St Moritz Match Race got under way while the lake looked like glass, as promised the wind came through in time for the scheduled start. With eight of the top ten ISAF ranked teams competing, competition is sure to be fierce as the teams battle out. The format for this regatta sees the teams split in to two groups for the Round Robins. In Round Robin A the top three teams proceeding to the quarter-finals. The remaining three teams will compete in a repechage Round Robin with the bottom three teams from Round Robin B to decide the final two quarter final places. A fleet race started the day off with the teams from Group A all fighting for a top spot, knowing that if it came to a count back it would be the fleet race result that would help decide the outcome. Michael Hestbaek took out 1st place in the fleet race.
Torrential rain all night did nothing to deter the competitors of St Moritz Match Race as they prepared for day two of the sixth event of the World Match Racing Tour. A south-westerly breeze of eight to twelve knots came through and provided for some very close match racing. With the repechage scheduled to start this afternoon, the wind decided it didn’t want to play ball and slowly died away. The fleet race was completed and after waiting for an hour for breeze the teams were brought back to shore.
Day three at St Moritz Match Race and the big black rain clouds were slowly beginning to clear to make way for some great racing. With no races of the repechage round robin completed yesterday, organisers were starting to feel the pressure to get some races away. The course was quickly moved to the northern end of the lake, where 5-7 knots of wind was enough to get the sailors off the start line. With racing starting an hour earlier than the previous two days, the race committee were hoping to start the quarterfinals mid afternoon.
The sunshine has returned to the shores of Lake St Moritz today, bringing with it the breeze, albeit a shifty one. Racing got underway as scheduled. Adam Minoprio (NZL) began the day on match point against Peter Wibroe (DEN), in their first to two point quarter final. However Wibroe managed to take the first win. In the other quarterfinal, Ian Williams’ (GBR) Team Pindar took an essential win after starting the day one nil down against local favourite Eric Monnin (SUI). With both matches going to one all, whoever won the next race would be through to the semi finals. Minoprio defended well to maintain the lead at the top and they managed to hold on for victory and to claim their spot in the semi finals. Ian Williams took another win over local Eric Monnin securing his semi final spot. Sebastian Col (FRA) taking on Philippe Presti (FRA). Mathieu Richard winning his quarterfinal two nil. In the deciding race between Col and Presti, Presti managed to maintain a small lead. The semi finals got underway and in diminishing breeze only one match between Mathieu Richard and Philippe Presti was completed. Richard went on to win the race.
Mathieu Richard was crowned the ‘King of the Mountain’ today in St Moritz after beating Ian Williams 2-0 in a light wind final. Finally around lunch time the breeze arrived. It was barely visible on the lake but officials deemed it enough to race in. The first match of the day saw Ian Williams meet Adam Minoprio for a tough race in very shifty conditions, won by Ian Williams. In the second match between the two, Williams led comfortably around the course, and was able to fend off Minoprio. In the other semi final, Mathieu Richard was already one up against fellow Frenchman Philippe Presti after winning the first match yesterday. The wind was rapidly disappearing and moments after the race started it looked as if the breeze had died completely. Mathieu Richard managed to get ahead and stay in front for the rest of the race. From there on, there was no stopping the French team who went onto win the final two nil against last year’s winner Ian Williams.
