Tough competition for Mirsky RT at Gold Cup

by Kinley Fowler on 8 Oct 2008
King Edward V11 Gold Cup Day 1 report from Mirsky Racing Team. MRT finished the day 2-1.

After a training day of lapping up the sunshine in next to no wind, today we were treated with the polar opposite as a cold front moved through the area, bringing with it gusts above 20 knots. As we were in the third group, we had the morning off to get our heads around the new conditions, but started well in the afternoon finishing the day on 2 wins and 1 loss.

The IOD boats are very different to any others on the match racing circuit, so we knew that we were going to have some difficulties with the manoeuvring when we first stepped on. It didn’t help that we were up against the local wildcard, Blythe Walker who has been in the Gold Cup semi finals a number of times. However we had good pace and despite losing the start managed to fight back to overtake him at the first top mark which was a good confidence boost which we managed to carry on into the next race to defeat American Donald Wilson.

This momentum didn’t carry on into our next match against Eric Monnin from Switzerland, as we gave away the start and had to follow his transom around the track. The course was very shifty with big gains to be made when on the correct side; however Monnin sailed smart and didn’t give us any opportunities to pass.

Tomorrow we are facing some tough opponents, so we will have to step up our performance in order to qualify. Our group is very tight, so every race will mean vital points to make it through.

A special thanks to Line7, Harken and the Royal Perth Yacht Club for their support.

MirskyRacingTeam
www.mirskyracingteam.com