Thursday, 03 June 2010 (BYMNews)

The world’s most elite match racers will converge on the developing region of Gyeonggi in South Korea next week for Korea Match Cup, Stage 3 of the ISAF World Match Racing Tour (WMRT).  Twelve helms will take to the tidal flats of Jeongok and Jebu lying on the West coast to fight for further valuable World Match Racing Tour score points.  This is the first of the 2010 tour events to be staged outside of Europe and will provide a new developed Asian marine arena for the highly competitive teams. 

As well as the skippers ranked 1st and 2nd in the overall standings – Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team and Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing – there will be the addition of Francesco Bruni (ITA) Azzurra, back from the LV Trophy racing, as well as 2009 Korea Match Cup winner Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Italia.  New names to the race circuit picture selected via wild card entries include; twenty three year old Phil Robertson (NZL) WAKA Racing winner of the recent Asian Match Racing Championship and Korean national Gunwoo Park (KOR) who only started match racing during November 2009.

The pedigree of skippers and teams attending Stage 3 of the World Match Racing Tour is excellent, they will all be hoping for more wind than the lake sailing at Match Race Germany last month.  The teams are excited to race KM36 yachts which have been especially commissioned for Korea Match Cup where a light and manoeuvrable model is required for close boat on boat handling.

Bruni comes straight from racing in Europe without a rest period in between and Minoprio has used his free time since winning Match Race Germany to race in the mainsheet position at yet another match racing event.  It will be a daunting time for the wild cards and qualifiers who will need to elevate themselves up to the supreme level of skill associated with the Tour card holders.

It’s great to come back to the Tour series again after the LV Trophy, I feel the more racing a skipper can schedule into their calendar then the better equipped they will be to perform at international events.  Match racing comes down to practice, the more you tune your mind into winning and becoming a seamless team, then the more certain you will be to do well and improve as a group, said Bruni.

Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing is also heading to Asia, when asked to comment on the favourite to win Korea Match Cup he looked at the statistics, All teams are treated equally on the Tour, going into the round robin at Stage 3 we have an 8% chance of winning, as we build through to the quarter-finals and semi-finals those chances increase to 12% and 25% respectively. As the remaining teams hit the finals they have a 50% chance of winning however, this analysis is affected by each team’s performance and skill set.

With the change in time clocks for the majority of the entered teams and a totally alternative set of race course elements, Korea may provide some surprise results early on in the regatta.

Park, the only Korean skipper entered, is excited to meet and race against the world’s creme de la creme of match racing.  I am really proud to be able to race against America’s Cup level teams, I hope I can learn from their skills and perhaps win some races against the less experienced helms..

Korea Match Cup racing will start on June 9th, culminating in a closing ceremony and a Stage 3 champion on June 13th.  All eyes will be on any notable changes to the WMRT standings after Stage 3.

Audrey Lakai                                                       

See Match Racing images:

Korea Match Cup 2010 Skipper List:

Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team

Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing
Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Italia

Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team
Francesco Bruni (ITA) Azzurra
Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar

Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing
Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Gill Global Team
Bertrand Pace (FRA) Aleph Sailing Team
Gunwoo Park (KOR)

Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team

Phil Robertson (NZL) WAKA Racing

2010 ISAF World Match Racing Tour Standings

(AfterStage 2 of 10)

The World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) is the leading professional sailing series featuring 10 World Championship events across the globe, sanctioned by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) with ??????????????Special Event????????????? status

The World Tour awards over US$1.5million in prize money with points awarded at each event culminating in the crowning of the ??????????????ISAF Match Racing World Champion?????????????.  In addition, an incentive to compete in the world???s premier sailing series just got bigger. A US$250,000 overall prize pool for the top nine teams with a $50,000 bonus for the outright winner of next year???s World Match Racing Tour is now on offer.

Events utilise the same ??????????????match race????????????? format used in the America???s Cup with racing taking place in identically supplied racing yachts which places a focuses on team work and skill. Racing takes place close to the shore for the general public to follow the races as virtual on-the-water stadiums.

ISAF World Match Racing Tour Calendar

Match Race France                    6  – 11 April           Marseille, France
Match Race Germany                19 – 24 May          Langenargen, Germany
Korea Match Cup                      8 – 13 June        Gyeonggi, South Korea
Portimao Portugal Match Cup     22 – 27 June          Portimao, Portugal
Match Cup Sweden                    5 – 11 July            Marstrand, Sweden
St Moritz Match Race                31 Aug – 5 Sept     St Moritz, Switzerland
Danish Open                             8 – 12 Sept            Bornholm, Denmark
Vietnam Match Cup                   21 – 26 Sept          Nha Trang Bay, Vietnam
Argo Group Gold Cup                 4 – 10 Oct             Hamilton, Bermuda
Monsoon Cup                            30 Nov – 5 Dec      Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia

Last Updated ( Thursday, 03 June 2010 )

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