Monday 4 August 2008

Mirsky retains Internationaux de France title - BlackMatch finish 5th


Mirsky versus Richard in the final of the 2008 Internationaux de France, Trophée Manu Minard, Pornichet, Brittany. Image copyright Claude Gibault.

by SailRaceWin and Aurélie Beignon/APCC (in translation)

Sunday, 3rd August, off Pornichet, Brittany, France, Torvar Mirsky (AUS) and crew, Kinley Fowler, Tudur Owen and Graeme Spence, retained their Internationaux de France Match Race title: the Trophée Manu Minard.

Mirsky defeated world number one, Mathieu Richard, 3-1 in the final. In the petit-final, Frenchman Damien Iehl beat Peter Wibroe (DEN) 2-0. BlackMatch finished 5th overall at the event. The final day's racing took place in southwest winds of 10-15 knots.

It is a first for the Trophée Manu Minard to have the same winner in consecutive years. Last year's victory in this event was the first Grade One match race win for 22 year old Australian Torvar Mirsky.

Torvar Mirsky said: "The matches against Mathieu Richard were very difficult technically. He is certainly better than us, but we had better boatspeed. Further, the J80 is a boat that we particularly appreciate and with which we have better technique than the others. In any case, I am delighted to win this event for a second consecutive year and will return to defend my title next year."

Mirsky's crew member, Graeme Spence was thrown into the water after the victory, as a joint celebration with its being his birthday!

Mathieu Richard was complementary about Mirsky in defeat, saying "Torvar is a very strong opponent." Richard's crew comprised Greg Evrard, Olivier Herlédant and Thierry Douillard.

Overall Results

1 Torvar Mirsky (AUS)
2 Mathieu Richard (FRA)
3 Damien Iehl (FRA)
4 Peter Wibroe (DEN)
5 Adam Minoprio (NZL)
6 François Brenac (FRA)
7 Ian Ainslie (RSA)
8 Alexis Littoz-Baritel (FRA)
9 Jure Orel (SLO)
10 Pierre-Antoine Morvan (FRA)
11 Evgeniy Neugodnikov (RUS)
12 Victor Lanier (FRA)

Trophée Manu Minard

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