Black Match Report
Hi all from BlackMatch,
Day two of the St Moritz Match Race saw us involved in only 3 matches and we could only manage a single victory over the local team, skippered by Jerome Clerc. We suffered at the hands of two French teams today losing out to veteran Betrand Pace and the ever consistent Damien Iehl.
The infamous shifty conditions of the St Moritz Match Race were in full force today, as shown in our match against Betrand Pace. Despite forcing a penalty on the wily Frenchman, he sailed very well around the course to etch out enough of a lead to complete his penalty turn. It was also very hard to defend your lead today and despite being almost 8 boat lengths in front of the local team at one stage during our match, they closed the gap right up at the top mark and we had to defend hard to protect our lead.
We have 3 races remaining in the round robin and with one more win needed to secure a spot in the next stage of the event, we still have a lot of work to do. Tomorrow we face arguably the three most formidable competitors in Britains Ben Ainslie and Ian Williams also the Frenchman Mathieu Richard. All three of these teams have been showing awesome form this week and their reputation precedes them, however we are confident we can get the wins needed.
For any media or results please visit www.worldmatchracingtour.com.
We would again like to say a special thank you to our sponsors FedEx Express and Events Clothing/Line 7. Owen Rutter from Events Clothing has supplied us with new sailing gear this season, keeping the boys looking very sharp and also warm up here in the cold mountains. The ongoing support of our sponsors is helping make this opportunity possible for the BlackMatch boys. We would also like to thank Emirates Team New Zealand and Steinlager Pure.
BlackMatch Racing this week is Adam Minoprio, Tom Powrie, David Swete and Nick Blackman
And the official report
|
|
The French Apprentice Turns Master at the St. Moritz Match Race
St. Moritz, Switzerland - 2 September 2010 - Damien Iehl (FRA) French Match Racing Team was the aggressor on day two of The St. Moritz Match Race in Switzerland, storming through a run of five successive victories including a comprehensive defeat of the reigning 'King of the Mountain', Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing.
If the spectators expected the relative newcomer to the ISAF World Match Racing Tour to be apprehensive after a disappointing opening day, he did not show it. As the thermally-induced Maloja wind rushed in, the young Frenchman exhibited ernbersome deft moves on the water, leading Minoprio around mark one by three lengths and eventually extending his lead all the way to the finish.
The ISAF World Match Racing Tour has a rich history of nurturing the best match racing talent and Iehl looked every bit a champion in the making today. His next fight was against another super-tough opponent, Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team, currently ranked second in the Tour. The two skippers jostled and jabbed like boxers to gain the upper hand at the start with only inches separating them. This was toe-to-toe action. Mirsky gained the initial advantage, but Iehl read the subtleties of the wind to perfection, building what proved to be an insurmountable 10-length lead at the first mark.
With two victories under his belt Iehl was unstoppable, even by the might of triple Olympian and America's Cup sailor Francesco Bruni (ITA) AZZURRA. At the start the French team gained the favourable lee bow position and led the accomplished Italian round all three laps of the course.
Iehl, commented: "We had a clear game plan today which gave us the great starts we needed, as well as a strategy that delivered the best course through all the wind shifts. Our teamwork and manoeuvres were spot on too - it was a perfect progression for us from yesterday."
A classic French - British dogfight is developing between the front runners and if anyone is going to put a counter-attack together on Iehl, there's a strong chance it will come from Ian Wiiliams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar who leads the standings overnight, having won all three of his races today.
Triple Olympic gold medalist and America's Cup skipper, Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN also demonstrated total dominance of his opponents with a clean sweep of victories, as did Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team.
With seven teams advancing to the next stage, three are confirmed as having made the quarter finals, but another six - including some veteran stars - are still in the hunt for the remaining four places.
Photos: Copyright Loris Von Siebenthal / St. Moritz Match race:
1) Ian Williams, current leader at the end of day 2
2) Damien Iehl, from France, won three races today and five in a row.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
