Adam Minoprio

[Source: Monsoon Cup] Challenged on every part of the race course through four very tough races, Gilmour and his team of Yasuhiro Yaji, Rod Dawson, Thierry Douillard and Kazuhiko Sofuku, are deserved winners of the 2008 Monsoon Cup.

After several months of leading the Monsoon Cup event management team, Gilmour then had to turn around and focus his energies on the competition. It is a testament to the skills of this sailor that he was able to make the seamless move from Race Advisor to successful skipper.

“I feel very elated. It has been a long few months for us to pull the event together and then the deck was pretty well stacked against me for doing well here. I have tremendous crew here, which kept me concentrating, kept me sailing. They are not too hard on me when I make basic mistakes like running into committee boats and just keep me rolling along.

Peter Gilmour leading Adam Minoprio in the final. Kuala Terengannu, 7 December 2008. Photo copyright Sander van der Borch - SubZero Images

“Clearly we were very lucky to be in the final. We probably did not deserve to be on the race course, but here we are and we won the final.

“The result is great for 2009. We look forward to going on the tour and being a part of all that. It is very exciting,” a clearly delighted Gilmour said.

Gilmour had a tough trip to the top, finishing tied on five wins with Sebastien Col, Magnus Holmberg and Ben Ainslie at the end of the round robin series. On a count-back Gilmour went through to the quarter finals where he raced Col, winning his semi final place after five hard and at times, controversial matches.

The semi final for Gilmour was an extraordinary situation where his opponent was 22-year-old Torvar Mirsky, a one-time match racing student of Gilmour’s. It was a battle of wits, skill and experience which saw Gilmour dominate the matches to win 3-0.

Adam Minoprio leads Ian Williams on his way to the final. Kuala Terengannu, 7 December 2008. Photo copyright Sander van der Borch - SubZero Images

2008 ISAF Match Racing World Championship

Ian Williams has taken out the 2008 ISAF Match Racing World Championship ahead of Sebastien Col (French Match Racing Team/K-Challenge) in second place and Mathieu Richard (French Match Racing Team/French Spirit) in the third.

Petite Finals

In the Petite Final Torvar Mirsky (Mirsky Racing Team) and recently anointed Match Racing World Champion, Ian Williams (Bahrain Team Pindar), took to the water to redress their semi final losses as they both refocused and looked to finish third in the event. A tough battle ensued between the two with Mirsky dominating both matches to take out third place Monsoon Cup honours.

5th to 8th Knockout

Match 1 - Paolo Cian d Magnus Holmberg
Match 2 - Sebastien Col d Mathieu Richard
Match 3 - Paolo Cian d Sebastien Col (5th – 6th)
Match 4 - Magnus Holmberg d Mathieu Richard (7th – 8th)

Overall Monsoon Cup Results

1 – Peter Gilmour, Yanmar Racing (AUS)
2 – Adam Minoprio, ETNZ/Black Match Racing (NZL)
3 – Torvar Mirsky, Mirsky Racing Team (AUS)
4 – Ian Williams, Bahrain Team Pindar (GBR)
5 - Paolo Cian, Team Shosholoza (ITA)
6 - Sebastien Col, French Match Racing Team / K-Challenge (FRA)
7 - Magnus Holmberg, Victory Challenge (SWE)
8 - Mathieu Richard, French Match Racing Team / French Spirit (FRA)
9 - Ben Ainslie, Team Origin (GBR)
10 - Keith Swinton, Black Swan Racing (AUS)
11 - Johnie Berntsson, Berntsson Sailing Team (SWE)
12 - Nurul Ain bt.Md Isa, Perak Sailing Team (MAS)

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Valencia Sailing) and software by Elliott Back

[Source: Monsoon Cup] Four focused and fired up international match racing teams are through to the Monsoon Cup semi final stage and already on the water vying for a place in the finals.

Torvar Mirsky (Mirsky Racing Team), Ian Williams (Bahrain Team Pindar), Adam Minoprio (ETNZ/Black Match Racing) and Peter Gilmour (Yanmar Racing) are battling it out on the waters of Terengganu, Malaysia. The Monsoon Cup is the final event in the World Match Racing Tour. Winning this event will be the highlight of the year for any one of these teams.

Magnus Holmberg trailing Torvar Mirsky at the top mark. Kuala Terengganu, 6 December 2008. Photo copyright Sander van der Borch - SubZero Images

The first semi final match between Ian Williams and Adam Minoprio saw Williams pull ahead of Minoprio to win the match. In their second match both teams continued to chase the favoured right hand side of the course playing the strong current and shifty breezes. Williams took the upper hand crossing the finish line two boat lengths ahead of Minoprio.

“It felt very comfortable. It felt fast. We made a real improvement today in the way we sailed the boat, the way we communicated. I felt today was possibly the third or fourth time this year where we sailed like world champions. We have never done two days of that; not since this regatta last year. Nobody was going to beat us today.

“We are on fire. Communication was spot on, good judgment calls and the timing right (on communication). We had some really tough matches, particularly against Mathieu. We had a start that could have gone really badly for us, but we made it go good. Adam, well he struggled against us and we were a lot more comfortable. But we have to do the same tomorrow,” Williams said.

Paolo Cian and Adam Minporio cross tacking. Kuala Terengganu, 6 December 2008. Photo copyright Sander van der Borch - SubZero Images

Gilmour was back on the water for the first match of his semi final battle with Mirsky after winning the final and fifth race in his quarter final battle against Col in controversial circumstances.

Jury Chair Bill Edgerton explained the decision to award the final match to Gilmour. “The race committee evidence was that Peter Gilmour’s spinnaker went across first and Sebastien Col’s bow went over first. There is this thing about gear in its normal position. Both parties accepted that was the situation on the water. Then it was just a matter of whether the spinnaker was in its normal position or not. When they are reaching at 90 degrees, dropping the kite, that is where the kite would be in a normal manoeuvre.

“All the parties accepted that the spinnaker went over first and the bow went over afterwards. There wasn’t any contention about the facts. It was legally whether the spinnakers would be counted as part of the boat or not, or if they deliberately eased the spinnaker to get a finish. They didn’t. They were both in the process of dropping their spinnakers.”

The Jury decision effectively handed Ian Williams the 2008 ISAF World Match Racing Championship trophy.

Gilmour took out his first match against Mirsky with a three boat lead at the finish.

Reflecting on the afternoon’s controversy and its possible distractions, Gilmour said “you need to get your thinking focusing on the here and now and not on the outcome. This concept has a very profound effect on how you perform. The most powerful tool in the match racing game is your head and how you control it.’

Gilmour’s spinnaker is flogging but passes the line first. The race officer gave saw it different and had Col winning the match. According to the umpire call Gilmour’s spinnaker was in its “normal” position during the finish which gives him the win over Col. Kuala Terengganu, 6 December 2008. Photo copyright Sander van der Borch - SubZero Images

Gilmour’s spinnaker is flogging but passes the line first. The race officer gave saw it different and had Col winning the match. According to the umpire call Gilmour’s spinnaker was in its “normal” position during the finish which gives him the win over Col. Kuala Terengganu, 6 December 2008. Photo copyright Sander van der Borch - SubZero Images

Gilmour’s spinnaker is flogging but passes the line first. The race officer gave saw it different and had Col winning the match. According to the umpire call Gilmour’s spinnaker was in its “normal” position during the finish which gives him the win over Col. Kuala Terengganu, 6 December 2008. Photo copyright Gareth Cooke - SubZero Images

The results of today’s semi final racing are -
Adam Minoprio 0 - Ian Williams 2
Torvar Mirsky 0 - Peter Gilmour 1

Racing in the semi-final stage will continue tomorrow with Williams, Minoprio, Mirsky and Gilmour all to complete their matches.

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Valencia Sailing) and software by Elliott Back

Hello from BlackMatch in Malaysia,

In the shiftiest day seen so far here at the 2008 Monsoon Cup, we managed to improve our scoreline to 7 wins 3 losses and secure our spot in the quarter final. We are currently lying a close third with one race to go and are guaranteed this position, although we can overtake Torvar Mirsky tomorrow if we beat Holmberg and he loses to Col. Cian has sailed an excellent regatta so far and has secured the top qualifying position, while further down the field there is a very tight race for the 5 remaining quarter final berths, a six way tie which includes all 3 of the world title contenders.

Luffing battle between Adam Minoprio and and Mathieu Richard. Kuala Terengganu, 5 December 2008. Photo copyright Sail-World.com/ AUS

Now this is where the interesting stuff begins, our final race tomorrow is against Holmberg where a win to us could see him ousted, this is the same predicament for Col who is racing against Mirsky. Ian Williams who is the defending champion has a pressure match against an out of contention but eager Johnie Berntsson, while Ainslie and Richard come head to head to see who will go through in their match. Two time Monsoon Cup champion Peter Gilmour is also still in contention, however he has no more racing and will be relying on Richard to take out his match against Ainslie if he is to proceed.

A late run today by Mathieu Richard, who had to win all of his matches today to stay in contention saw the world number 1 showing his class, taking 3 victories and an all important win over Ian Williams. Adding to the drama was a decision to deduct Magnus Holmberg of a full point due to his involvement in an incident with Ian Williams. The incident resulted in serious damage to Ian’s boat and the decision has definitely contributed to the bizarre 6 way tie that has occurred.

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Valencia Sailing) and software by Elliott Back

The following competitors have been confirmed for the upcoming NZ Match Racing Championships:

Dean Barker
Josh Junior
Laurie Jury
Adam Minoprio
Ben Ainslie
Jessica Smyth
Rueben Corbett
Jonathan Rankine
Jan Dawson
Adrian Short
Rod Davis
Phil Robertson

The NZ Match Racing Championships are running in Auckland 26 – 30 November 2008.

The event is managed by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.

Quick Facts about the NZ Match Racing Championships:

• Open to men and women

• Top sailors in NZ attend; many Emirates Team NZ members have competed over the years

• ISAF Grade 3 event

• The event has run for 22 years

• Previous winners include Ken Davern, Brad Butterworth, Chris Dixon, Rod Davies and Dean Barker

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Valencia Sailing) and software by Elliott Back

The following competitors have been confirmed for the upcoming NZ Match Racing Championships:

Dean Barker
Josh Junior
Laurie Jury
Adam Minoprio
Ben Ainslie
Jessica Smyth
Rueben Corbett
Jonathan Rankine
Jan Dawson
Adrian Short
Rod Davis
Phil Robertson

The NZ Match Racing Championships are running in Auckland 26 – 30 November 2008.

The event is managed by the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.

Quick Facts about the NZ Match Racing Championships:

• Open to men and women

• Top sailors in NZ attend; many Emirates Team NZ members have competed over the years

• ISAF Grade 3 event

• The event has run for 22 years

• Previous winners include Ken Davern, Brad Butterworth, Chris Dixon, Rod Davies and Dean Barker

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Valencia Sailing) and software by Elliott Back

Hello from BlackMatch during the semi final stage of the Bermuda Gold Cup,

There were many surprises today on and off the water today, the first was the realization that our semi final opponent was not in fact Johnnie Berntsson from Sweden, but three times Olympic Gold Medalist and America’s Cup Helmsman Ben Ainslie. After last nights press conference it was announced that we were to take Johnnie on in the semi final, it was not until this morning when Team Origins Coach spied a change in the notice of race that indicated we were to take on the British team, which also included Olympic Star Gold medalist Ian Percy. It was an unenviable position to be in taking on a team with such talent but when facing a 2-1 deficit that saw Ben on match point, we really stepped our game up to take out the next two pressure matches and qualify for the 2008 King Edward VII Gold Cup final.

In our first match we forced a penalty on the Brits when they attempted to swing below our stern but crashed straight into us on port, their fleet racing skills showed through in the end though and they sailed away to have a big enough advantage to do their penalty turn on the finish line. We took the next race out comfortably when they misjudged the start and were over the start line when the gun went, we sailed very well tactically in this race and defended our lead well to level the scores. In our third match we had an even start but they again showed excellent speed and won by a narrow margin to go to match point. The fourth match saw a split tack start, we were extremely confident in the right hand side of the course during our pre-start manoeuvres so Adam fought hard for the committee boat end of the line, we won the boat and backed our call against the Olympians to make huge gains in better pressure on the first upwind. They fought back hard and on the second upwind we were ‘tack for tack’ but still maintained a 2 boat length lead by the top mark to take the victory and again level the scores. The deciding match saw a very heated pre-start, we were in total control of the start and had the Team Origin Crew on the ropes, locked out above the committee boat end of the start line. They bailed out and attempted to gybe around to start, instead of bearing away and going for a conservative start we went for the kill and tacked to follow them. Both of us were bearing away to gybe for the start and they gybed straight in front of us, our only avenue was to continue with our gybe inside them but the British team kept altering their course at us and there was a collision. There were protest flags from both boats but the penalty went against them while we also had better speed off the line that gave us the advantage we needed to take out the semi final 3-2 and progress through to the final tomorrow.

An all Swedish affair in the other semi final saw the inform Johnnie Berntsson defeat Mattias Rahm convincingly 3-0. We are absolutely ecstatic to have beaten such a respectable competitor in Ben Ainslie here in Bermuda, but we very weary of the form that Johnnie Berntsson has discovered and are looking forward to the challenge of winning our first World Tour Event tomorrow. We would like to congratulate all of the semi finalists as it is such a huge achievement to make it through to the final 4 of 24 competing teams.

BlackMatch would like to thank their sponsors FedEx Express and Ross Munro from Line 7 New Zealand, we are very proud to have the support of such world renowned companies. We would also like to thank our yacht club the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron and also our friends and family for their great support this year, we hope we can go one better and take out the final tomorrow.

FINALISTS

Adam Minoprio (NZL) vs Johnie Berntsson (SWE)

SEMI FINAL RESULTS
Adam Minoprio (NZL) vs Ben Ainslie( GBR), 3-2
Johnie Berntsson (SWE) vs Mattias Rahm (SWE), 3-0

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Valencia Sailing) and software by Elliott Back

Hello from BlackMatch on day two of the ACI Match in Croatia,

With another stunning day here in Split, racing was delayed for two hours before the sea breeze slowly filled in. When racing finally went ahead conditions were absolutely perfect for match racing, however this was short lived and the race committee could only get away the remaining match of the first round robin and 3 matches of the second round robin before the wind faded away to nothing.

We faltered early in the day with a loss against Torvar Mirsky in a fierce race, but we remain in the hunt for that elusive top 4 spot to proceed through to the semi finals after we found our straps and won the next 3 races in a row. One of our wins today came against match racing legend Betrand Pace who is showing excellent form here, this was a very big scalp and a comprehensive victory after Adam nailed the start and we lead the entire race while the French team threw everything at us.

We feel we are starting to find some form here in Croatia and hope that a couple of hiccups early on will not come back to haunt us. Tomorrow we will be finishing off the second round robin and we are all looking forward to the challenge of taking a few more big scalps and hopefully progressing through.

We would again like to say a special thank you to our sponsors: FedEx Express and Ross Munro from Line 7, their ongoing support is helping make this opportunity possible for the BlackMatch boys. To the RNZYS and everyone else, thank you for your support.

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Valencia Sailing) and software by Elliott Back

Hi all from BlackMatch,

Day 3 of racing in St Moritz saw us again involved in very little of the action on the water. Having already qualified for the quarterfinals we waited in anticipation for the repechage series to draw to an end and find out who we were to face in the next stage of the event. The repechage series produced some exciting racing with some big names of match racing failing to qualify for the final 8. The 2 teams to go through were Peter Wibroe and French America’s Cup Helmsman Philippe Presti, with names like Bjorn Hansen, Paolo Cian and Torvar Mirsky missing out.

Adam Minoprio and Peter Wibroe in the St Moritz Match Race quarterfinals. St Moritz, 5 September 2008. Photo copyright Loris von Siebenthal - www.myimage.ch

Peter qualified top of the repecharge so it was decided that we would race him in the best of 3 quarterfinal. During the interlude between the repechage and quarterfinal we were involved in several VIP fleet races amongst all of the competing teams. Although these races did not count towards the match racing, we won both of ours convincingly which not only meant we each won a new pair of Kaenon sunglasses, but it also put us in good readiness for our upcoming showdown with the talented Danish team.

The quarterfinals didn’t get underway until late in the evening and there was only time to complete one race which we won in a very tight battle to put us only one win away from making the semi finals. We started with a split tack against Peter and we lead out to the right hand side of the course which we thought was favoured. Our first cross saw us in front, but the Danes had now won the right hand side and when we came back together they held a slim lead going into the first downwind. We stayed in touch with them and were hot on their tail going into the run to the finish, an excellent spinnaker set and superior crew work saw us regain our lead and roll them to windward. Peter luffed us hard in a defensive move but we responded and were able to hold our lead to take a narrow victory.

Only one win away from making the semi final and we are feeling confident we can bring it home tomorrow, but we remain very cautious as we are racing a very respectable competitor.

We would again like to acknowledge our long term sponsors FedEx Express and Ross Munro from Line 7, their ongoing support is making it possible for us to be over here in our long term quest to win the World Match Racing Tour. To the RNZYS and everyone else, thank you for your support.

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Valencia Sailing) and software by Elliott Back

Hi all from BlackMatch,

Day two of racing here in St Moritz saw a very limited amount of sailing with only two races completed due to a lack of breeze, however these races were very important and decided the teams to qualify directly for the quarterfinals from our group. With Sebastian Col, Mathieu Richard and Eric Monnin already qualifying from ‘Group A’ yesterday, the final two races of ‘Group B’ were completed today and we came out on top with 4 wins from our 5 races. Ian Williams and Jes Gram-Hansen also qualified from our pool each on 3 wins, but there is still hope for the remaining teams who will race in a repechage series to decide the remaining 2 places in the quarterfinals.

The young guns are fighting and Adam Minoprio pushes Torvar Mirsky towards the start line at St Moritz Match Race. St Moritz, 4 September 2008. Photo copyright Loris von Siebenthal - www.myimage.ch

Although the wind shut out this afternoon and it was not possible to race the repechage series, this mornings conditions were very similar to yesterdays and saw us racing our final round robin matches in a shifty 8 knot breeze. Our first race against the reigning World Tour Champion did not go according to plan. Ian came out fighting in a must win match for him and held a slim lead off the start line, he sailed a very good tactical race and although we showed promise, he held on for a well deserved victory. Having only won a single match during the round robin, Torvar Mirsky and his team were looking to get some consolation from their race against us.

We were however extremely keen to qualify top of our group and after a very aggressive pre-start we had the advantage off the start-line. We sailed very fast around the course and held a good lead going into the final run but when we got tangled up in the match ahead of us, we were forced to gybe away from the finish line, upon gybing back we had killed all of our speed allowing the crafty Australians to attack and sail us out to the other side of the course to gain control. The umpires however deemed that they had sailed us past our proper course and Torvar was handed a penalty. Whilst approaching the finish line they attempted to sail us into a position were they could complete their penalty turn and maintain the lead but they did so in our water and although they completed their turn, they were given a second penalty that handed us the win.

We would again like to acknowledge our long term sponsors FedEx Express and Ross Munro from Line 7, their ongoing support is making it possible for us to be over here in our long term quest to win the World Match Racing Tour. To the RNZYS and everyone else, thank you for your support.

BlackMatch Racing

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Valencia Sailing) and software by Elliott Back

Hi all from BlackMatch,

Today was the first day of racing in the St Moritz World Match Racing Tour event, Switzerland. St Moritz is the 6th leg of the World Tour and is held on a beautiful lake 1800 meters above sea level, it is surrounded by absolutely stunning mountains and ski fields which provide an awesome back drop to the racing. There are 12 of the best match racing teams in the world competing here, including 8 out of the top 10 teams in the ISAF world rankings.

The regatta is being sailed in Blu 26 One design boats which are a brand new design for this event and are especially designed for the shifty conditions of lake sailing. They are four man boats, a very modern design with big sails that power the boats up early and they provided some excellent racing today in their maiden regatta.

Start of the fleet race. Saint Moritz, 3 September 2008. Photo copyright Loris von Siebenthal - www.myimage.ch

Conditions today were very tricky but absolutely perfect for match racing. A constant 8 knot breeze was the result of warm air rising over the mountains from neighbouring Italy, cooling at the top of the mountain range and then funnelling down the valley onto our race course. We had an excellent start to the regatta winning all 3 of our races and putting us in very good stead to progress through to the quarterfinals. With the fleet divided into two pools of 6 teams, we found ourselves in the same group as Ian Williams, Torvar Mirsky, Paulo Cian, Jes Gram-Hansen and Peter Wibroe. The top 3 teams from each pool win the right to go through to the final 8 quarter finals directly while the remaining 3 teams from either pool get a second chance in a repercharge series. We had wins today over Paulo, Jes and Peter and are the only team who remain unbeaten in the regatta. With the prospect of racing Torvar and Ian tomorrow who both only have one win so far, we are hoping to secure our spot in the quarterfinal and avoid the repercharge series.

Our most exciting race today was against Match Cup Germany runner up and Mascalzone Latino America’s Cup helmsman, Jes Gram-Hansen. After an even pre-start the Dane sailed a very good tactical first beat to have a two boat length lead by the top mark. In an attacking move we gybe set and the Danish team responded by trying to luff hard and defend their lead. We were too good however and managed to roll over the top of them. By the bottom mark we held a slim lead but when the World Tour regular held us past our proper course and failed to give us adequate buoy room, he was handed a penalty. We had an awesome bottom mark drop during a pressure situation while they had a very untidy spinnaker drop and trawled their spinnaker, this helped us extend our lead to take a comfortable victory.

We would again like to say a special thank you to our sponsors: FedEx Express and Ross Munro from Line 7, their ongoing support is helping make this opportunity possible for the BlackMatch boys. To the RNZYS and everyone else, thank you for your support.

BlackMatch Racing

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Valencia Sailing) and software by Elliott Back

Hi all from BlackMatch,

Today was day two of the Baltic Match in Finland and although there was plenty of action on the water in an attempt to finish off the first round robin, we were only involved in three races, winning 2 from 3. We still have 3 races on the final day tomorrow to see if we will proceed through to the semi final stage of the regatta and we are currently looking ok, lying in 2nd position to Australian Evan Walker, who only has 1 loss.

Our loss today came against world #4 and Baltic Match Race regular, Bjorn Hansen. It was however an extremely close race and we took many positives out of it that we are hoping to take into the final day. We are gaining confidence now in the J-80 boats and hope we can win through to the final tomorrow.

We would like to extend a special thank you to our sponsors FedEx Express and Ross Munro from Line 7, also to our yacht club the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. To our friends and family back home we also thank you for all of your support.

BlackMatch Racing

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Valencia Sailing) and software by Elliott Back

Hi all from BlackMatch,

We are currently competing in the Baltic Match Cup in Finland. It is a grade 2 event held in Helsinki on the Baltic Sea and unlike Qingdao, racing got underway today in a fantastic 15 knot breeze and near perfect match racing conditions. There are 12 teams racing here and with a line up that includes world #4 Bjorn Hansen, it is definitely going to be a tough regatta.

We finished today with a record of 4 wins and 1 loss. Our loss today came in a hard fought race against Australian and 2008 Hardy Cup Champion, Evan Walker. Evan and his team got a slight advantage off the start line and kept the slimmest of leads throughout the race to take the victory. We lost to Evan in the Hardy Cup final earlier this year and today he again proved that he is a very talented sailor.

The regatta is being sailed in four man J-80 class boats. They are the same boats that we sailed in France a fortnight ago but we are now getting confident that we are improving how we are handling the boats and looking forward to finishing the round robin off positively tomorrow.

We would like to extend a special thank you to our sponsors FedEx Express and Ross Munro from Line 7, also to our yacht club the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. To our friends and family back home we also thank you for all of your support.

BlackMatch Racing

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Valencia Sailing) and software by Elliott Back

Hi all from BlackMatch,

Today was the final day of racing here in Poland and it saw us taking on the World #16 Eric Monin, in a best of 5 final series to see who would be the 2008 Sopot Match Champion. It was a very eventful day and our only loss in the final came in dramatic style when we snapped our mast on our entry to the third race. We eventually took out the final 3-1 providing the large crowd that had gathered on the end of Europe’s longest wharf with some extremely exciting racing.

Adam Minoprio breaks his boat’s mast on the entry to the third race of the Toyota Sopot Match Race final. Sopot, 20 July 2008. Photo copyright Juerg Kaufmann

Our first match was definitely the closest and it saw the lead change various times. Monin had the narrowest of advantages off the start line but we fought back hard up the first beat to lead around the first top mark by half a boat length. The Swiss team had an excellent spinnaker hoist and managed to roll around us to windward but we defended well by luffing them hard, we sailed them out to the left hand side of the course and were in complete control until our gybe back to the bottom mark went bad when our spinnaker sheet got caught around the end of our boom. We broached when Eric realised we were in trouble and he gibed back at us to luff us hard, we couldn’t keep clear and were handed a penalty by the umpires. We recovered well though and were still in touch by the bottom mark, in fact we were so close that when Eric tried to tack and cross us he couldn’t quite manage it received a penalty which exonerated us. We sailed an excellent final upwind and had a 3 boat length lead at the top mark but again the Swiss team had a good spinnaker hoist and brought wind pressure up from behind to again roll us to windward. This time though we were equal to the task and sailed them out to the left hand side of the course to gibe back to the finish line and take a very hard earned victory in a tough race.

Unfortunately for us perhaps the spectacle of the day was our mast breaking on entry into the third race while we were 2 nil up and on match point. As black clouds rolled in the breeze picked up to 25 knots and as we bore away to enter in the gusty conditions we looked up in time to see our rig snap and go over the bow of the boat. As we were already into a start sequence there was nothing we could do and the win went to Monin.

A new boat was needed for the final race and we managed to totally dominate the Swiss team to win by half a leg, in doing so we were crowned the 2008 Sopot Match Champions.

From Adam, Dave, Tom and Nick we would like to send a big thank you to all of our friends and family back home, it was great to come away with our first grade 1 victory here in Poland and we appreciate all of the support that we have received from everyone.

BlackMatch would like to again thank our sponsors: FedEx Express and Ross Munro from Line 7, their ongoing support is helping make this opportunity possible for the BlackMatch boys. To the RNZYS and everyone else, thank you for your support.

BlackMatch Racing

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Valencia Sailing) and software by Elliott Back

Hi all from BlackMatch in Poland,

Today saw the remainder of the top 8 round robin completed and also the semi final stage of the Sopot Match. We had an excellent day, winning the top 8 with 5 wins and two losses and then taking out our semi final 3-0 to qualify for our first ever Grade 1 final.

On completion of the top 8 round robin, the three other teams to proceed through to the semi finals were Keith Swinton, Ian Ainslee and Eric Monin. Surprise omissions from the semi finals were defending champion Peter Wibroe who is the world #8 and also world #7 Torvar Mirsky, one of our losses in the top 8 however was against Torvar. In extremely light conditions the Perth team did an excellent job to get a small advantage off the start line, they sailed extremely well throughout the race to take the victory but unfortunately this was not enough to see them through to the final four as they could only manage 3 wins from their 7 races.

As we qualified top of the table we had the choice of who to race in the semi final, we chose South African Ian Ainslee which left Keith Swinton to race Eric Monin from Switzerland. The two teams to proceed through to the finals would be the first to reach 3 wins. We managed to totally dominate the world #20 and took out the semi final in style 3-0, while Eric Monin sailed extremely well to come out victor over Keith Swinton 3-1.

Our first race against Ian did see him gain a small advantage off the start line when he got the first wind shift and lead us around the top mark. We had an excellent first mark rounding though and found ourselves gibing and rolling over the top of the South African team. They luffed us very violently and we responded straight away but there was contact between the boats, the umpires deemed that they had not given us enough room and opportunity to keep clear so they were penalised. The battle continued downwind and Ian assumed he still had luffing rights so he sailed us past the bottom mark. We were however confident that we had broken the overlap and this meant Ian had no right to take us past our ‘proper course’ so we protested him and he received a second penalty to be taken immediately, essentially game over. The other races were pretty standard with Adam managing out manoeuvre our opponent to gain the upper hand in the pre starts and the boys keeping the boat fast around the track to gain comfortable victories.

It is great to be in our first Grade 1 Match Racing final and such an awesome event to do well at, no doubt it will be a tough final tomorrow against the gritty Swiss team and we are looking forward to the challenge ahead of us.

BlackMatch would like to again thank our sponsors: FedEx Express and Ross Munro from Line 7, their ongoing support is helping make this opportunity possible for the BlackMatch boys. To the RNZYS and everyone else, thank you for your support.

BlackMatch Racing

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Valencia Sailing) and software by Elliott Back

Hi all from BlackMatch in Poland,

Today saw the remainder of the top 8 round robin completed and also the semi final stage of the Sopot Match. We had an excellent day, winning the top 8 with 5 wins and two losses and then taking out our semi final 3-0 to qualify for our first ever Grade 1 final.

On completion of the top 8 round robin, the three other teams to proceed through to the semi finals were Keith Swinton, Ian Ainslee and Eric Monin. Surprise omissions from the semi finals were defending champion Peter Wibroe who is the world #8 and also world #7 Torvar Mirsky, one of our losses in the top 8 however was against Torvar. In extremely light conditions the Perth team did an excellent job to get a small advantage off the start line, they sailed extremely well throughout the race to take the victory but unfortunately this was not enough to see them through to the final four as they could only manage 3 wins from their 7 races.

As we qualified top of the table we had the choice of who to race in the semi final, we chose South African Ian Ainslee which left Keith Swinton to race Eric Monin from Switzerland. The two teams to proceed through to the finals would be the first to reach 3 wins. We managed to totally dominate the world #20 and took out the semi final in style 3-0, while Eric Monin sailed extremely well to come out victor over Keith Swinton 3-1.

Our first race against Ian did see him gain a small advantage off the start line when he got the first wind shift and lead us around the top mark. We had an excellent first mark rounding though and found ourselves gibing and rolling over the top of the South African team. They luffed us very violently and we responded straight away but there was contact between the boats, the umpires deemed that they had not given us enough room and opportunity to keep clear so they were penalised. The battle continued downwind and Ian assumed he still had luffing rights so he sailed us past the bottom mark. We were however confident that we had broken the overlap and this meant Ian had no right to take us past our ‘proper course’ so we protested him and he received a second penalty to be taken immediately, essentially game over. The other races were pretty standard with Adam managing out manoeuvre our opponent to gain the upper hand in the pre starts and the boys keeping the boat fast around the track to gain comfortable victories.

It is great to be in our first Grade 1 Match Racing final and such an awesome event to do well at, no doubt it will be a tough final tomorrow against the gritty Swiss team and we are looking forward to the challenge ahead of us.

BlackMatch would like to again thank our sponsors: FedEx Express and Ross Munro from Line 7, their ongoing support is helping make this opportunity possible for the BlackMatch boys. To the RNZYS and everyone else, thank you for your support.

BlackMatch Racing

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Valencia Sailing) and software by Elliott Back

Hello again from BlackMatch on day 2 of Sopot Match,

After finishing off the remaining races in our round robin today, we had a good day with 5 wins and 1 loss, finishing with a scorecard of 8 wins and 3 losses to currently be lying in second place. Today’s conditions were sunny with a light shifty offshore breeze, however there was the odd rain squall that would bring with it some big gusts that made for some very interesting racing. There are several teams who still have to race tomorrow to finish off their round robins to decide who will be in the top eight and progress through to the quarter final’s, however the team currently topping the table is Keith Swinton from Perth who has a record of 9 wins and 2 losses. Keith has a world ranking of 29 and competed in the event qualifier last week so he is accustomed to the boats and local conditions, his team are sailing very well here but we did manage to get the better of him today as well as getting a very convincing win over their compatriot Torvar Mirsky.

We had an interesting race against world #14 Eugeny Neugodnikov. After gaining the edge after the pre start we were tack for tack with the Russian team to the first top mark where we crossed them to get the ‘power of the right’ and the starboard hand right of way. When Eugeny tacked back towards us the call was made to dial down at him and force him to either dip us, or tack back to avoid us, unfortunately for them they misjudged the situation and ploughed straight into us on port tack. The penalty went against them and we continued to race but the Russians fought back and regained the lead by the next bottom mark. They still had their slight advantage going into the final downwind but did not have enough room to undertake their penalty turn, so they waited for us near the finish boat to try and force a penalty on us. We have been in this situation many times this year so we knew what to expect, managing to catch them off guard and sail over them towards the pin end of the line to take the win.

Our loss today came against world #16 Eric Monin, from Switzerland. After a clean pre start we found ourselves heading to what we thought was the favoured right hand side of the course and let the Swiss team have the left in a big split tack start. Unfortunately for us though the right hand pressure did not come till later up the first beat and we found ourselves trailing by two boat lengths at the first top mark. We stayed in touch for the entire race but Eric and his team sailed very well in the extremely shifty conditions and defended their lead to win by half a boat length.

We felt like we were dominating in our pre-starts today as well as having good boat speed, this was very apparent when we forced double penalties on Torvar Mirsky and local talent Przemek Tarnacki. We are confident that we can improve on our tactics around the tricky race track for the remainder of the regatta and are looking forward to seeing who will make the top 8 tomorrow.

For more information on the event, live results/races and photos see the event website on http://www.yachting.com.pl/en/page/1/Sopot_Match_Race_2008
BlackMatch would like to again thank their sponsors: FedEx Express, Ross Munro from Line 7 and Waiwera Infinity, their ongoing support is helping make this opportunity possible for us to be competing over here with the World’s best. To the RNZYS and everyone else, thank you for your support. Please also check out our website: www.blackmatchracing.com this was provided to us by Simon Dickey at Frontend Design.

BlackMatch Racing

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Valencia Sailing) and software by Elliott Back

Hi all from BlackMatch,

We are currently competing in the Sopot Match Racing, Grade 1 event. The event is being held on the Baltic Sea in the north of Poland. While during the winter season the water temperature is so cold it ices over, in the summer the weather is stunning and today we had warm sunny conditions with a shifty offshore breeze, providing some exciting racing. There are 12 teams here and some very highly ranked competitors, there are also three local teams that are well accustomed to the boats and the tricky conditions. World #8 Torvar Mirsky is competing here along with world #? Peter Wibroe from Denmark and Stefan Lindberg from Finland who is a world tour regular and world #?. The regatta is being sailed in Diamante 3000 class boats which are well suited to match racing but are difficult to sail with complicated rigs and running backstays. We found today challenging but are happy with our start, after winning 3 races and losing two.

Our losses today came against the higher ranked Wibroe and Lindberg, however we are confident that we will be competitive here and have taken a lot out of these two early losses. In our loss to Lindberg, we found ourselves in a very controlling position after the start and dictated the first upwind leg to have a 3 boat length lead at the top mark. This however changed when Stefan managed to pick up better pressure from behind and made inroads into our lead downwind to be level pegged at the bottom mark. An incident followed and we received a harsh penalty for taking too much buoy room at the bottom mark, but we kept sailing well to have a five boat length lead by the final top mark rounding. We thought we had enough of an advantage to take our penalty turn so it was decided that we would do our turn on the finish line, however the lead was not quite enough and on completing our turn, the Finnish team sailed past to win by half a boat length.

The format for this regatta is one robin, quarter finals, semi finals and finals, so our first goal is to make the top 8 quarter finals and we are looking forward to completing the first round robin tomorrow with 6 races in a row.

Again a special thank you to our sponsors: FedEx Express, Ross Munro from Line 7 and Waiwera Infinity, their ongoing support is helping make this opportunity possible for the BlackMatch boys. To the RNZYS and everyone else, thank you for your support.

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Valencia Sailing) and software by Elliott Back

Hi all from BlackMatch,

We are currently competing in the Sopot Match Racing, Grade 1 event. The event is being held on the Baltic Sea in the north of Poland. While during the winter season the water temperature is so cold it ices over, in the summer the weather is stunning and today we had warm sunny conditions with a shifty offshore breeze, providing some exciting racing. There are 12 teams here and some very highly ranked competitors, there are also three local teams that are well accustomed to the boats and the tricky conditions. World #8 Torvar Mirsky is competing here along with world #? Peter Wibroe from Denmark and Stefan Lindberg from Finland who is a world tour regular and world #?. The regatta is being sailed in Diamante 3000 class boats which are well suited to match racing but are difficult to sail with complicated rigs and running backstays. We found today challenging but are happy with our start, after winning 3 races and losing two.

Adam Minoprio’s BlackMatch racing in the Toyota Sopot Match Race. Sopot, 17 July 2008. Photo copyright Jürg Kaufmann

Our losses today came against the higher ranked Wibroe and Lindberg, however we are confident that we will be competitive here and have taken a lot out of these two early losses. In our loss to Lindberg, we found ourselves in a very controlling position after the start and dictated the first upwind leg to have a 3 boat length lead at the top mark. This however changed when Stefan managed to pick up better pressure from behind and made inroads into our lead downwind to be level pegged at the bottom mark. An incident followed and we received a harsh penalty for taking too much buoy room at the bottom mark, but we kept sailing well to have a five boat length lead by the final top mark rounding. We thought we had enough of an advantage to take our penalty turn so it was decided that we would do our turn on the finish line, however the lead was not quite enough and on completing our turn, the Finnish team sailed past to win by half a boat length.

The format for this regatta is one robin, quarter finals, semi finals and finals, so our first goal is to make the top 8 quarter finals and we are looking forward to completing the first round robin tomorrow with 6 races in a row.

Again a special thank you to our sponsors: FedEx Express, Ross Munro from Line 7 and Waiwera Infinity, their ongoing support is helping make this opportunity possible for the BlackMatch boys. To the RNZYS and everyone else, thank you for your support.

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Valencia Sailing) and software by Elliott Back

[Source: BlackMatch Racing] Today was the final day of racing in the Open Match Cup. We completed our final three races of the round robin today in again, near perfect match racing conditions and managed to win all three. Our final races were against Rafal Sawicki from Poland, last year’s champion Eric Monnin from Switzerland and Mads Elber from Denmark.

We qualified 1st equal at the end of the round robin, tied with Jure Orel from Slovenia and it was decided that we were to race America’s Cup Helmsman and world #12 Ian Ainslie, in a best of 3 semi final while Jure Orel from Slovenia would take on Marek Stancyk from Poland.

In a well competed semi final, we managed to take a 2-0 victory over Ainslie who was arguably one of the best pre-starters at this event. In both races we held a slim advantage off the start line and extended throughout the race, claiming our berth in the final.

The other semi final was also won 2-0 by Jure Orel, so it was to be New Zealand taking on Slovenia in the best of 5 final. Jure and his crew had shown excellent form throughout the regatta while we had steadily been improving, so the scene was set for an excellent final show down.

Another victory for Adam Minoprio and BlackMatch Racing

In our first match against Jure we had a big advantage off the start line, we had also forced a penalty on them when they failed to complete a tack onto starboard that resulted in a collision. We defended our lead throughout the race and sailed well to gain an early upper hand in the final.

Our second match saw a much closer affair, the Slovenians lead us off the start line after a closely contested pre-start and a fierce tacking duel ensued. By the first top mark it was ‘neck and neck’ but we had made significant inroads and managed to roll over the top of Orel on the final tack to the mark. We had an excellent spinnaker set and maintained our slim advantage throughout the remainder of the race.

The third match was ours to win, facing a 2-0 deficit all of the pressure was on the Eastern Europeans and we again had an excellent start. We had a big lead and Jure had received a penalty after gybing onto port in front of us, the advantage was too much and we held on for victory, in doing so winning the 2008 Open Match Cup.

Thank you to all of our friends and family back home, it was great to come away with a victory here in Austria and we appreciate all of the support that we have received from everyone.

BlackMatch would like to again thank our sponsors: FedEx Express, Ross Munro from Line 7 and John St Clair Brown from Waiwera Infinity, it is great to get our first win on our European Tour and their ongoing support is helping make this opportunity possible for the BlackMatch boys. To the RNZYS and everyone else, thank you for your support.

Another victory for Adam Minoprio and BlackMatch Racing (left)

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Valencia Sailing) and software by Elliott Back

[Source: BlackMatch Racing] Ahead of our upcoming tour of Europe, we have had a massive development in the team, we feel very privileged and proud to announce that BlackMatch Racing has been granted the right to enter Match Racing events representing Emirates Team New Zealand.

With the endorsement of such a well established and respected team, it by far exceeds our expectations and is a massive step in the right direction to competing against the world’s best Match Racing teams.

Our current world ranking is 43 and it would be a tough ask to gain entry into any World Tour Event this year, but since advising the World Tour of our alliance with Emirates Team New Zealand, it has also just been confirmed that we have an entry to the 2008 Brasil Sailing Cup, in Rio de Janeiro. This is the opening regatta of the World Tour to be held from April 22nd-26th and it is very encouraging to obtain an entry for this event.

There will be no financial assistance from Team New Zealand under the arrangement, but we are very lucky to have the support of our sponsors FedEx Express, Line 7, Waiwera Infinity and The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.

A big thank you to our friends, family and supporters, we will endeavour to keep you all updated on the recent developments as best we can, please also find attached a link to an article that appeared in the Sunday Herald.

Original post by Valencia Sailing and software by Elliott Back

[Source: Black Match] Today was the opening day of racing for the Warren Jones Memorial Regatta 2008. With the temperature reaching 36 degrees on a stunning Perth day we gained 7 wins from our 7 races, which was a great start to the regatta. We are one point clear of our kiwi counterpart Laurie Jurie and three points clear of World number 11 Torvar Mirsky, who is also the reigning Warren Jones Champion. We had some very close races today and have a big task ahead of us tomorrow as we are yet to race either Torvar or Laurie.

Our closest match of the day was against Stuart Pollard and his team from Sydney. We raced Stuart in the Hardy Cup semi final last year and he is always a very tough match. We came off the start line pretty evenly, but Stuart had the windward position and managed to hold us to the port hand lay line. We managed to make inroads down the first downwind leg but after a very high pressure spinnaker drop at the bottom mark Stu still had a slight advantage. A fierce tacking duel ensued up the next beat and BlackMatch came out with the advantage nearing the top of course. While rounding the top mark the Sydney team thought they had gained an overlap and thus had the inside right of way, the umpires deemed that they hadn’t and Adam closed the gate nicely, Stuart received a penalty but still maintained his slight lead. The final run for the finish made for an interesting scenario, although we were trailing we did not want to catch up to the boat in front and give him an opportunity to gain a penalty back on us and exonerate himself, so the game of cat and mouse began with Stuart trying to slow himself down and set up a trap. We managed to keep a pretty safe distance from Stu and after a last ditch effort to trap us at the boat end of the finish line, we sailed around his bow and took the gun.

The format for this regatta is two round robins and the top 2 teams race each other in the final, with no semi finals it means that every race counts making a very hard fought regatta. We look forward to tomorrow but have 4 extremely tough races to round out the first round robin, fellow Kiwis Laurie Jury and Phil Robertson, Local talent Torvar Mirsky and John Back from Sweden.

Again a special thank you to our sponsors: FedEx Express, Line 7, Waiwera infinity and also to our yacht club the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, we will be doing our best to gain a few more wins tomorrow.

Original post by Valencia Sailing and software by Elliott Back