One round day

PRO Mattias Dahlström and the race committee of the World Match Racing Tour Newport had their work cut out today as the breeze for the most part refused to co-operate. After a full day out on the water, just one round of the Quarter Finals was completed.

After some small ripple appeared on the surface of Newport Harbour, the first two matches were sailed relatively promptly, while it wasn’t until the very end of the afternoon that the final match between Sweden’s Stefan Rahm and Kiwi Phil Robertson could be sailed. With just one day left now to get through Semi Finals and Finals, it was decided that today’s Quarter Finals would be a one round affair.

In his match first thing, Taylor Canfield and his US One Team dispatched New Zealand’s Chris Steele and his 36 Below Racing team.

“We knew the forecast was going to be bad all day, but we didn’t think it as going to be this bad,” Canfield confided later. “You have to play the game as if every race is the last race of the regatta. It was nice to come away with the win after a good battle but disappointing that it came down to one race – I was looking forward to racing those guys [36 Below] because they have been sailing quite well. And especially with an umpire call in the race – it was quite a tough one.” This was over a port-starboard incident at the leeward mark which went against the Kiwis.

Shortly after, six time Match Racing World Champion Ian Williams beat young Swede Nicklas Dackhammar.

There was then a pause before France’s Yann Guichard and his Spindrift racing crew lined up with talented Dane Nicolai Sehested and his Trefor Match Racing team. While Sehested somehow flew a hull into the start, it was Guichard that stuck up a big lead straight out of the blocks. However on a day when the breeze was supremely patchy, there were plenty of up opportunities. As Guichard recounted: “We pulled out a big lead, but on the second leg the wind came from behind and Nicolai caught us up.” The Danes came close but the wily Frenchman managed to keep his team a nose in front to take the win.

Ashore Guichard was pleased to have come out on top, but was also kicking himself. “Just before the start I said to my team that there would probably be only one race today, so if we won we would get up to the next step, so it was really important to win the race. But I made a mistake to control Nicolai and not to follow the wind, because you have to stay calm and focus on manoeuvres. So we made two bad tacks which let him right back into the game.”

In the final race, Phil Robertson’s WAKA Racing team overcame an early penalty to beat Swede Stefan Rahm.

Typically M32s need only 4-5 knots to race, but even this was something of a rarity on Newport Harbour today. “The issue was that it was very puffy and fickle direction-wise,” recounted Canfield.

Tomorrow’s Semi-Finals will see Canfield lining up against Williams, while Guichard will meet Robertson.

Obviously on everyone’s mind is what the weather will do for the final day of the World Match Racing Tour Newport. According to local expect, Brad Read, Executive Director of Sail Newport: “Tomorrow is going to be a beautiful day, sunny with partial cloud, which sets things up well for a sea breeze. I think we’ll get a six to eight knot breeze filling in at around 1100 and that could build upwards to 10-12 knots from the SSE.”

Results Quarter Finals

Pair 1

Pair 2

Pair 3

Pair 4