Minoprio and his Alpari Match Crew win 2013 NZ Match Racing Champs

by Mel Benton, RNZYS on 17 Nov 2013
Winner of the NZ Match Racing Championship 2013 Adam Minoprio paid a big thank you to his team today for an outstanding win in a trying conditions.

With only three losses in four days there was never any doubt that the Alpari Match team of Adam Minoprio, helm, Chris Main, main sheet, Tom Powrie, trimmer, and Jim Turner, bow, would be in the top crews for the regatta. Adam Minoprio said at prizegiving 'Without my crew I would be nothing'.

Two time Olympian Andrew Murdoch said 'The race management team did a great job. It would have been really easy for even the round robin not to have been completed. From the committee boat, mark layers to umpires, they all did a great job'. Murdoch and his team came together for this regatta and with crew mates fellow Olympian Peter Burling, main, Brad Farrand, trimmer and Ash Hammond on bow there was plenty of experience.

The four top teams went straight from the single round robin to finals in a first to win two points decider. Minoprio and Murdoch raced three matches. Minoprio beat Murdoch by 16 seconds in the first match, and 32 seconds in the third. Minoprio was penalised in the second flight allowing Murdoch to gain a valuable point and a 7 second win. Peter Burling said it was a good day yachting with the first two of the finals races being good matches.

The petit finalists Gunwoo Park from the Korean Sailing Federation and David Hazard, RNZYS Youth Training Programme Graduate, also had a battle. Park gained a penalty in the starting sequence on the first match, then Hazard hit the top mark on the final run to the finish, cancelling Park’s penalty. Park gained the lead and won by 31seconds. Park then went on to beat Hazard in another close match with only six seconds separating them.

For the rest of the sailors, their regatta ended with the Round Robin. The lack of wind and shifty conditions meant setting courses was challenging. Delay after delay ate up the time and forced the Race Management to use three of the regatta days for the Round Robin and the final day had almost no wind until 3pm this afternoon. This meant there was no time for anything except the final series.

RNZYS Youth Training Programme entry Chris Steele narrowly missed out on the finals series in fifth place overall. Minoprio commented at Prizegiving that Steele deserved to have been there! Steele missed out by only one point having been given a black flag penalty in the final match of the Round Robin, ironically it was against Minoprio!

For Peter Waring and his crew, this was the first in what they hope will be a resurrection of their crew. 'We are keen to do this again. We had so much fun and our true talent wasn’t shown. We hope to come back next year.'

Today’s Results

Flight Three Major Final
Minoprio beat Murdoch 32s

Flight Two Major Final
Murdoch beat Minoprio 7s

Flight One Major Final
Minoprio beat Murdoch 16s

Flight Two Petite Final
Park beat Hazard 6s

Flight One Petite Final
Park beat Hazard 31s

Final Placings
1st Adam Minoprio Alpari Match Crew - Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron
2nd Andrew Murdoch Tauranga Yacht & Power Boat Club/ Keri Keri Cruising Club
3rd Gunwoo Park Korea Sailing Federation
4th David Hazard Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron
5th Chris Steele RNZYS Youth Training Programme
6th David Chapman Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron
7th Peter Waring Murrays Bay Sailing Club
8th Tim Coltman Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club
9th Chris Staub Royal Akarana Yacht Club
10th Tugdual Piriou Circle Nautique Caledonien, New Caledonia
11th Justin Liu Singapore Sailing Federation
12th Susannah Pyatt RNZYS/ Murrays Bay Sailing Club
13th Alan Quere Circle Nautique Caledonien, New Caledonia
14th Claudia Pierce Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron


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