BlackMatch Through to Quarter-Finals in French International Match Racing Grade One, Brittany

Sunny conditions on the second day of racing off Pornichet, Brittany, France. Image copyright BlackMatch Racing.

from Adam Minoprio

On the second day we finished off the first round robin. After not managing to get away any races on day one due to the weather, we had a perfect 12 knot sea breeze and an arduous day finishing 11 races to have a scorecard of 7 wins, 4 losses. At the end of racing today we have raced everyone at the regatta once and are placed 4th, securing a spot in the quarter-finals.

Perhaps best win of the day for us came against world #1 Mathieu Richard. In a hectic pre-start we timed our run to the pin end of the start line perfectly and managed to trap the Frenchman below the lay-line, when he luffed past head to wind in an attempt to lay the mark he came into contact with us and received a penalty.

It was a close race around the course but we maintained a two boat length lead around the first top mark, however the French team did an excellent job downwind and rolled over the top of us to take the lead. Richard was in front but we still had starboard rights and on his final gybe to the bottom mark he failed to keep clear and received a second penalty to be taken immediately, essentially handing us the victory.


BlackMatch versus Ian Ainslie (South Africa) on Day Two of racing off Pornichet. Image copyright C. Gibault.

The next stage of the regatta will be the quarter-finals to see what four teams will progress through to the semi-finals. The top qualifier will have the choice of who to race, then the runner up will have the next choice and so on. Tomorrow we will wait to see who will take us on in the quarter-final and this next stage of the regatta should be completed by tomorrow evening.

A special thank you to our sponsors, FedEx Express and Ross Munro from Line 7, their ongoing support is making this opportunity possible for the BlackMatch boys and we hope we can earn our spot in the semi-finals of the 2008 Internationaux de France tomorrow. To the RNZYS and everyone else thank you for your support.

Round Robin Final Positions (win-loss)

1) Mirsky (AUS) 9-2
2) Richard (FRA) 8-3
3) Iehl (FRA) 8-3
4) Minoprio (NZL) 7-4
5) Brenac (FRA) 7-4
6) Wibroe (DEN) 6-5
7) Litoz-Baritel (FRA) 5-6
8) Ainslie (RSA) 5-6
9) Orel (SLO) 3-8
10) Morvan (FRA) 3-8
11) Neugodnikov (RUS) 3-8
12) Lanier (FRA) 2-9

Adam Minoprio speaks about the venue in the second video on Overlapprod/APCC and the third video has footage of the first day's racing, including good downwind rides for Richard, Wibroe and Mirsky.

Trophée Manu Minard