London (14 Sept, 2022) Swiss match racer Eric Monnin and his Capvis Swiss Match Race Team have won the 2022 Baltic Match Race in Tallinn, Estonia.
The winner of the Baltic Match Race 2022 regatta was determined after four days of sailing in the beautiful autumn weather on September 8-11 in Tallinn, on Kopli Bay. In a balanced and very equal final, Eric Monnin (SUI), the leader of the match race world ranking, beat Mati Sepp (EST), who is in the 10th position of the ranking, with match wins 3:2. The podium was completed by team of Harles Liiv (EST).
The Baltic Match Race 2022 regatta was Stage 12 of the World Match Racing Tour 2022 (WMRT) series, organized by Zuxu Sailing at Haven Kakumäe in Tallinn in cooperation with the Estonian Match Race Association.
Nine teams representing Switzerland, Great Britain, Finland and Estonia competed for WMRT points. As expected, the strongest competition was between the teams of Eric Monnin and Mati Sepp.
Eric Monnin, who is considered one of the best and most talented match race sailors in the world, with the Capvis Swiss Match Race Team and Mati Sepp, who is third in the WMRT 2022 ranking with his Clean Energy Sailing Team, were the ones who made it to the finals after three qualifying days, and it took a total of five matches to determine the winner.
Eric Monnin, who became at the same venue the match race European champion 2018 in front of Mati Sepp, fondly remembered the final at that time, where he managed to overtake Mati with the last gybe of the final match;
“This year the situation was exactly the same, we had to go over five matches and he was leading almost the whole last match. Mati did excellent prestarts and we had to give all we had to put the pressure on him around the course. Honestly, this final could have gone either way, we took the win, and we are very happy, but Mati deserved it as much as we did. We had a quite new crew configuration in Tallinn, with three new crewmembers out of five. I was impressed by how fast the new team members were increasing our level. Hats up to Luisa Krüger, Jann Schüpbach and Achille Casco!”
“We led 2/0 in the final against Eric Monnin, the leader of the world match race ranking, and we had to take the match ball, but in the increasing wind, Monnin found a wonderful speed and unfortunately we did not manage to keep the success we had at the start,” said Mati Sepp. “It seems that Eric’s decision to use a crew of five gave us an advantage in the calmer wind but then a disadvantage in the stronger wind, which arrived at exactly the right moment for him. Thanks to our second place in this competition, we secured a place in the WMRT season finale, where this year’s match race world champion will be determined.”
In the semi-finals, the team of Harles Liiv, who won the 2020 Baltic Match Race regatta faced the youth team representing the Tallinn Yacht Club, under the leadership of Rufus Rytövaara (EST). Rufus Rytövaara’s team, which also defeated Mati Sepp in the quarterfinals, had to surrender to a more experienced team, but the fourth place in the Grade 1 regatta is a significant result for the team.
Final Results Baltic Match Race 2022:
- Eric Monnin (SUI), Luisa Krüger, Jann Schüpbach, Simon Brügger, Achille Casco – Capvis Swiss Match Race Team
- Mati Sepp (EST), Ago Rebane, Karl-Hannes Tagu, Karl Kolk – Clean Energy Sailing Team / Estonian Match Race Association
- Harles Liiv (EST), Janno Hool, Jaan Akermann, August Luure – Shadow Sailing Team Estonian Match Race Association
- Rufus Rytövaara (EST), Maris Seersant, Kevin Melvin Aasav, Mads Christian Taatø – Tallinn Yacht Club
- Mikke Stelander (FIN), Pasi Palmu, Marinella Laaksonen, Michal Grylewski – Helsingfors Segelsällskap
- Patrick Croghan (GBR), Steve Carver, Alice Bradford, Chloe Harding – University of East Anglia
- Margus Uudam (EST), Tiina-Liisa Uudam, Margus Kerma, Eleny Kasemets – Nola Sailing Team
- Tõnu Tõniste,Toomas Tõniste, Tammo Otsasoo, Marko Lilienthal – Lenny Sailing Team
- Aleksei Žigadlo, Raul Grigorjev, Igor Orlov, Daniel Ovsienko – Estonian Dragon Class Association
PRO of the regatta was Michal Pasik from Poland, supported by umpires Pekka Nuutilainen (FIN), Juuso Leivonen (FIN), Manuel Huensch (GER), Michael Röllich (FIN), Paco Quinorero (ESP) and Thibaut Gridel (FRA).
Follow the Baltic Match Race on facebook https://www.facebook.com/balticmatchrace
For more information about the World Match Racing Tour, visit www.wmrt.com
