Team Alpari FX to face Sir Ben Ainslie in Semi Final of Argo Group Gol

by Daviod Swete on 12 Oct 2013
David Swete reports from Team Alpari FX from Bermuda, with Adam Minioprio, Nick Blackman and Tom Powrie at the Argo Gold Cup:

Hello all from Bermuda,

A tightly fought quarterfinal contest against Australia’s Keith Swinton went down to the wire, with Team Alpari FX managing to come out victors, 3-2.

Getting the early jump on Keith and his team in taking the first race, the world number 3 skipper came storming back in the second race to level the series. A win apiece in the following races set the trend of whoever won the start, managed to hold on and take the win, so at 2-2 it was all on for the last match.

In the shifty 5-12 knot gusty conditions, the race committee decided to shorten the course up and make it a three-lap race. As Ainslie, Bruni and Canfield had all won their respective quarterfinals convincingly, we were the only match up left on the course so all eyes were on the decider.

In a heated pre-start the deciding moment came in the last minute on the approach to the start line. Keith and his team, which includes recent America’s Cup winner Kyle Langford, were being pushed and slightly early to the start line. They went for a tack in front of us and there was massive contact, resulting in an immediate penalty that luckily went our way. From then on it was just about staying in the pressure, with the shifty conditions contributing to a nervy atmosphere aboard our boat, however we held on to secure our spot in the semi final.

Tomorrow things do not get any easier for Team Alpari FX. In tonight’s press conference Sir Ben Ainslie and his team chose to race us in the semi final, a right giving to them by virtue of being top qualifier.

Ben has been out of the match racing game for so long that he doesn’t even have a match race ranking, but with four Olympic Gold Medals, a world Match Racing Tour Title and now an America’s Cup win under his belt, not to mention his all star crew that includes best mate Iain Percy, they will be very very tough competition for Team Alapari FX. Although daunting, we have to draw solace in the fact that we have knocked Ben out of a semi final here in Bermuda before, having also beaten him 3-0 in the final of the 2009 Monsoon Cup. We will take this confidence into tomorrows match up and see if we can ‘take the wind out of’ Bens sails.

Team Alpari FX would like to thank Alpari and Line 7 Events Clothing for their support. Team AlpariFX are Adam Minoprio, Chris Main, Tom Powrie, David Swete and Nick Blackman. For more info please visit www.wmrt.com or follow us on twitter @TeamAlpariFX .