Argo Group Gold Cup - Canfield and USOne lead

by Talbot wilson on 7 Oct 2013 At the Argo Group Gold Cup, Taylor Canfield (ISV) USone, the reigning champion and number one in the ISAF Open Rankings leads Group one. Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar, number two by ISAF, current leader on the Alpari World Match Racing Tour heads up Group two. Both are past King Edward VII Gold Cup winners.

The unranked ‘wildcard’ Sir Ben Ainslie (GBR) Ben Ainslie Racing Team (BART), sponsored by Argo Group— a two-time winner of the Gold Cup, five time Olympic medalist and 2013 America’s Cup winner— fell into Group two with countryman Williams. Mathieu Richard (FRA) GEFCO Match Racing Team, another previous Gold Cup winner, also landed in Group two.

Adam Minoprio (NZL) Team Alpari FX is seeded second in Group one. He is ranked 33 by ISAF because he has been relatively inactive in match racing outside of the Tour events and hasn’t accumulated points. Minoprio is tied with Canfield in the number two spot on the Tour. He was knocked out in the 2012 Quarter Finals by Williams.

Also in Group one is Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Stena Sailing Team. He was the 2008 Gold Cup winner and was beaten by Canfield in the 2012 finals. Berntsson likes the IODs and will be looking for his first win on the Tour this year.

Stage one for the Gold Cup is the Qualifying Round-Robin. Each team will race each of the other teams in its group once. The top four from each group move up to the Quarter Final Series. The Quarter Finals are a ‘first to three points’ knock out series.

The winners in the Quarters move on to the Semi Finals. They are also ‘first to three points’ knock outs. The Quarter and Semi Finals are scheduled for Friday and Saturday. The ‘first to two points’ Petite Finals and ‘first to three points’ Finals are scheduled for Sunday.

GROUP 1

SKIPPER	TEAM	COUNTRY
Taylor Canfield	USone	ISV
Adam Minoprio	Team Alpari FX	NZL
Keith Swinton	Black Swan Racing	AUS
Johnie Berntsson	Stena Sailing Team	SWE
Francesco Bruni	Luan Rossa	ITA
Simone Ferrarese	Ferrarese Racing Team	ITA
Eric Monnin	Swiss Match Race Team	SUI
Marek Stanczyk		POL
Christopher Poole	Riptide Racing	USA
Lance Fraser	Digicel Business	BER

 
GROUP 2

SKIPPER	TEAM	COUNTRY
Ian Williams	Team GAC Pindar	GBR
Bjorn Hansen	eWork Sailing Team	SWE
Phil Robertson	WAKA Racing	NZL
Mathieu Richard	GEFCO Match Racinag Team	FRA
Pierre-Antoine Morvan	Vannes Agglo Sailing Team	FRA
Ben Ainslie	Ben Ainslie Racing Team	GBR
William TIller	Full Metal Jacket	NZL
Nicolai Sebested	TREFOR	DEN
Chris Steele	36 Below Racing	NZL
Joshua Greenslade	RBYC Sailing Academy	BER