BlackMatch

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

[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

[Source: BlackMatch] After a short break over the Christmas season BlackMatch is heading over to Australia to compete in two prestigious under 25 match racing regattas. The first of the two is the Warren Jones Youth Memorial Regatta which has now changed from a grade 3 to a grade 2 regatta. The event is sailed on the Swan River in Perth and this year run by the Royal Freshwater Yacht Club. The first year BlackMatch competed in the Warren Jones in 2006 they won the regatta but unfortunately did not have the chance to try and defend the trophy in 2007 as there was an overlap with the Auckland Cup which the team competed in instead. This year in 2008 there is no overlapping regattas and the team has their heart set on winning back the trophy. The event is a six man regatta sailed in Foundation 36s so along with the core crew of Adam Minoprio, Nick Blackman, Dave Swete, and Tom Powrie, joining the team will be Scott Kennedy and Mike Thorpe.

At the conclusion of the Warren Jones the team heads straight to Sydney for the Hardy Cup where BlackMatch will try to retain the trophy which they won last year in 2007. The event is raced on the Sydney harbour and run by the Royal Sydney Yacht Club. The boats used are Elliot 6 meters and crew will consist of the same people as last year, Adam Minoprio, Nick Blackman, and Dave Swete.

We will update you after our fist days racing on the 3rd. Another thank you to our sponsors Fedex, Line 7, Waiwera Infinity and our Yacht Club, the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. Also a big thank you to all of our supporters and we hope we can do you proud in this regatta.

Original post by Valencia Sailing and software by Elliott Back