NZ Match Racing- Minoprio, Murdoch, Park & Chapman dominate Day 1

by RNZYS on 13 Nov 2013

Four teams claimed three decisive victories each on Day One at the NZ Match Racing Championships, held at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.

Ranked #21 in the ISAF World Rankings, and former World Match Racing Champion, Adam Minoprio and his Alpari FX Team had the a good day on the water. Up against Royal Sydney’s David Chapman in Flight One, Minoprio prevailed to win by a slim 20seconds. However it was a different story in Flight Two when he was racing 2012 NZ Women’s Match Racing Champion Susannah Pyatt, Minoprio showed his tactical experience prevailing in very light and shifty conditions by 2min 58secs.

Gunwoo Park, representing the Korean Sailing Federation, had a superb first day on the water in Auckland. Park managed 29s, 40s & 42s wins over Liu (Singapore), Quere and Pirou from New Caledonia.

Andrew Murdoch has skippered his all-star crew, including fellow Olympian Peter Burling, to two race victories after a the start was delayed for 5 hours on Day One of the NZMRC at RNZYS. The combined Tauranga/Kerikeri Team were firstly up against young gun and #22 ISAF Ranked Chris Steele in the first flight of the competition, which didn’t get underway until 245pm (NZT). After leading for the majority of the race, Steele received a penalty, allowing Murdoch to sail around the YTP Team and take the win by 1minute & 17seconds 'Steele went for the ‘Slam Dunk’ but got penalised, then it was just a case of keeping it close and holding onto the lead.' said Murdoch after the race.

Murdoch, Burling, Farrand & Hammond then went on to show their class in Flight 2, beating Royal Sydney’s David Chapman by 1 minute 15 seconds. Chapman won’t be too disheartened after today though, finishing with 3 wins and 1 loss and finding himself amongst the top 4 skippers after day one.

Steele’s day went from bad to worse, suffering a heavy defeat in Flight Two to Murrays Bay Skipper Peter Waring, losing by 3min 11s. Peter Waring spoke to RNZYS after the race saying 'Steele dominated the start but fell into a hole on the down wind, we managed to pull away and get the win. We are a new crew so taking away 2 wins & 2 losses today was great and we have plenty to work on tomorrow.'

The match of the day came in Flight 3 when Minoprio was pipped up against Murdoch and his gun crew. The two unbeaten skippers faced off in what could be a preview to the final, but Minoprio the Match Racing Master was at it again, going on to beat the team with two Olympians by 21s. 'He had a really good start, we should have tacked with him but we didn’t and that was that' said Murdoch after the race.

It was also a great learning curve for some of the other international crews on the water today. Singapore Sailing Federation Skipper Justin Liu managed to claim his first ever win in the last flight of the day over Royal Akarana’s Chris Staub. 'It was a great learning experience as this is my first international regatta. I am learning heaps from all the experienced sailors out there but it was great to get our first win today' – Justin Liu.

Racing will continue tomorrow at RNZYS from 1000hours, with Flight 6 being the first of the day and there are plenty of mouth-watering match ups in the pipeline heading into the weekend.

Rankings after Day One:
Adam Minoprio - won 3 lost 0
Gunwoo Park - won 3 lost 0
David Chapman - won 3 lost 1
Andrew Murdoch - won 3 lost 1
Tim Coltman - won 2 lost 1
David Hazard - won 2 lost 2
Peter Waring - won 2 lost 2
Alan Quere - won 2 lost 2
Chris Staub - won 2 lost 2
Chris Steele - won 1 lost 2
Justin Liu - won 1 lost 3
Tugdual Piriou - won 0 lost 2
Claudia Pierce - won 0 lost 3
Susannah Pyatt - won 0 lost 3


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