Williams later marked it out as the turning point, the end of his challenge for 2010. He still went to the Monsoon Cup with a faint, mathematical title chance – and won the qualifying round again – before crashing out in a quarterfinal match against Björn Hansen. Williams collected a fifth for both the Monsoon Cup, and the 2010 season, up one place from his previous season, and perhaps heralding the come-back of which he is very capable.

Tale of the Season OVERALL POSITION

Mathieu Richard Ben Ainslie Francesco Bruni Adam Minoprio Jesper Radich Torvar Mirsky Ian Williams Bertrand Pace Peter Gilmour Bjorn Hansen Magnus Holmberg

LOWER OR UNRANKED

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th MATCH RACE FRANCE

MATCH RACE GERMANY

KOREA MATCH CUP

PORTIMÃO STENA ST MORITZ PORTUGAL MATCH CUP MATCH MATCH CUP SWEDEN RACE

DANISH OPEN

ARGO MONSOON GROUP CUP GOLD CUP

“Of course with hindsight there’re lots of mistakes, lots of things you would have changed. It’s been a frustrating year for us, we’ve not really been able to practise, and so I think that when the pressure has come on, we haven’t had that sort of ingrained training to fall back on. And it’s cost us at several events.” Two time World Champion Ian Williams reflects on a testing year. 65

Match Race France 66

Richard takes control A

he season’s opening regatta is the ISAF World Match Racing Tour’s bellwether – who has done the work in the pre-season? Who has got the crew work sharp and the tactical reactions sharper? In 2009, Adam Minoprio won in Marseille, and then eight months later, he took the world title in Malaysia – would it be the same in 2010? The world’s best match racers were lined up in Marseille to find out, and it promised to be an epic battle for the 2010 title. Top of the list was the world number one and the reigning Tour champion, Adam Minoprio and his team of ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing Kiwis. They were looking to join the elite group of five that have won backto-back World Match Racing titles – Williams, Baird, Gilmour, Coutts and Dickson. All geared up to stop them was Torvar Mirsky – the man who had pushed Minoprio to the wire for the 2009 title. The Mirsky Racing Team was back, the band of Aussie brothers particularly anxious to rain on the Kiwi parade. The European challenge was led by Mathieu Richard and the French Match Racing Team, hoping to take advantage of home territory and get an early win. Twice on the podium in the last three years but never champion, Richard had some unfinished business with the Tour. And no one was counting out the presence of Britain’s Olympic sailing superstar, Ben Ainslie. Apart from all those gold medals – three, and a silver – Ainslie had scored two firsts, a second and a third in just four Tour events in 2009. This year he was back and taking serious aim at the title.

It was Torvar Mirsky who was fastest out of the blocks, topping the qualifying with nine wins from eleven races. But Mirsky’s red-hot form was to be short-lived as he fell at the quarter finals to a charging Francesco Bruni, fresh from a pre-season win at the Congressional Cup. It was ‘Forza Italia’ when Adam Minoprio crashed out after a pulsating five-setter at the hands of Bruni’s compatriot, Paolo Cian – despite Minoprio winning the first two races. Just as the momentum appeared to be with the Italians, both lost out in nail-biting semis, with Paolo Cian going down 2-1 to Ben Ainslie and Francesco Bruni also losing the decider, this time to Mathieu Richard. Determined to capture his first WMRT title, the Frenchman had spent the off season meticulously planning his assault on the Championship and undergone an intensive pre-season training programme, working on everything from physical conditioning, through sports psychology to on-water training – it was clearly paying off. Richard was thought to favour light winds, and conditions were going France’s way as the final was delayed for a lack of breeze. When the breeze did finally pick up and allow for a start, Richard took the first race after Ainslie paid too high a price in speed to win the left-hand side of the start line. The Frenchman then proceeded to win the left in the second race, and used it to gain a huge and incontestable advantage up the first leg. And so Mathieu Richard took Match Race France two-nil – and with it came early control of the World Match Racing Tour leaderboard.

70 A

The World Match Racing Tour combines top-level racing with some of the most beautiful locations in the world.

71 B

Crowds line the stunning Marseille shore to watch the action at Match Race France.

71 C

Peter Gilmour’s YANMAR Racing do battle in Marseille.

72 A

Close combat is the name of the game on the World Match Racing Tour â&#x20AC;&#x201C; exciting and compelling viewing for fans and spectators.

73 B

The World Match Racing Tour attracts fans of all ages.

73 C

Racing on the Mediterranean is always a great way to kick off the World Match Racing Tour.

73 D

Only through teamwork can crews find success in the World Match Racing Tour. Mathieu Richard and his French Match Racing Team displayed their mastery of sailing to beat Ben Ainslieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s TEAMORIGIN 2-0 in the final of the 2010 Match Race France.

74 A

Watching the action from the water: spectators get up close and personal at Match Race France.

74 B

A victorious Mathieu Richard and his French Match Racing Team celebrate their victory at the 2010 Match Race France, the first of three wins during the 2010 World Match Racing Tour.

75 C

Sailors undertake morning media interviews before preparing for action on the water.

75 D

2010 World Match Racing Tour winner Ben Ainslie suffers a setback as he is penalised by the on-the-water umpire.

Making a spectacle

76 A

VIPs get close to the action at Match Race France.

76 B

Hometown hero Mathieu Richard and his team sign posters for adoring fans after winning the 2010 Match Race France.

77 C

The World Match Racing Tour brings spectators closer than ever before to the action.

77 D

Top level hospitality is all part of the package for sponsors and VIPs on the World Match Racing Tour.

ailing is a huge spectator sport in France – witness the spectacular crowds that attend the start of the Vendée Globe or the Route du Rhum – and the team are quickly building the spectator experience at Match Race France. The weekend is when all the action happens with the knockout stages and the final, and that’s when the drama of the racing is brought right to the spectators on Escale Borély. In 2010, Ben Ainslie and Mathieu Richard rounded a mark that was just a few metres from the sand, before battling their way up the seawall, all under the attentive gaze of the crowds and the cameras. A big screen relayed the action to those in the nearby cafes and restaurants, with live commentary from Thierry Fouchier – just back from winning the 33rd America’s Cup with BMW Oracle Racing Team. And for those few moments when there was a break in the action, there was plenty else to do – with paddleboarding try-outs, remote control boats, games and competitions for the children. Or for the less strenuously inclined, just enjoying the warm spring sunshine of the South of France. Particularly special was the ‘Régate en Vue’ programme, which gave anyone who booked in advance free access to spectator boats, and an opportunity to view the action from up close, out on the water. The boats were packed.

The spectator experience is something that the Match Race France organisers are anxious to build on for the future. They have plans to make the village much bigger, with many more things for people to do and different ways to watch and enjoy the racing. Eventually, there will be a concert on the Saturday night, and the whole sailing operation will be moved down to the Escale Borély. The boats will be moored in the bay just off the beach, and the sailor’s lounge, the media centre and all the elements of the pit lane will be centred at the same place as the race track, so the public can come and be a full part of Match Race France.

Match Race Germany 76

Minoprio slides through the gears B

ith the two top names from the 2009 ISAF World Match Racing Tour having crashed out in the quarter finals of the season’s opener, Match Race France, it was perhaps unsurprising that Adam Minoprio and Torvar Mirsky had left Marseille determined to work on their game. Mirsky went to a Grade One event in Spain to develop his team’s starting technique, while Minoprio set-up a training session in Sweden, specifically aimed at practising in the type of boats they would use in Germany. Would it make a difference? Mathieu Richard was still firing smoothly on all cylinders. He topped the qualifying sessions to win the bye to the semi-finals provided by the format. But this time Minoprio and Mirsky came through the quarter-finals intact – along with the Danish ex-world champion, Jesper Radich; the 2003 title-holder was returning to the Tour after a break, and Germany was the first of four cameo appearances in 2010. When Mathieu Richard returned to the competition he chose to sail Radich in the first to three-point semifinal. But he quickly discovered that the Dane had lost none of his skills and the Frenchman lost the opening two races before fighting back to make it 2-1. It was a similar story in the other semi-final, where Adam Minoprio led Torvar Mirsky 2-1 before the conditions interceded – the wind just disappeared.

The semi-finals eventually had to be cut short as the time ticked down, so Radich and Minoprio progressed by way of their 2-1 advantage. The final was an agonising wait for wind through the Sunday afternoon. Minoprio was probably the only person in Langenargen hoping the wind would not materialise as he knew that he would win if they couldn’t sail – this was virtue of the countback system, which would use the results from the qualifying sessions. Frustratingly the wind was a no-show for the rest of Saturday, and that was the way it played out. The final went to Adam Minoprio on countback, with Jesper Radich philosophical – happy to be back in contention on the Tour. There was some minor consolation for Mathieu Richard, who beat Torvar Mirsky for third place, by way of Richard winning the qualifying round. The result left the French match racing ace at the top of the Tour leaderboard after two events, with Adam Minoprio now his closest challenger, seven points behind.

81 B

Pushing it to the limit: a display of precision from Torvar Mirsky’s Mirsky Racing Team, hitting the start line at the optimum moment

81 C

The crews competing for the World Match Racing Tour title will go to any length to squeeze every last bit of speed out of their boats.

83 B

Crowds and crews enjoy the hospitality at the World Match Racing Tour.

83 C

Some fans will go to any length to get closer to the racing!

84 A

Spectators soak up the sun – and the atmosphere – at Match Race Germany.

84 B

Night or day, the World Match Racing Tour always attracts a good crowd.

85 C

Racing doesn’t get any tighter than this: two boats jostle for position approaching a turning mark.

85 D

A victorious Adam Minoprio holds aloft the Match Race Germany trophy. The New Zealander won 13 of his 18 matches during the regatta to secure the top spot.

A community event A

86 A

Residents of Langernargen turn out in force as Match Race Germany rolls into town

atch Race Germany is run by the Match Race Centre Germany, the event and business based beside the beautiful alpine Lake Constance, in the town of Langenargen. The sport has been a growing focus for the lakeside community since 1997, when the first edition was held as an ISAF Grade Two event. It joined the Tour in 2000, and now the arrival of the World’s elite match racing sailors every year is a focal point of Langenargen’s summer. The town has a medieval castle as well as its spectacular alpine backdrop, and is a year-round tourist attraction, with mountain biking, hiking and sightseeing all on the agenda as well as the sailing. Then, once a year, the Tour rocks into town and the party really kicks off. A race village is built around the harbour, and people come from all over to join in. The centrepiece is the stage for the press conferences, the beer hall and, for some, the castle’s night club – where bands and DJs raise the roof long into the night.

Many local businesses provide the concession stands to keep the crowds fed and watered, and a big screen and race commentary update the cafes along the waterfront. Children get to race in their own junior Optimist event, or try sailing with the help of the local yacht club, while, dotted amongst the boats, bratwurst, beer and frites, are the exhibition stands of a swathe of sponsors. But Match Race Centre Germany is about much more than just this one week of buzz and colour. The boats are used right through the sailing season for a range of other activities. There is match race and sail training, along with try-it-out sessions. But there are also more corporate opportunities for team building events, product launches, or incentive scheme reward events. The year-round activity adds up to a substantial business, bringing people to Langenargen and helping to fill hotels, restaurants and shops – match racing has become a major asset to this lakeside community.

Korea Match Cup 86

Allez les bleus! A

he action moved east to Korea for the third event of the 2010 ISAF World Match Racing Tour. Mathieu Richard was looking to consolidate his lead, and Adam Minoprio just as anxious to stop the bleeding. But it was the former double World Champion, Ian Williams who led at the end of the qualifying stages. Williams had joined the Tour in Germany, and now in Korea he was really having an impact, dispatching the highly dangerous Bertrand Pacé and Björn Hansen from the competition in the knockout rounds. Adam Minoprio and Torvar Mirsky both started poorly – sixth and fourth in qualifying – as a result of which they found themselves paired in the quarter finals. This time it was the younger Torvar Mirsky that came out on top, and Adam Minoprio once again departed the proceedings, appearing to be suffering from the same inconsistency that had dogged the early part of his 2009 campaign. But Mirsky was unable to capitalise on his fine victory over the defending World Champion, only surviving to the semi-finals, where he came up against Mathieu Richard. The Tour’s overall leader was still in commanding form – although he rode his luck and a puff of wind down an astonishing final leg in race two – to send Mirsky home via a 2-0 defeat.

Mathieu Richard was now in his second final in just three events. In the past the Frenchman has so often had to settle for the podium having finished second and third behind Williams in the two years that the Brit had taken the Tour title, but there was little sign of that now. After losing the first race, Richard showed his new-found mettle to take control in three consecutive pre-starts. In rampant form Richard forced his opponent to make errors to lead off the line and shut Williams for the rest of the races. Mathieu Richard took the Korea Match Cup 3-1 – and more importantly increased his advantage at the top of the ISAF World Match Racing Tour leader board to a staggering 26 points from Adam Minoprio.

90 A

Young gun Torvar Mirsky took down defending World Champion Adam Minoprio in the Quarter Finals of the 2010 Korea Match Cup but couldn’t capitalize on his victory, falling foul of eventual regatta winner Mathieu Richard.

91 B

Minoprio leads Richard but it wasn’t to last – the Frenchman came from behind to win on his way to the 2010 Korea Match Cup title.

92 A

Pure concentration for four time Match Racing World Champion Peter Gilmour and his YANMAR Racing team. Despite qualifying in second position the Australian went down to Swedish skipper Björn Hansen in the Quarter Finals.

92 B

With sailors fighting head to head emotions often run high on the World Match Racing Tour. A fired-up Ian Williams appeals to the Korea Match Cup umpires.

92 C

The specially-designed KM36 yachts raced at the Korea Match Cup.

93 D

After his win at Match Race Germany, Adam Minoprio is forced to settle for seventh place at the Korea Match Cup, winning less than half of his matches.

93 E

It’s Mathieu Richard’s turn to celebrate after defeating top qualifier Ian Williams in the final of the Korea Match Cup.

94-95 A

A World Match Racing Tour event is about more than just sailing â&#x20AC;&#x201C; from shoreside entertainment to the international press centre, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a hive of activity.

96-97 A

Building an industry

Thousands of visitors each year flock to Jeongok Marina in Hwaseong City for the Korea Match Cup and its sister event the Korea International Boat Show.

irst sailed in 2008, the Korea Match Cup is held off the Jeongok Marina of Hwaseong City in Gyeonggi Province – essentially a maritime suburb of Seoul, the enormous national capital. The event is strongly supported by both the provincial and local city governments, forming part of the country’s biggest festival of yachting, which also incorporates the Korea International Boat Show. An audience of over 250,000 pours into the Jeongok Marina to watch the cut and thrust of the racing action. Hwaseong is the most bucolic of the cities of Gyeonggi Province and the whole area is one of outstanding beauty; it is a popular tourist destination. Hitherto in Korea – as elsewhere – yachting has been regarded as a pastime for the very rich, but the enormous crowds who are flocking here to see the racing and the Boat Show have engendered a new interest in the sport and massively increased its popularity. So much so that work has begun on a major development – the Jeongok Ocean Industrial Complex, incorporating a yachting hub – which is costing US$650 million, will cover an area of 948,000m2 and is due for completion in 2015.

Since the creation of the Korea Match Cup, the organisers have kept open a channel of communication with the competing skippers, constantly updating the event and improving the sailing infrastructure. It is anticipated that, with the new development – and the continually growing interest in the sport of sailing – there will be further developments in the industry leading to technical innovations and many jobs being created in the yachting industry. The Korea Match Cup has taken the lead in building the Korean maritime leisure industry.

Portim達o Portugal Match Cup 96

Gilmour rolls back the clock A

athieu Richard dominated the 2010 ISAF World Match Racing Tour leaderboard as the action returned to Europe and the glorious Algarve for event four – the Portimão Portugal Match Cup. There was a yawning 26-point gap back to second placed Adam Minoprio – and the chasing pack could only hope that it might be enough to lull Richard into complacency. The action got underway in the new, super-cool beachside venue, but Torvar Mirsky was red hot – topping the qualifying stage for the second time this year. And then, just as Ian Williams had done in Korea, Mirsky proceeded all the way to the final – with Williams himself the victim in the semis. In another parallel to Korea, two of the top seeds found themselves matched in the quarter final. This time it was Adam Minoprio up against Mathieu Richard. There was no question how crucial this match was – Minoprio just had to stop Richard extending his Tour lead. No one that saw it will forget one of the pivotal races of the 2010 Tour. As race four got underway, a blood red sun was dropping into the western horizon and the wind was going down with it. Minoprio led the match 2-1, but as the wind got lighter, Richard got stronger. After shutting Minoprio out at the start, the French team led by almost half a leg at the final mark, the wind all but gone completely. Then came an extraordinary turnover, Minoprio separated to go offshore and made massive gains. When they came back together the Kiwis were breathing down Richard’s neck, putting the Frenchman under huge pressure. A couple more gybes and, incredibly, Minoprio was past – back from the dead to take it 3-1 and send Richard home with a disastrous seventh place.

With Richard sent packing, Minoprio now had a fantastic opportunity to close the gap on the series leader and reignite his own Championship aspirations. However, Minoprio still had a very large hurdle in his way – that of four-time World Champion Peter Gilmour, who used all his experience and skill to dispatch Minoprio. And so it was an all-Western Australia final, Gilmour v Mirsky. With Mirsky having sought so much advice and counsel from Gilmour in recent years the race was the classic Master v Apprentice and this time around, the old dog proved that he didn’t need any new tricks – the old ones worked just fine for Gilmour to take Mirsky down 2-1. The results: Richard still leading the Tour at the end of event four – but with his advantage over Adam Minoprio cut back to 17 points.

100 A

Master match racer Peter Gilmour teaches his former pupil Torvar Mirsky a lesson in how to win, taking him down 2-1 in the final of the Portimão Portugal Match Cup.

100 B

Collision course: no ground is lost as two boats line up to pass within inches of each other.

101 C

Cutting edge boat design meets historic tradition on the waters of Portimão.

100

102 A

Ian Williams’ Team GAC Pindar in action at the Portimão Portugal Match Cup.

103 B

Upwind or downwind, there’s never a dull moment in the World Match Racing Tour.

101

A A

104-105 A

102

Soaking up the atmosphere at the Portim達o Portugal Match Cup.

103

106-107 A

104

Culture and nightlife on the Algarve

With its azure waters, sea breeze, and prime position on the Algarve, Portimão is the perfect destination for a round of the World Match Racing Tour.

ortimão replaced Troia as the Portuguese venue for the Tour in 2010 and has brought match racing to Portugal’s tourist destination, the Algarve, showcasing the Pelle Petterson SM40, the Tour’s specially designed match-racer. Portimão’s situation on the southern coast of Portugal tends to bring it a much calmer Atlantic then the western coastline further north and it is a renowned and popular sailing venue, being the start of the Portimão Global Ocean Race, first sailed in 2008. The host club for the Match Cup is the Iate Clube da Marina de Portimão, a non-profit establishment for temporary members and visiting yachtsmen as well as local members, which has hosted such events as the Audi Med Cup TP52 series and the Portuguese Grand Prix of the Sea, run by P1 Powerboats, and which has raised the bar when it comes to friendly, efficient hospitality. If you have forgotten to bring your boat, there are plenty of opportunities for both crewed and bareboat charter available. The position of the west Algarve has always made it strategically attractive to invaders and, over the years, it has been occupied by Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Moors and Spaniards, all of

whom have left their mark for students of history. Sites such as the castle and cathedral in Silves and Henry the Navigator’s fort in Sagres will repay a little effort and the legacy of the Moorish occupation is everywhere, from the architecture in the town to the orange, almond, olive, carob and fruit trees, originally introduced by occupying Yemenites and still a big part of the local economy. If finding a vantage point on a quiet hill and watching the sun disappear into the darkening Atlantic as the evening stars begin to twinkle is not enough for you, then Portimão provides every nightlife requirement from sophisticated eating, piano bars and sumptuous nightclubs to jazz venues, discos and almost constant music festivals. Portimão is one of the most recent additions to the World Match Racing Tour and already one of the most popular.

105

STENA Match Cup Sweden 106

107

108

Ainslie masterclass A

TENA Match Cup Sweden marked the half-way point of the 2010 ISAF World Match Racing Tour. Everyone wanted to go into the summer break with points and momentum – but not everyone got what they wanted. Adam Minoprio crashed out of qualifying, scoring nothing. This time it was Mathieu Richard who failed to take advantage of the opportunity, losing to Ben Ainslie in the quarter-final and ending up with another seventh place to add to the one in Portugal. It was Ainslie’s first Tour event since Match Race France, and appropriate revenge for his defeat in Marseille. And, while Adam Minoprio couldn’t close the points gap to Richard, others could – but the bigger question would reverberate right through the summer recess… was Mathieu Richard’s phenomenal streak of form over? Ben Ainslie’s subsequent semi-final against Torvar Mirsky produced one of the most astonishing finishes of the season. At the final mark of race three, Mirsky was match point down, 20 metres behind and with an outstanding penalty. Somehow Mirsky turned it around; made the pass, got the penalty off on the finish line and saved the match point. Rather than shake the

three time Olympic gold medallist this only served to steel Ainslie, The Brit showed he was in no mood to mess around in race four, closing it out convincingly to send Mirsky home. Nevertheless, Torvar Mirsky had done enough to go past Adam Minoprio on the Tour leaderboard, moving into second. The gap to Mathieu Richard remained the same at 17 points. But it was Ben Ainslie’s Tour challenge that really stepped up another gear as he went into the final against Jesper Radich. Both men already had a second place on their Tour scorecard from just a single event but it was Ainslie that went one better in Sweden, a convincing winner in both prestarts, which he then extended around the racecourse to take a comfortable 2-0 win and the STENA Match Cup Sweden title.

110 A

Marstrand’s dramatic coastline provides a natural grandstand for spectators to take in the drama of STENA Match Cup Sweden.

111 B

Feared and respected in equal measures, Ben Ainslie makes his feelings known on his ascent to the 2010 STENA Match Cup Sweden title.

111 C

Close-quarter action at Match Cup Sweden.

109

110

112 A

World Match Racing Tour crews not only have to face each other â&#x20AC;&#x201C; they must take on the elements too.

113 B

Ben Ainslie and his TEAMORIGIN crewmates put on a display of world class sailing, winning 16 of his 21 matches to become STENA Match Cup Sweden champion.

111

114-115 A

112

Striking scenery, top hospitality and dramatic racing come together at STENA Match Cup Sweden to create a world-class event.

113

Setting the standard A

114

116 A

Attracting the A-Listers. A host of Sweden’s top celebrities prepare to take part on the Pro-Am.

117 B

While the racers go head to head on the water there’s always plenty to do shoreside at a World Match Racing Tour regatta.

TENA Match Cup Sweden has always been one of the agenda-setting events on the World Match Racing Tour. It began back in 1994, subsequently joining the Tour in 2000 - but it’s always led the way for the spectator experience. Anyone who’s been in Marstrand for that first week in July knows about the match racing. The island has always been a magnet in summer for holidaying families, artists and sailors, but together with their commercial partner – event management company Brandspot – the Royal Gothenburg Yacht Club has created one of the largest sporting events in Sweden, attracting well over 100,000 spectators every year. The venue is spectacular, the islands creating a natural amphitheatre around the racecourse, with the rocks below the 300 year old Carlsten Fort packed with fans. The ferry pours people onto Marstrand’s bustling streets and into the town’s cafes and bars. Concession stands and sponsors line the road alongside the marina, leading to a second part of the island’s old defences. The waterfront castle has a big screen, restaurant and chill-out zone set up in the courtyard, with extensive VIP facilities so close to the action that people can feel

the crashes. Welcome to STENA Match Cup Sweden and sailing as a spectator sport. The title event of the former Swedish Match Tour became the STENA Match Cup Sweden for the first time in 2010 and there was the added bonus, during the event week, of the Women’s Match Race, which, for the first time was counted as a qualifier for the Olympic games, and the Junior Cup, giving the juniors the opportunity of racing on the same waters as their heroes. Both these additional events were considered great successes and are definitely here to stay. The title sponsors also laid on endless entertainment for the younger kids, with STENA Kids’ corner, where they could have fun with toys and games while their parents watched the racing, or learn to sail with instructors from the sailing school. The Celebrity Race is now an annual tradition at the Swedish event, with well-known personalities racing against each other – with just a little help from the professionals. Crowd gathered on the cliffs above the bay to watch the action and the atmosphere was summed up by singing heartthrob Peter Jörback, when he happily told the local paper: “I want to sail all day!”

115

St Moritz Match Race 116

117

118

Richard back on track

he St Moritz Match Race always marks a crucial moment in the evolution of each year’s ISAF World Match Racing Tour. It’s the first event after the summer break – a time to right wrongs, to regain momentum, or to continue where you left off – and all eyes were on Mathieu Richard. The runaway early season leader had suffered a dramatic decline in fortunes with successive seventh places finishes ahead of the summer recess, blowing the door wide open for the rest of the field. The early casualty was Torvar Mirsky; he was in second place going into St Moritz but the wheels came off in the qualifying rounds – a ninth place meant that he didn’t score, and Mirsky Racing Team dropped down the Tour leaderboard to fourth overall. Ian Williams was regaining momentum, repeating his qualifying stage win at the Korea Match Cup. Williams booked the direct bye to the semi-finals, where he met Adam Minoprio, who was setting about righting the wrongs of Sweden. Minoprio had ridden his luck, rolling past a becalmed Damien Iehl to put the Frenchman out of the quarters, but found the challenge of twice World Champion Williams a far tougher prospect. Williams had the measure of Minoprio in the thin mountain air and proceeded to his second appearance in a 2010 season final.

Meanwhile, Mathieu Richard had progressed smoothly to a semi with Ben Ainslie – looking much more like the Richard of Marseille than Marstrand. The pair picked up where they left off in Sweden, and the match was an adrenaline-fuelled clash. Richard reversed his pre-summer loss to Ainslie, getting the better of the British Olympic star to notch up a 2-1 victory, and put a dent in Ainslie’s title ambitions. And so there was a rematch of the Korea final – Williams versus Richard. Unfortunately for Williams, the outcome was exactly the same – despite the Brits winning the first race, just as they had done in Korea. With his back against the wall Richard took advantage of a Williams error to level it, and then crowned his return to form to win a penalty-filled decider to notch up an astonishing third win on the year. All the momentum was back with Richard, as he extended his lead once again, back up to 24 points. Ian Williams gained some consolation with his second runners-up spot of the season catapulting him to the head of the chasing pack.

120 A

Ian Williams chases down Adam Minoprio in a close Semi-Final clash that saw Williams through to the final.

121 B

Despite qualifying in first place Williams could not stop Frenchman Mathieu Richard from taking the 2010 St Moritz Match Race title.

119

120

122 A

Onboard with 2010 St Moritz Match Race champion Mathieu Richard as he takes on Swedenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Johnie Berntsson.

123 B

The stunning waters of Lake St Moritz provide the perfect arena for the battles of the St Moritz Match Race which are played out within a stoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s throw of the watching crowds.

121

122

124 A

Mathieu Richard scores his second win in three outings of the 2010 World Match Racing Tour season, replicating the Korea Match Cup final result with victory over Ian Williams..

124 B

Close racing to the downwind mark as the sun sinks over the mountain.

125 C

A World Match Racing Tour regatta is a spectacular sight to behold.

125 D

The World Match Racing Tour is broadcast around the world and is enjoyed by huge global audiences.

125 E

The shores of Lake St Moritz: the perfect place to enjoy a picnic â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and watch the racing.

123

124

The glitz and the glamour

126 A

Located 1,850m above sea level, St Moritz oozes alpine charm and Swiss style.

127 B

The setting may be beautiful but the racing is fierce: Ben Ainslie’s TEAMORIGIN and Mathieu Richard’s French Match Racing Team go head to head.

127 C

The World Match Racing Tour offers the height of luxury in hospitality for sponsors and VIPs.

verything about the St Moritz Match Race is glamorous and exotic, it’s in the air – it is the air. Just breathe the high altitude mountain air and it’s clear that this Tour event is different. St Moritz is positioned on a south facing slope at 1850m in the Upper Engadine, a part of Switzerland with an average of 322 days of sunshine a year. Everything is turned up to eleven in St Moritz – the air, the sunshine, even the colours; with the deep blue water of the lake set against glistening white peaks, and the sheer black rock faces tumbling into the vivid green of the forests. And then there’s the glamour. The name St Moritz has such valuable associations that in 1987 it was trademarked – something that made headlines in the Wall Street Journal. It has subsequently been registered for use with different products in over 50 countries. Everyone wants to be associated with the glamour of St Moritz, a fact reflected in the shops that line the pristine streets – Cartier, Prada, Dolce & Gabana, Gucci, Calvin Klein, Versace, Ralph Lauren, Armani and Louis Vuitton. Equally famous names have strolled those same pristine streets – Alfred Hitchcock, Brigitte Bardot, Charlie Chaplin, Henry Ford, Greta Garbo and the Kennedy family have all visited the town. So it’ll come as no surprise that over half of St. Moritz’s hotel rooms are in four and five star hotels – like the legendary Badrutt’s Palace.

It was in the autumn of 1864 – eight years after he arrived in St Moritz and started his pioneering hotel business – that Johannes Badrutt made an offer to four British summer guests. He told them that if they returned to visit in winter and didn’t like it, he would pay for the cost of the return journey from London. But if they wanted to stay, they could be his guests for as long as they wished. It was a win-win deal for the Brits, and the first winter tourists in the Alps arrived back in time for Christmas – and then stayed until Easter. The visit kicked off the hugely successful development of winter alpine tourism and, subsequently, alpine sports. The Cresta Run began in St Moritz in 1885, and the town has subsequently hosted two Olympic Winter Games. The glamorous, cosmopolitan feel goes handin-hand with world class international sport in St Moritz, making it the perfect place for a stop on the World Match Racing Tour.

125

Danish Open 126

127

128

Minoprio turns up the heat A

he Danish Open marks the final turn into the home straight for the ISAF World Match Racing Tour. There are just two events left after Denmark - the Argo Group Gold Cup in Bermuda, and then the season finale in Malaysia. After Mathieu Richard had collected his third win of the season in St Moritz, the Frenchman’s ascent to the title was starting to look inevitable, the opposition fast running out of time to stop him – particularly with the second-placed Ian Williams absent from the Danish Open. Mathieu Richard began his Danish campaign shakily, losing to the American Michael Buckley - 661 places behind him in the world rankings. But Richard recovered quickly to come second in qualifying behind Adam Minoprio. It was a narrow escape, with just the top four proceeding straight to the semi-finals. This time it was Ben Ainslie, perhaps distracted by the ongoing discussions at the time of the future of his TEAMROIGIN, who was the victim of the brutal qualifying process, missing the cut for the semis and scoring a seventh to leave a big question mark over his Tour title hopes. Adam Minoprio raced Francesco Bruni in the semifinal, making short work of it with a 3-0 win. It looked like Mathieu Richard was on the way to the same result when he went 2-0 up against Torvar Mirksy. But after failing to score at the previous round in St Moritz the Australians knew that victory was essential if they wanted to keep their title dreams alive and Mirsky produced the greatest comeback of his career to take three consecutive races against the Tour leader. The victory was the first time Mirsky had ever come back from 2-0 down and thrust him firmly back into the championship reckoning.

Knowing every point at this stage of the season to be vital Mathieu Richard recovered to beat Bruni in the petite-final and score a third, but his collapse against Mirsky hinted at a repeat of the late-season frailty that had cost him the Tour title in previous years. There was no further evidence of any frailty from either Adam Minoprio or Torvar Mirsky - the Kiwi and Aussie rivalry produced the best, and the only five-set final of the year. It went Minoprio’s way, but he was forced to dig deep and the writing looked to be on the wall as he went into the last leg of the deciding race behind. Torvar Mirsky led for the opening lap of the decider, but with victory in his sights he gave his opponent just a touch too much space on the left-hand side of the race course. Minoprio found better breeze, and sailed around the outside of a bitterly disappointed Mirsky. The result left Mathieu Richard still leading the Tour, with Adam Minoprio back to fronting the challenge in second, and the deficit back to 17 points.

130-131 A

Kiwi skipper Adam Minoprio took on fellow Antipodean, Australia’s Torvar Mirsky, in the best final of the 2010 season – five sets of full-on action that was only decided on the last leg of the last race. It was Minoprio who emerged victorious, keeping his dreams of winning the 2010 Tour alive.

129

130

132-133 A

The Danish Open was Minoprioâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s event from the start, qualifying in the top spot then cruising through the Semi Final and into the Final with just two losses from 12 matches.

131

132

134-135 A

Strong weather conditions make for one of the most exciting events of the season.

135 B

To the victor, the spoils.

133

Green island, green country B

134

136 A

Bornholm, the setting for the Danish Open, is known as the ‘Pearl of the Baltic’.

137 B

Crowds get a good vantage point from which to watch the action at the Danish Open.

137 C

The Danish Open skippers give an insight into the racing as they are interviewed in front of watching crowds.

t is unfortunate for the Tour professionals that their busy schedules seldom allow them to enjoy to the full the beauty of the locations to which their chosen sport transports them. Bornholm, the new island venue for the Danish Open, is an absolute jewel. The ‘Pearl of the Baltic’, Bornholm is a beautiful, green island measuring roughly 588 sq km and home to a population of 43,000, is situated far to the east of mainland Denmark, and is actually closer to Poland, Sweden and Germany than it is to its mother country. The sandy beaches around the south of the island have a Mediterranean light and feel about them, but there is also lush forest, which is a rarity in a country as densely populated as Denmark and keeps the domestic holiday makers flooding in. In fact, the island thrives on its tourist industry, with Scandinavians, Germans and Poles visiting in the summer months. This is just as well, because the traditional livelihood of the island has virtually ceased to exist. Like most islands of its size, Bornholm’s main source of income had always been the sea that surrounds it; as recently as the 1970s and ’80s, the fishermen of the island were so successful that many of them became seriously rich. Here as everywhere, no one wondered whether the sea would just keep on giving,

until the beginning of the 1990s; the harbours and processing facilities – Bornholm smoked herring are still legendary – were all prepared for the new season when the marine biologists called it all off. The sea was empty; there were no fish left. The situation has been and is being addressed. Denmark is not one of those countries that signs the Kyoto Agreement and then carries on killing whales and harvesting rhino horn, they take their environment very seriously here. In the last 25 years, the Danish economy has grown by 70 per cent, while energy consumption has remained largely unchanged and CO2 emissions have continuously declined. The natural resources of Bornholm are being carefully husbanded, retaining the island’s essential charm and commercial viability – and the World Match Race Tour will be returning here in August 2011, with local boy Jesper Redich back and determined to bring the title home.

135

Argo Group Gold Cup 136

137

138

Double delight for Ainslie A

ooking back on another fantastic week of match racing hosted by the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, our view is bound to be clouded by the sad loss of Jordy Walker, who died in December. “Jordy was synonymous with the whole development of what was the World Match Racing Conference,” says his long-time friend and colleague Brian Billings. “The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club was one of the founding members, but Jordy was one of the founding fathers – along with representatives of the Long Beach Yacht Club, the Royal Lymington, Royal Perth and Royal New Zealand. While some of those guys are still playing in match racing, they’re not doing it at the same level the RBYC is. “Of all the people who were there at the beginning, Jordy Walker was the only one who continued to be involved in international match racing. He was not only twice President of the Match Racing Association; he was also a director all those years from the very beginning to the very end. Jordy was the rock and he was the glue. He kept everything going for a lot of years.” The 2010 Argo Group Gold Cup in Bermuda was certainly a tribute to this founding father of the sport. It is the last of the ISAF World Match Racing Tour’s eight regular season events, the final chance to improve on point tallies ahead of the season finale in Malaysia. Bermuda was a rollercoaster ride – it started with the qualifying rounds and Mathieu Richard’s unexpected exit from the competition, leaving him unable to improve on his 105 points and the race for the title wide open. Suddenly, everything and anything was possible – but Richard wasn’t the only one in trouble. Adam Minoprio, Ian Williams and Ben Ainslie all ended up in the repechage round of qualifying. It was an acrimonious affair, only split by a complex tiebreak after a couple of hours of deliberation by the International Jury. Ian Williams was the man left without a seat when the music stopped – marooned on 72 points, leaving the former double champion just a slim mathematical chance of taking a third World title at the Monsoon Cup. The quarterfinal then saw Ben Ainslie go up against Adam Minoprio. Ainslie had only done four events and so would count whatever result he got in Bermuda. But sitting on 63 points he really needed to win the Gold Cup to have a faint title shot in Malaysia. Adam Minoprio had 88 points, but was counting a sixth from Match Race France, so anything better would allow him to improve his score. It was another classic five-set match – Ainslie came from behind and a penalty down to save the first

match point. The Brits then went on to win the decider, after Minoprio badly misjudged a manoeuvre in the pre-start and picked up a penalty. Adam Minoprio bounced back to take fifth place in the subsequent sail-off, giving him a couple more points on the overall leader board and taking him to 90 - just 15 points behind Richard. It was the smallest the deficit had been since Match Race Germany – the second race of the season. The last of the title contenders was Torvar Mirsky, who stormed through qualifying unbeaten, but then came badly unstuck in the quarterfinal, losing to Johnie Berntsson. Mirsky was already counting two fourth places and needed to win a semi-final or petit final to better that – instead, going out in the quarterfinal left him on 76 points, and as with Ian Williams, just a slim mathematical chance of the overall title. So often in his career the intense pressure cooker environment of must win matches has seen Ainslie rise to the fore and yet again the Brit performed when it mattered continuing his run with a 3-1 defeat of Johnie Berntsson in the semi-final. The result put Ainslie into a final against Jesper Radich – a rematch of Sweden. The result was the same, but the manner of Radich’s demise was very different. This time the Dane went down 3-1 in a blizzard of penalties, collisions and action. Ben Ainslie had done the seemingly impossible, and won back-to-back Gold Cup titles – something no one had achieved since Russell Coutts in 1993. But more importantly, he’d put himself right back in contention for the Tour title – lifting his score to 88 points, into third place overall and just two points behind Adam Minoprio.

140 A

World Match Racing Tour teams clash on the waters of Hamilton, Bermuda.

140 B

The Argo Group Gold Cup is one of the most coveted trophies of the World Match Racing Tour and has been won by some of the biggest names in sailing.

141 C

Ben Ainslie dominates on his way to his second successive victory at the Argo Group Gold Cup, a feat not achieved since Russell Coutts won his second Gold Cup in 1993.

139

140

142 A

Neck-and-neck racing at the Argo Group Gold Cup.

143 B

Tense times in Bermuda as the skippers thrash it out in the race committee room. Despite using his legal experience to argue his case of the rules, it was Williams who lost the decision and was dumped out of the event.

143 C

Skippers push their boats to the limit – and sometimes past it. Racing doesn’t get closer than this as Taylor Cranfield’s spinnaker is ripped from the mast having become tangled with Eric Monnin’ boat in another closely fought race.

141

A C

142

144 A

Ben Ainslie and TEAMORIGIN lift the Argo Group Gold Cup for the second year running, defeating Jesper Radichâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Gaastra Racing Team 3-1 in a thrilling final.

144 B

The World Matching Racing Tour draws huge media interest at all its events around the world.

145 C

The World Match Racing Tour teams are an inspiration to future generations of sailors.

145 D

Crews do battle in the on-thewater arena of Hamilton Bay.

143

144

A golden history

146 A

TEAMORIGIN take the traditional victory dip as they celebrate their 2010 Argo Group Gold Cup victory.

146 B

The Argo Group Gold Cup, one of the oldest and most prestigious accolades in match racing.

147 C

Soaking up the sun – and the action – in Bermuda.

147 D

The World Match Racing Tour is hosted by some of the most historic yacht clubs around the world.

he Argo Group Gold Cup in Bermuda is the most historic of all the events on the ISAF World Match Racing Tour. The island itself has a rich maritime heritage of shipbuilding, trading, whaling, fishing and even a little privateering. By 1844 and the establishment of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, things were much more respectable – the club formed by a group mostly consisting of officers in the British army detachments stationed on the island. The Gold Cup was first presented by King Edward VII in 1907, for a regatta to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the permanent settlement of Jamestown, Virginia. The man that won it was the American pre-war sailing legend, Sherman Hoyt – subsequently famous for rescuing Harold Vanderbilt from defeat by Sir Thomas Sopwith in the third race of the 1934 America’s Cup. Thirty years later, and not long after the creation of his own Cup legend, Hoyt appropriately presented the trophy to the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club for a match race series in 6-Metre yachts. In 1956, the club transferred the contest to the International One Design Class, in which it has been raced ever since - the world’s oldest match-racing trophy for one-designs. There are many more legendary names associated with the Cup, but also many unknowns who have become legends, a tradition that has been maintained by Bermuda having 24 entrants, as opposed to the 12 of most other events.

“We are unique,” says Brian Billings, “because we can invite all nine Tour Card Holders – whether they come or not is a different matter – then we go to the top twenty and anyone we particularly want to invite – like Andy Green, who first came here as an unknown and all of a sudden won the event. Then we have the winner of the Knickerbocker Cup and the Troy Cup – these are our ‘feeder’ events. We get people like Peter Cranfield, who was invited last year, did very well and is now ranked 29th in the world. We’re going to be inviting him again.” His Olympic commitments may keep Ben Ainslie away in 2011, but Bermuda will always be the event of stars and surprises.

145

Monsoon Cup 146

147

148

The crowning of a true champion

ive skippers went into the season finale with a chance of taking the 2010 ISAF World Match Racing Tour. Sitting on 105 points, Mathieu Richard had a 15 point advantage over Adam Minoprio (90 points), and a 17 point lead over third-placed Ben Ainslie (88 points). The Monsoon Cup is the only mustcount Tour event, with a one and a half times points multiplier – making first place worth 38 points. So Torvar Mirsky (76 points) and Ian Williams (72 points) could also just scrape past Richard if they won – but they needed him and everyone else above them to score badly or not at all. The action got underway with an intense focus on the top three – but Richard and Minoprio began by losing more matches than they were winning. The schedule had pitted the pair against each other in flight fifteen of qualifying, and by the time it came around, both Mathieu Richard and Adam Minoprio had to beat the other to guarantee progression to the quarterfinals. Mathieu Richard won an enthralling match, dumping Adam Minoprio out of the competition, and ending the reigning champion’s hopes of retaining his title. Richard’s progression to the quarter-finals and a guaranteed minimum eighth place (and six points) also snuffed out Ian Williams’ slim title hopes. Ben Ainslie’s challenge was still very much alive though, and no one was surprised when Ainslie forced a showdown by picking Mathieu Richard as his quarter-final opponent. The huge crowd was treated to a classic, with Ainslie coming out on top 3-1. The Frenchman’s title ambitions remained alive through to the final day – but were dented again when Richard lost his sail-off matches to finish eighth, adding just six points to his World Match Racing Tour score. It left Ben Ainslie a target of 111 points to become Tour champion. To reach it, Ainslie had to win his semifinal – second or first at the Monsoon Cup would make him world champion, passing Richard and putting him beyond the reach of Torvar Mirsky. Mirsky had kept his

hopes alive by winning his quarter-final, along with Jesper Radich and Björn Hansen. Now Ben Ainslie chose Björn Hansen from those three as the man to stand between him and the title. The British skipper picked apart Hansen’s game in two successive prestarts to win 2-0, reaching the Monsoon Cup final and winning the World Match Racing Tour. But even amidst the celebrations, Ainslie knew that the Monsoon Cup was still up for grabs. Torvar Mirsky had defeated Jesper Radich two nil in the second semi to face Ainslie in the final. For the golden boy of British sailing it remained gold all the way - Ben Ainslie completed the double, winning both the Monsoon Cup and the 2010 ISAF World Match Racing Tour. Mathieu Richard hung on to collect second place on the 2010 Tour – scant consolation for the man who had led since Match Race France back in April. For Torvar Mirsky, a second place at the Monsoon Cup was enough to haul him into third overall, pushing last year’s champion Adam Minoprio into fourth.

150 A

The King is crowned: golden boy Ben Ainslie reigns supreme defeating Torvar Mirsky in the final of the Monsoon Cup to win not only the event but also the 2010 World Match Racing Tour.

150 B

Crowds watch on as the drama is played out right before their eyes.

151 C

Determination, dedication and passion drive the World Match Racing Tour teams as they compete for glory.

149

150

152 A

Sailors are pushed to their physical and mental limits on the World Match Racing Tour.

153 B

Jerome Pels, ISAF Secretary General, gets the Monsoon Cup final underway.

153 C

In the thick of the action: Mathieu Richardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s French Match Racing Team strain every effort as they try to win their maiden World Title but ultimately have to settle for second.

151

152

154 A

The control centre of the World Match Racing Tourâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s broadcast operations, bringing all the action to TV audiences around the globe. The Monsoon Cup is broadcast to 1.63 billion people in 183 countries, providing a broadcast value of US $79 million.

154 B

Onboard commentary and analysis brings racing to life for spectators and fans alike.

155 C

Local skipper Jeremy Koo is the focus of huge media attention from the Malaysian media.

155 D

The coveted 2010 Monsoon Cup trophy.

155 E

The entertainment is as rich and spectacular on the land as it is on the water.

153

More than just a race

154

156 A

More than just a regatta, the Monsoon Cup draws crowds from across Malaysia who come for the top-flight racing, the cultural experience and the unrivalled entertainment.

157 B

Embracing the culture: Mathieu Richard and his team wear traditional Malaysian Batic shirts for the opening gala dinner.

157 C

His Majesty Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin, the King of Malaysia is a regular visitor to the Monsoon Cup.

157 D

The World Match Racing Tour provides an ideal marketing platform for clothing partners Sail Racing.

he Monsoon Cup, the final and most important event in the World Match Race Tour, is the result of Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s inspiration, while on a fishing holiday, to make a virtue of the annual rainy season. It seemed an unlikely idea at the time, but there can be no doubt of its success, which has turned the fishing village of Pulau Duyong into a modern, international resort. Since it inception in 2005, the Monsoon Cup has ignited an interest in match racing across the country and the continent, creating opportunities for spinoff service industries, such as hotels and restaurants, boatbuilders, caterers, clothing manufacturers and directly tourist-related businesses like souvenir manufacture and sale. The Monsoon Cup is no longer just about the match racing; it has spawned a whole range of traditional cultural and athletic activities, such as dancing, traditional theatre and tug-of-war, grouped under the name Sukan Rakyat, and the making and spectacular flying of Wau Bulan, the Moon Kite. It is very much a family orientated event, with fishing competitions and childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s colouring competitions as well as concerts and more modern pastimes, such as the ubiquitous karaoke.

The financial benefits of the Monsoon Cup to the area and the country have been immense. An impact study conducted by the Malaysian Ministry of Youth and Sports has established that this vital last leg of the World Match Racing Tour is broadcast to 1.63 billion people in 183 countries, a figure that translates into US$79 million in broadcast value. Datuk Shabery Cheek, Minister of Youth and Sports, proudly announced at the event that Malaysia had been honoured with several awards pertaining to the Monsoon Cup, including Best Overall Event, Best Audience Viewership and Best Innovation. He said that these awards represented international recognition of excellence which will benefit the sailing industry and which will also go on to influence other sporting activities. As the final and most important event of the World Match Racing Tour, the Monsoon Cup has developed its own unstoppable momentum.

155

World Match Racing Tour in numbers

Match Race France Points

Points

Prize Money

14,080.00

1st

Prize Money

8,448.00

4th

Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team Crew: Greg Evrard, Thierry Briend, Olivier Herledant

Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Italia, Crew: Pier Luigi Fornelli, Zennaro, Gaetano Figlia Di Granara

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-6

3-1

2-1

2-0

14-8

0.64

7-4

3-2

1-2

0-1

11-9

0.55

Points

Prize Money

11,264.00

2nd

Prize Money

7,392.00

5th

Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN Crew: Iain Percy, Christian Kamp, Matt Cornwell

Sébastien Col (FRA) ALL4ONE Crew: Gilles Favennec, Christophe Andre, Cedric Chateau

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

8-3

3-2

2-1

0-2

13-8

0.61

5-6

1-3

2-0

7-9

0.48

Points

3rd

Points

Prize Money

9,856.00 Francesco Bruni (ITA) Azzurra Crew: Gabriele Bruni, Pierluigi de Felice, Matteo Auguadro

6th

7,040.00 Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing Crew: Dave Swete, Tom Powrie, Nick Blackman

RECORDS QF

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-6

3-1

1-2

1-0

10-9

0.52

7-4

2-3

1-1

10-8

0.55

FINAL M1 Mathieu Richard v Ben Ainslie M2 Ben Ainslie v Mathieu Richard PETIT FINAL M1 Paolo Cian v Francesco Bruni

156

RECORDS

SEMI FINAL First Match M1 Paolo Cian v Ben Ainslie M2 Ben Ainslie v Paolo Cian M3 Paolo Cian v Ben Ainslie

Second Match M1 Francesco Bruni v Mathieu Richard M2 Mathieu Richard v Francesco Bruni M3 Francesco Bruni v Mathieu Richard * Winners in bold

KEY RR – Round Robin QF – Quarter Final

Total Prize Money 70,400.00

Points

Prize Money

10th

6,336.00

7th

Prize Money -

Philippe Presti (FRA) Crew: Christian Ponthieu, Julien Falxa, Olivier Cardin

Bertrand Pacﾃｩ (FRA) Aleph Sailing Team Crew: Benoit Briand, Herve Cunningham, Francois Verdier

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

7-4

2-3

1-1

10-8

0.55

4-7

0.36

Points

Prize Money

11th

5,984.00

8th

Prize Money -

Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team Crew: Graeme Spence, Tudor Owen, Kyle Langford

Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing Crew: Thierry Duoillard, Yasuhiro Yaji, David Gilmour

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

9-2

1-3

0-2

10-7

0.58

3-8

0.27

Points -

Points

Prize Money

9th

12th

Pierre-Antoine Morvan Crew: Nicholas Pauchet, Mathieu Renault, Nicolas Heintz

Prize Money -

Gian Luca Peris Crew: Francois Brenac, Philippe Buchart, Mikael Mergui

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

4-7

0.36

2-9

0.18

OVERALL POSITION

OVERALL POINTS

Mathieu Richard Ben Ainslie Francesco Bruni Adam Minoprio Jesper Radich Torvar Mirsky Ian Williams Bertrand Pace Peter Gilmour Bjorn Hansen Magnus Holmberg

LOWER OR UNRANKED

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th

MATCH RACE FRANCE

MATCH RACE GERMANY

KOREA MATCH CUP

PORTIMﾃグ STENA ST MORITZ PORTUGAL MATCH CUP MATCH MATCH CUP SWEDEN RACE

DANISH OPEN

ARGO MONSOON GROUP CUP GOLD CUP

Mathieu Richard Ben Ainslie Francesco Bruni Adam Minoprio Jesper Radich Torvar Mirsky Ian Williams Bertrand Pace Peter Gilmour Bjorn Hansen Magnus Holmberg

25 20 15 8 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120 125 130

157

World Match Racing Tour in numbers

Match Race Germany Points

Points

Prize Money

10,000.00

1st

Prize Money

Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing, Crew: Dave Swete, Tom Powrie, Nick Blackman, Dan McLean

6,000.00

4th

Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team, Crew: Graeme Spence, Tudor Owen, Kyle Langford, Kinley Fowler

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

8-3

3-1

2-1

0-0**

13-5

0.72

7-4

3-1

1-2

0-0**

11-7

0.61

Points

Prize Money

8,000.00

2nd

Prize Money

Jesper Radich (DEN) Radich Racing Team, Crew: Jan Neergaard, Rasmus Kostner, Nils Gramkov, Philip Guhle

5,250.00

5th

Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar Crew: Bill Hardesty, Mal Parker, Simon Shaw, Mark Williams

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

7-4

3-2

2-1

0-0**

12-7

0.63

8-3

2-3

10-6

0.63

Points

3rd

Points

Prize Money

7,000.00 Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team, Crew: Greg Evrard, Thierry Briend, Erwan Vanier, Yannick Simon

6th

5,000.00 Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing, Crew: Martin Berntson, Nils Bjerkäs, Yasuhiro Yaji, Cristian Pontin

RECORDS RR

8-3

Semi Final*

FINAL Cancelled due to wind conditions RR results stand PETIT FINAL Cancelled due to wind conditions RR results stand

158

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

1-2

0-0**

9-5

0.64

7-4

1-3

8-7

0.53

SEMI FINAL First Match M1 Jesper Radich v Mathieu Richard M2 Mathieu Richard v Jesper Radich M3 Jesper Radich v Mathieu Richard

Second Match M1 Torvar Mirsky v Adam Minoprio M2 Adam Minoprio v Torvar Mirsky M3 Torvar Mirsky v Adam Minoprio

KEY RR – Round Robin QF – Quarter Final

Total Prize Money 50,000.00

* Winners in bold

* Advanced to Semi Final ** Results based on Round Robins

Points

Prize Money

10th

4,500.00

7th

Prize Money -

Magnus Holmberg (SWE) Victory Challenge, Crew: Sam Bell, Garth Ellingham, Matt Randell, James Williamson

Mads Ebler (DEN) Ebler Match Racing, Crew: Niels Kinch, Chris Keene Pedersen, Jonas Hviid, Soren Tonder

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

6-5

1-3

7-8

0.46

3-8

0.27

Points

Prize Money

11th

4,250.00

8th

Prize Money -

Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Italia, Crew: Pier Luigi Fornelli, Enrico Zennaro, Gaetano Figlia Di Granara, Philippe BUchard

Kathrin Kadelbach (GER) EWE Sailing Team, Crew: Wolfi Dietz, Rigo De Nijs, Jens Polgar, Ulrike Schﾃｼmann

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-6

0.45

2-9

0.18

Points -

Points

Prize Money

9th

12th

Ian Ainslie (RSA) Team Proximo, Crew: Nicholas Heinz, Roger Hudson, Adam Martin, Phil Robertson

Prize Money -

Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Gill Global Team, Crew: Mathias Bredin, Martin Strﾃｶmberg, Pontis Meijer, Gustav Morin

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

4-7

0.36

1-10

0.09

OVERALL POSITION

OVERALL POINTS

Mathieu Richard Ben Ainslie Francesco Bruni Adam Minoprio Jesper Radich Torvar Mirsky Ian Williams Bertrand Pace Peter Gilmour Bjorn Hansen Magnus Holmberg

LOWER OR UNRANKED

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th

MATCH RACE FRANCE

MATCH RACE GERMANY

KOREA MATCH CUP

PORTIMﾃグ STENA ST MORITZ PORTUGAL MATCH CUP MATCH MATCH CUP SWEDEN RACE

DANISH OPEN

ARGO MONSOON GROUP CUP GOLD CUP

Mathieu Richard Ben Ainslie Francesco Bruni Adam Minoprio Jesper Radich Torvar Mirsky Ian Williams Bertrand Pace Peter Gilmour Bjorn Hansen Magnus Holmberg

40 20 15 33 20 16 10 0 8 0 6 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120 125 130

159

World Match Racing Tour in numbers

Korea Match Cup Points

Points

Prize Money

67,573.00

1st

Prize Money

Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team, Crew: Greg Evrard, Thierry Briend, Olivier Herledant, Yannick Simon

27,029.00

4th

Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team, Crew: Graeme Spence, Tudor Owen, Kyle Langford, Kinley Fowler

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

7-4

3-2

2-0

3-1

15-7

0.63

6-5

2-0

0-2

8-9

0.47

Points

Prize Money

45,950.00

2nd

Prize Money

Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar, Crew: Mark NIcholls, Simon Shaw, Malcolm Parker, Richard Sydenham

21,623.00

5th

Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing, Crew: Martin Berntson, Cameron Dunn, Yasuhiro Yaji, Thierry Douillard

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

8-3

3-0

2-0

1-3

14-6

0.70

7-4

2-3

2-0

9-7

0.56

Points

3rd

Points

Prize Money

37,841.00 Björn Hansen (SWE) Gill Global Team, Crew: Mathias Bredin, Martin Strömberg, Kalle Kjerstadius, Phillip Guhle

6th

18,920.00 Francesco Bruni (ITA) Azzurra, Crew: Gabriele Bruni, Matteo Auguadro, Pierluigi De Felice, Guido Antar Vigna

RECORDS QF

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

6-5

3-2

0-2

2-0

11-9

0.55

6-5

2-3

8-8

0.50

FINAL M1 Mathieu Richard v Ian Williams M2 Ian Williams v Mathieu Richard M3 Mathieu Richard v Ian Williams M4 Ian Williams v Mathieu Richard

160

RECORDS

PETIT FINAL M1 Bjorn Hansen v Torvar Mirsky M2 Torvar Mirsky v Bjorn Hansen

Second Match M1 Torvar Mirsky v Mathieu Richard M2 Mathieu Richard v Torvar Mirsky

SEMI FINAL First Match M1 Bjorn Hansen v Ian Williams M2 Ian Williams v Bjorn Hansen

* Winners in bold

KEY RR – Round Robin QF – Quarter Final Total Prize Money 270,288.00

* Bjorn Hansen deducted 0.5 pt for damages

Points

Prize Money

10th

16,217.00

7th

Prize Money

5,405.00

Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing, Crew: Dave Swete, Tom Powrie, Nick Blackman, Dan McLean

Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Italia, Crew: Pier Luigi Fornelli, Enrico Zennaro, Gaetano Figlia Di Granara, Manuele Paotti

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

6-5

0-2

6-7

0.46

4-7

0.36

Points

Prize Money

11th

13,514.00

8th

Prize Money

4,054.00

Bertrand Pace (FRA)Aleph Sailing Team, Crew: Benoit Briand, Francois Verdier, Erwan Israel, Nicolas Heintz

Phil Robertson (NZL) WAKA Racing, Crew: Sam Bell, Garth Ellingham, Adam Martin, James Williamson

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-6

0-3

5-9

0.35

4-7

0.36

Points

9th

Points

Prize Money

12th

9,460.00 Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team, Crew: Daniel Wallberg, Bjorn Anderson, Bjorn Lungren, Sebastien Wedel

2,702.00 Park GunWoo (KOR) Busan Match, Crew: Lee DongWoo, Kim Sungwok, Lho Suunmin, Nam Yongjin

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-6

0.45

2-9

0.18

OVERALL POSITION

OVERALL POINTS

Mathieu Richard Ben Ainslie Francesco Bruni Adam Minoprio Jesper Radich Torvar Mirsky Ian Williams Bertrand Pace Peter Gilmour Bjorn Hansen Magnus Holmberg

LOWER OR UNRANKED

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th

MATCH RACE FRANCE

MATCH RACE GERMANY

KOREA MATCH CUP

PORTIMﾃグ STENA ST MORITZ PORTUGAL MATCH CUP MATCH MATCH CUP SWEDEN RACE

DANISH OPEN

ARGO MONSOON GROUP CUP GOLD CUP

Mathieu Richard Ben Ainslie Francesco Bruni Adam Minoprio Jesper Radich Torvar Mirsky Ian Williams Bertrand Pace Peter Gilmour Bjorn Hansen Magnus Holmberg

65 20 23 39 20 28 30 4 18 15 6 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120 125 130

161

World Match Racing Tour in numbers

Portimão Portugal Match Cup Points

Points

Prize Money

17,601.00

1st

Prize Money

Peter Gilmour (AUS)YANMAR Racing, Crew: Kazuhiko Sofuku, Cameron Dunn, Yasuhiro Yaji, Thierry Douillard

7,744.00

4th

Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar, Crew: Mark Williams, Simon Shaw, Malcolm Parker, Richard Sydenham

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

8-3

3-1

3-0

2-1

16-5

0.76

7-4

3-1

0-3

0-1

10-9

0.52

Points

Prize Money

68,450.00

2nd

Prize Money

Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team, Crew: Graeme Spence, Tudor Owen, Kyle Langford, Kinley Fowler

6,688.00

5th

Francesco Bruni (ITA) Azzurra, Crew: Tom Burnham, Matteo Auguadro, Pierluigi De Felice, Ben Durham

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

9-2

3-1

3-0

1-2

16-5

0.76

7-4

1-3

8-7

0.53

Points

3rd

Points

Prize Money

9,856.00 Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing, Crew: Dave Swete, Tom Powrie, Nick Blackman, Dan McLean

6th

6,336.00 Magnus Holmberg (SWE) Victory Challenge, Crew: Garth Ellingham, James Williamson, Sam Bell, Brad Farrand

RECORDS QF

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

6-5

3-1

0-3

1-0

10-9

0.52

7-4

1-3

8-7

0.53

FINAL M1 Peter Gilmour v Torvar Mirsky M2 Torvar Mirsky v Peter Gilmour M3 Peter Gilmour v Torvar Mirsky PETIT FINAL Ian Williams v Adam Minoprio

162

RECORDS

SEMI FINAL First Match M1 Ian Williams v Torvar Mirsky M2 Torvar Mirsky v Ian Williams M3 Ian Williams v Torvar Mirsky

Second Match M1 Peter Gilmour v Adam Minoprio M2 Adam Minoprio v Peter Gilmour M3 Peter Gilmour v Adam Minoprio

KEY RR – Round Robin QF – Quarter Final

Total Prize Money 70,401.00

* Winners in bold

* Magnus Holmberg & Peter Gilmour deducted 0.5 pt for damages ** Ian Wlliams deducted 1 pt for damages

Points

Prize Money

10th

5,984.00

7th

Prize Money -

Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team, Crew: Greg Evrard, Devan Le Bihan, Olivier Herledant, Yannick Simon

Bjﾃｶrn Hansen (SWE) Gill Global Team, Crew: Mathias Bredin, Martin Strﾃｶmberg, Kalle Kjerstadius, Fredrik Aurell

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

6-5

1-3

7-8

0.46

4-7

0.36

Points

Prize Money

11th

5,632.00

8th

Prize Money -

Manuel Weiller (ESP) Team Iberdrola, Crew: Nacho Braquehais, Javier de la Plaza, Pedro Mas, Marcos Iglesias

Alvaro Marinho (POR) Seth Sailing Team, Crew: Nuno Barreto, Diogo Barros, Luis Brito, Antonio Fontes

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

6-5

1-3

7-8

0.46

1-10

0.09

Points -

Points

Prize Money

9th

12th

Bertrand Pacﾃｩ (FRA)Aleph Sailing Team, Crew: Benoit Briand, Francois Verdier, Cedric Chateau, Philippe Buchart

Prize Money -

Eugeny Neugodnikov (RUS) Synergy, Crew: Sergeev Anton, Kulakov Alex, Besputin Konstantin, Larionov Egor

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

4-7

0.36

1-10

0.09

OVERALL POSITION

OVERALL POINTS

Mathieu Richard Ben Ainslie Francesco Bruni Adam Minoprio Jesper Radich Torvar Mirsky Ian Williams Bertrand Pace Peter Gilmour Bjorn Hansen Magnus Holmberg

LOWER OR UNRANKED

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th

MATCH RACE FRANCE

MATCH RACE GERMANY

KOREA MATCH CUP

PORTIMﾃグ STENA ST MORITZ PORTUGAL MATCH CUP MATCH MATCH CUP SWEDEN RACE

DANISH OPEN

ARGO MONSOON GROUP CUP GOLD CUP

Mathieu Richard Ben Ainslie Francesco Bruni Adam Minoprio Jesper Radich Torvar Mirsky Ian Williams Bertrand Pace Peter Gilmour Bjorn Hansen Magnus Holmberg

71 20 33 54 20 48 42 4 43 15 14 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120 125 130

163

World Match Racing Tour in numbers

Points

STENA Match Cup Sweden Points

Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team, Crew: Graeme Spence, Tudor Owen, Kyle Langford, Kinley Fowler RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

6-1

3-1

1-3

1-2

11-7

0.61

Points

Prize Money

23,500.00

1st

10,000.00

4th

Prize Money

Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN, Crew: Iain Percy, Magnus Augustsson, Christian Kamp, Matt Cornwell

8,900.00

5th

Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar, Crew: Matt Cassidy, Mark Nicholls, Malcolm Parker, Richard Sydenham RECORDS

RECORDS RR

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-2

3-0

3-1

2-0

13-3

0.81

6-1

Points

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

1-3

2-0

9-4

0.69

Prize Money

14,000.00

2nd

5-8 Place

Points

Prize Money

Jesper Radich (DEN) Radich Racing Team, Crew: Rasmus Köstner, Jann Neergaard, Niels Gramkov, Philip Guhle

7,700.00

6th

Francesco Bruni (ITA) Azzurra, Crew: Tom Burnham, Matteo Auguadro, Pierluigi De Felice, Ben Durham RECORDS

RECORDS RR

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

6-1

3-2

3-0

0-2

12-5

0.70

4-4

2-3

1-1

7-7

0.50

Points

3rd

Points

Prize Money

12,000.00 Magnus Holmberg (SWE) Sigma Racing Team Crew: Garth Ellingham, Martin Berntsson, Sam Bell, Oskar Ljung

7th

6,700.00 Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team, Crew: Greg Evrard, Thierry Briend, Olivier Herledant, Yannick Simon RECORDS

RECORDS RR

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

4-4

3-1

0-3

2-1

9-7

0.56

5-2

0-3

1-1

6-6

0.50

FINAL M1 Ben Ainslie v Jesper Radich M2 Jesper Radich v Ben Ainslie PETIT FINAL M1 Magnus Holmberg v Torvar Mirsky M2 Torvar Mirsky v Magnus Holmberg M3 Magnus Holmberg v Torvar Mirsky

164

SEMI FINAL First Match M1 Ben Ainslie v Torvar Mirsky M2 Torvar Mirsky v Ben Ainslie M3 Ben Ainslie v Torvar Mirsky M4 Torvar Mirsky v Ben Ainslie

Second Match M1 Magnus Holmberg v Jesper Radich M2 Jesper Radich v Magnus Holmberg M3 Magnus Holmberg v Jesper Radich * Winners in bold

KEY RR – Round Robin QF – Quarter Final Total Prize Money 100,000.00

Points

Prize Money

12th

4,700.00

8th

Prize Money

1,500.00

Damien Iehl (FRA) French Match Racing Team, Crew: Fred Guilmin, Devan Le Bihan, Erwan Vanier, Christophe Andre

Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team, Crew: Daniel Wallberg, Johan Bäckman, Nicklas Carlzon, Björn Lundgren

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-2

1-3

0-2

6-7

0.46

2-5

0.28

Points

9th

Points

Prize Money

13th

4,000.00

1,000.00

Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Alandia Sailing Team, Crew: Robert Skarp, Nils Bjerkås, Sebastian Wedel, Carl Johan Uckelstam

Reuben Corbett (NZL) Black Sheep Rzqacing, Crew: Brad Farrand, Tom Bentham, Logan Fraser, Nicolas Deberque

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

4-4

0.50

2-5

0.28

Points

10th

Points

Prize Money

14th

3,000.00

1,000.00

Peter Gilmour (AUS)YANMAR Racing, Crew: Kazuhiko Sofuku, Cameron Dunn, Yasuhiro Yaji, Thierry Douillard

Björn Hansen (SWE) Hansen Global Team, Crew: Mathias Bredin, Martin Strömberg, Kalle Kjerstadius, Pontus Meijer

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

3-4

0.42

0-11

0.00

Points

11th

Points

Prize Money

15th

2,000.00 Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing Crew: Dave Swete, Tom Powrie, Nick Blackman, Dan McLean

Prize Money -

Keith Swinton (AUS) Black Swan Racing, Crew: Laurie Jury, Jasper Warren, Jakob Gustafsson, Jonas Hiivd-Nielsen RECORDS

RECORDS RR

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

3-4

0.42

0-7

0.00

OVERALL POSITION

OVERALL POINTS

Mathieu Richard Ben Ainslie Francesco Bruni Adam Minoprio Jesper Radich Torvar Mirsky Ian Williams Bertrand Pace Peter Gilmour Bjorn Hansen Magnus Holmberg

LOWER OR UNRANKED

Mattias Rahm (SWE) Stena Bulk Sailing Team, Crew: Henrik Walderyd, Daniel Björndahl, Oscar Angervall, Fredrik Aurell

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th

MATCH RACE FRANCE

MATCH RACE GERMANY

KOREA MATCH CUP

PORTIMÃO STENA ST MORITZ PORTUGAL MATCH CUP MATCH MATCH CUP SWEDEN RACE

DANISH OPEN

ARGO MONSOON GROUP CUP GOLD CUP

Mathieu Richard Ben Ainslie Francesco Bruni Adam Minoprio Jesper Radich Torvar Mirsky Ian Williams Bertrand Pace Peter Gilmour Bjorn Hansen Magnus Holmberg

77 45 41 54 40 60 52 4 43 15 29 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120 125 130

165

World Match Racing Tour in numbers

St Moritz Match Race Points

Points

Prize Money

37,733.00

1st

Prize Money

16,770.00

4th

Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team Crew: Greg Evrard, Olivier Herledant, Yannick Simon

Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN Crew: Iain Percy, Christian Kamp, Matt Cornwell

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

7-4

1-0

2-1

12-6

0.66

8-3

2-0

1-2

0-1

11-5

0.68

Points

Prize Money

26,204.00

2nd

Prize Money

Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar Crew: Richard Sydenham, Gerry Mitchell, Mark Williams

13,626.00

5th

Bertrand Pacé (FRA) Aleph Sailing Team Crew: Benoit Briand, Francois Chateau, Phillipe Buchard

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

9-2

2-1

1-2

12-5

0.70

7-4

0-1

7-5

0.58

Points

3rd

Points

Prize Money

20,963.00

6th

Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing Crew: Dave Swete, Tom Powrie, Nick Blackman

11,529.00 Björn Hansen (SWE) Hansen Global Team Crew: Mathias Bredin, Anders Jönsson, Phillip Guhle

RECORDS QF

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

6-5

1-0

1-2

1-0

9-7

0.56

6-5

0-2

6-7

0.46

FINAL M1 Ian Williams v Mathieu Richard M2 Mathieu Richard v Ian Williams M3 Ian Williams v Mathieu Richard PETIT FINAL M1 Ben Ainslie v Adam Minoprio

166

RECORDS

SEMI FINAL First Match M1 Ian Williams v Adam Minoprio M2 Adam Minoprio v Ian Williams M3 Ian Williams v Adam Minoprio

Second Match M1 Ben Ainslie v Mathieu Richard M2 Mathieu Richard v Ben Ainslie M3 Ben Ainslie v Mathieu Richard

KEY RR – Round Robin QF – Quarter Final

Total Prize Money 157,218.00

* Winners in bold

Points

Prize Money

10th

9,433.00

7th

Prize Money

4,192.00

Damien Iehl (FRA) French Match Racing Team Crew: Fred Guilmin, Devan Le Bihan, Francois Verdier

Eric Monnin (SUI) Swiss Match Race Team Crew: Simon Brﾃｼgger, Jean-Claude Monnin, Marc Monnin

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

6-5

0-1

6-6

0.50

4-7

0.36

Points

Prize Money

11th

6,288.00

8th

Prize Money

3,144.00

Francesco Bruni (ITA) Azzurra Crew: Matteo Auguadro, Pierluigi De Felice, Tom Burnham

Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team, Crew: Daniel Wallberg, Nicklas Carlzon, Carl-Johan Uckelstam

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

6-5

0.54

2-9

0.18

Points

9th

Points

Prize Money

12th

5,240.00 Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team Crew: Kinley Fowler, Graeme Spence, Kyle Langford

2,096.00 Jerome Clerc (SUI) Team CER Geneve Crew: Denis Girardet, Cedric Schmidt, Bryan Mettraux

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-6

0.45

0-11

0.00

OVERALL POSITION

OVERALL POINTS

Mathieu Richard Ben Ainslie Francesco Bruni Adam Minoprio Jesper Radich Torvar Mirsky Ian Williams Bertrand Pace Peter Gilmour Bjorn Hansen Magnus Holmberg

LOWER OR UNRANKED

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th

MATCH RACE FRANCE

MATCH RACE GERMANY

KOREA MATCH CUP

PORTIMﾃグ STENA ST MORITZ PORTUGAL MATCH CUP MATCH MATCH CUP SWEDEN RACE

DANISH OPEN

ARGO MONSOON GROUP CUP GOLD CUP

Mathieu Richard Ben Ainslie Francesco Bruni Adam Minoprio Jesper Radich Torvar Mirsky Ian Williams Bertrand Pace Peter Gilmour Bjorn Hansen Magnus Holmberg

96 57 45 69 40 60 72 14 43 23 29 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120 125 130

167

World Match Racing Tour in numbers

Danish Open Points

Points

Prize Money

14,729.00

1st

Prize Money

Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing, Crew: Dan McLean, Tom Powrie, Dave Swete, Jonas Hviid-Nielsen

4,720.00

4th

Francesco Bruni (ITA) Azzurra, Crew: Tom Burnham, Ben Durham, Matteo Auguadro, Pierluigi De Felice

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

9-2

3-0

3-2

15-4

0.78

8-3

0-3

1-2

9-8

0.52

Points

Prize Money

7,364.00

2nd

Prize Money

Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team, Crew: Kyle Langford, Graeme Spence, Tudor Owen, Kinley Fowler

4,154.00

5th

Björn Hansen (SWE) Hansen Global Team, Crew: Martin Strömberg, Benny Ulvaeus, Phillip Kai Guhle, Mathias Bredin

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

8-3

3-2

2-3

13-8

0.61

6-5

2-0

8-5

0.61

Points

3rd

Points

Prize Money

6,042.00 Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team, Crew: Olivier Herledant, Greg Evrard, Simon Yannick, Thierry Briend

6th

3,776.00 Peter Gilmour (AUS)YANMAR Racing, Crew: Cameron Dunn, Martin Berntsson, Yasuhiri Yaji, Thierry Douillard

RECORDS QF

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

9-2

2-3

2-1

13-6

0.68

6-5

0-2

6-7

0.46

FINAL M1 Adam Minoprio v Torvar Mirsky M2 Torvar Mirsky v Adam Minoprio M3 Adam Minoprio v Torvar Mirsky M4 Torvar Mirsky v Adam Minoprio M5 Adam Minoprio v Torvar Mirsky

168

RECORDS

PETIT FINAL M1 Francesco Bruni v Mathieu Richard M2 Mathieu Richard v Francesco Bruni M3 Francesco Bruni v Mathieu Richard SEMI FINAL First Match M1 Francesco Bruni v Adam Minoprio M2 Adam Minoprio v Francesco Bruni M3 Francesco Bruni v Adam Minoprio

Second Match M1 Torvar Mirsky v Mathieu Richard M2 Mathieu Richard v Torvar Mirsky M3 Torvar Mirsky v Mathieu Richard M4 Mathieu Richard v Torvar Mirsky *Torvar Mirsky through to finals * Winners in bold

KEY RR – Round Robin QF – Quarter Final

Total Prize Money 46,261.00

Points

Prize Money

10th

3,210.00

7th

Prize Money -

Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN, Crew: Iain Percy, Christian Kamp, Matt Cornwell, Magnus Augustsson

William Tiller (NZL) Full Metal Jacket Racing, Crew: Harry Thurston, Jono Spurdle, James Maloney, Shaun Mason

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-6

2-1

7-7

0.50

4-7

0.36

Points

Prize Money

11th

2,266.00

8th

Prize Money -

Bertrand Pacﾃｩ (FRA)Aleph Sailing Team, Crew: Benoit Briand, Cedric Chateau, Francois Verdier, Phillipe Buchard

Susanne Ward (DEN) Team Ward, Crew: Trine Palludan, Christina Refn, Majbritt Lange, Mia Nina Nielson, Elisabeth Wildt

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-6

1-2

6-8

0.42

1-10

0.09

Points -

Points

Prize Money

9th

12th

Mads Ebler (DEN) Ebler Matchracing, Crew: Sﾃｸren Tﾃｸnder, Chris Keene Pederson, Niels Kinch, Frederik Sparvath

Prize Money -

Michael Buckley (USA) MB Sailing, Crew: Frederik Aurell, Alex Clegg, Steve Flam, Matt Ciesicki

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

4-7

0.36

1-10

0.09

OVERALL POSITION

OVERALL POINTS

Mathieu Richard Ben Ainslie Francesco Bruni Adam Minoprio Jesper Radich Torvar Mirsky Ian Williams Bertrand Pace Peter Gilmour Bjorn Hansen Magnus Holmberg

LOWER OR UNRANKED

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th

MATCH RACE FRANCE

MATCH RACE GERMANY

KOREA MATCH CUP

PORTIMﾃグ STENA ST MORITZ PORTUGAL MATCH CUP MATCH MATCH CUP SWEDEN RACE

DANISH OPEN

ARGO MONSOON GROUP CUP GOLD CUP

Mathieu Richard Ben Ainslie Francesco Bruni Adam Minoprio Jesper Radich Torvar Mirsky Ian Williams Bertrand Pace Peter Gilmour Bjorn Hansen Magnus Holmberg

105 63 53 88 40 76 72 18 51 33 29 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120 125 130

169

World Match Racing Tour in numbers

* Mathieu Richard deducted 0.5 pt for damages

Argo Group Gold Cup Points

Points

Prize Money

50,000.00

1st

Prize Money

5,500.00

5th

Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN Crew: Iain Percy, Christian Kamp, James Stagg

Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing Crew: Dave Swete, Tom Powrie, Nick Blackman RECORDS

RECORDS RR

REP

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

4-2

4-1

3-2

3-1

Points

Prize Money

Overall % Win 17-7

0.70

REP

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

4-2

4-1

2-3

2-0

Points

Prize Money

20,000.00

2nd

RECORDS

REP

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

6-1

3-0

1-3

Overall % Win 13-4

0.76

REP

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

6-1

1-3

Points 6

10,000.00

3rd

Prize Money

Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team Crew: Nicklas Carlzon, Johan Backman, Bjorn Lundgren

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

5-1

3-1

1-3

2-0

4th

Reuben Corbett (NZL) Black Sheep Racing Crew: Tom Bentham, Nicholas Derburque, Brad Farrand

Overall % Win 11-5

0.68

REP

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

4-2

0-3

1-1

Points 4

7,000.00 Eric Monnin (SUI) Swiss Match Racing Team, Crew: Simon Brugger, Loris Von Siebenthal, Mark Monnin, Fabrice Froesch

8th

Overall % Win 5-6

0.45

Prize Money 1,000.00

Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team Crew: Kinley Fowler, Graeme Spence, Tudor Owen

RECORDS

170

0.61

2,500.00

7th

Prize Money

RECORDS

REP

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

5-1

4-1

0-3

0-2

FINAL M1 Jesper Radich v Ben Ainslie M2 Ben Ainslie v Jesper Radich M3 Jesper Radich v Ben Ainslie M4 Ben Ainslie v Jesper Radich

8-5

RECORDS

REP

Overall % Win

Prize Money

RECORDS RR

Points

0.66

Taylor Canfield (ISV) Team ISV Crew: David Shriver, Matt Clark, Aiden Reid

RECORDS

Points

12-6

4,000.00

6th

Jesper Radich (DEN) Gaastra Racing Team Crew: Rasmus Kostum, Jared Henderson, Mike Mottl

Overall % Win

Overall % Win 8-7

0.53

PETIT FINAL SEMI FINAL M1 Johnie Berntsson v Eric Monnin First Match M2 Eric Monnin v Johnie Berntsson M1 Eric Monnin v Jesper Radich M2 Jesper Radich v Eric Monnin * Winners in bold M3 Eric Monnin v Jesper Radich

REP

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

6-0

1-3

0-2

Second Match M1 Ben Ainslie v Johnie Berntsson M2 Johnie Berntsson v Ben Ainslie M3 Ben Ainslie v Johnie Berntsson M4 Johnie Berntsson v Ben Ainslie

KEY RR – Round Robin REP – Repechage QF – Quarter Final

Overall % Win 7-5

0.58

Total Prize Money 100,000.00

Points -

Prize Money

9th

DNQ

Mathieu Richard (FRA) *French Match Racing Team Crew: Greg Evrard, Olivier Herledant, Yannick Simon

Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar sponsored by Argo Group, Crew: Richard Sydenham, Simon Shaw, Mal Parker

RECORDS

RECORDS RR

REP

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

4-2

4-1

Overall % Win 8-3

REP

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

3-4

Prize Money

10th

Overall % Win 3-4

0.42

0.72 DNQ

Points

Terry McLaughlin (CAN) Team Commonwealth Crew: Rob Gale, Alan Miegarry, John Millen

Damien Iehl (FRA) French Match Racing Team Crew: Fred Guillmin, Devan Le Bihan, Francois Verdier RECORDS

Phil Robertson (NZL) Waka Racing Crew: Garth Ellingham, James Williamson, Sam Bell

REP

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

2-4

Overall % Win 2-5

0.28

RECORDS RR

REP

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

3-4

2-3

Points -

Overall % Win 5-7

DNQ

0.41

Michael Buckley (USA) Crew: Steve Flam, David Hughes, John Von Smartz

Prize Money

11th

RECORDS

Bjﾃｶrn Hansen (SWE) Hansen Global Team Crew: Anders Jonsson, Richard Mason, C-J Uckelstam RECORDS REP

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

3-4

1-4

REP

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

2-5

DNQ

Points

Overall % Win 4-8

0.28

Lance Fraser (BER) Team TOPS Ltd Crew: Gareth William, Jorge Chiapparro, Rockal Evans

Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) Team Tunnicliffe Crew: Sally Barkow, Molly Vandemoer, Liz Bower, Dana Riley

Blythe Walker (BER) Team RenRe Crew: Adam Barboza, Somers Kempe, Will Thompson

RECORDS

REP

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

3-3

0-5

Overall % Win 3-8

0.27

OVERALL POSITION

REP

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

1-5

Overall % Win 1-5

0.16

OVERALL POINTS

Mathieu Richard Ben Ainslie Francesco Bruni Adam Minoprio Jesper Radich Torvar Mirsky Ian Williams Bertrand Pace Peter Gilmour Bjorn Hansen Magnus Holmberg LOWER OR UNRANKED

2-5

Dave Perry (USA) Team Perry Crew: Mark Ivey, Jonathon Farrer, Mike Rehe

Alvaro Marinho (POR) Seth Sailing Team Crew: Rubrio Basilio, Antonio Fontes, Luis Brito

Overall % Win

Jakub Pawluk (POL) Adresuj.com Slam Racing Crew: Jakub Wierusz, Maciej Wierusz, Dominik Niskiewicz

0.33

Prize Money

12th

Lucy Macgregor (GBR) GBR Match Race Girls Crew: Annie Lush, Chris Brittain, Peter Martin

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th

MATCH RACE FRANCE

MATCH RACE GERMANY

KOREA MATCH CUP

PORTIMﾃグ STENA ST MORITZ PORTUGAL MATCH CUP MATCH MATCH CUP SWEDEN RACE

DANISH OPEN

ARGO MONSOON GROUP CUP GOLD CUP

Mathieu Richard Ben Ainslie Francesco Bruni Adam Minoprio Jesper Radich Torvar Mirsky Ian Williams Bertrand Pace Peter Gilmour Bjorn Hansen Magnus Holmberg

105 88 57 90 60 76 72 18 51 33 29 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120 125 130

171

World Match Racing Tour in numbers

Monsoon Cup Points

Points

Prize Money

98,695.00

1st

Prize Money

Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN, Crew: Christian Kamp, Iain Percy, Matthew Cornwell, Mike Mottl

44,571.00

4th

Björn Hansen (SWE) Hansen Global Team, Crew: Nils Bjerkås, Sebastian Wendel, Anders Jönsson, Mathias Bredin

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

8-3

3-1

2-0

3-2

16-6

0.72

6-5

3-1

0-2

9-10

0.47

Points

Prize Money

68,450.00

2nd

Prize Money

Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team, Crew: Kinley Fowler, Kyle Langford, Tudur Owen, Graeme Spence

39,796.00

5th

Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar, Crew: Mark Nicholls, Andy Fethers, Simon Shaw, Richard Sydenham

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

6-5

3-0

2-0

2-3

13-8

0.61

10-1

1-3

2-0

13-4

0.76

Points

3rd

Points

Prize Money

49,350.00 Jesper Radich (DEN) Gaastra Racing Team, Crew: Rasmus Kastner, P.G. de Felice, Jann Neergaard, Jared Henderson

6th

35,000.00 Francesco Bruni (ITA) Azzurra, Crew: Benjamin Durham, Matteo Aguardo, Pierluigi de Felice, Thomas Burnham

RECORDS QF

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

8-3

3-2

0-2

2-0

13-7

0.65

8-3

2-3

1-1

11-7

0.61

FINAL M1 Ben Ainslie v Torvar Mirsky M2 Torvar Mirsky v Ben Ainslie M3 Ben Ainslie v Torvar Mirsky M4 Torvar Mirsky v Ben Ainslie M5 Ben Ainslie v Torvar Mirsky

172

RECORDS

PETIT FINAL M1 Jesper Radich v Bjorn Hansen M2 Bjorn Hansen v Jesper Radich

Second Match M1 Jesper Radich v Torvar Mirsky M2 Torvar Mirsky v Jesper Radich

SEMI FINAL First Match M1 Ben Ainslie v Bjorn Hansen M2 Bjorn Hansen v Ben Ainslie

* Winners in bold

KEY RR – Round Robin QF – Quarter Final Total Prize Money 469,571.00

Points

Prize Money

10th

28,650.00

7th

Prize Money

20,694.00

Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing, Crew: Yasuhiro Yaji, Kazauhiko Sofuku, Thierry Doulliard, Cameron Dunn

Phil Robertson (NZL) WAKA Racing, Crew: Garth Ellingham, Hayden Goodrick, James Williamson, Sam Bell

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

6-5

0-3

1-1

7-9

0.43

3-8

0.27

Points

Prize Money

11th

27,060.00

8th

Prize Money

17,510.00

Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team, Crew: Yannick Simon, Greg Evrard, Oliver Herledent, Thierry Briend

Keith Swinton (AUS) Black Swan Racing, Crew: Ted Hackney, Jasper Warren, Luke Payne, Richard McGarvie

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-6

1-3

0-2

6-8

0.42

2-9

0.18

Points

9th

Points

Prize Money

12th

23,877.00 Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing, Crew: Daniel McLean, Tom Powrie, David Swete, Nick Blackman

15,918.00 Jeremy Koo (MAS) Koo Racing Team Evernew, Crew: Sean Ong, Looi Sing Yew, Muhammad Fariz, Mohamed Fauzi

RECORDS

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

5-8 Place

Semi Final

Petit Final

Final

Overall

% Win

4-7

0.36

0-11

0.00

OVERALL POSITION

OVERALL POINTS

Mathieu Richard Ben Ainslie Francesco Bruni Adam Minoprio Jesper Radich Torvar Mirsky Ian Williams Bertrand Pace Peter Gilmour Bjorn Hansen Magnus Holmberg

LOWER OR UNRANKED

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th

MATCH RACE FRANCE

MATCH RACE GERMANY

KOREA MATCH CUP

PORTIMﾃグ STENA ST MORITZ PORTUGAL MATCH CUP MATCH MATCH CUP SWEDEN RACE

DANISH OPEN

ARGO MONSOON GROUP CUP GOLD CUP

Mathieu Richard Ben Ainslie Francesco Bruni Adam Minoprio Jesper Radich Torvar Mirsky Ian Williams Bertrand Pace Peter Gilmour Bjorn Hansen Magnus Holmberg

111 126 65 90 82 106 87 18 60 51 29 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120 125 130

173

www.wmrt.com ISBN 978-1-61364-411-9

781613

644119