Argo Group Gold Cup - Near perfect start for GAC Pindar

by Talbot Wilson on 24 Oct 2014 Ian Williams (GBR) GAC Pindar made a near perfect start to in the Argo Group Gold Cup in Bermuda yesterday. The British skipper who stands top of the the Alpari World Match Racing Tour and is second in the ISAF rankings, goes into today's remaining round robin flights leading group 1.

Williams won all four matches but lost half a point after failing to cross Francesco Bruni (ITA) Luna Rossa during their close match so led the Group 1 Round Robin with 3.5 points. Bruni’s bow roller caught William’s backstay and the two boats twirled round locked together for what seemed an age. Both skippers were penalized 1/2 point for the incident.

Leading Group 2 is Marek Stanczyk (POL) Henri Lloyd Rainmaker Racing, a former Polish Match Race Champion. He finished the first day with a perfect four points and no losses. Stanczyk defeated Mathieu Richard (FRA) LunaJets, Eric Monnin (SWI) Swiss Match Racing Team, and Nathan Outteridge (SWE) Artemis Racing.

Taylor Canfield ((ISV) US One, top seed in Group 2, has three points. He is tied with Eric Monnin (SUI) Swiss Match Racing Team and Staffan Lindberg (Fin) Alandia Sailing Team

Weather forecast for 23 Oct
Winds southwesterly 18 to 22 knots, increasing 20 to 25 knots in any heavier showers or thunderstorms, decreasing west-southwesterly 12 to 18 knots by the afternoon... Scattered to widespread showers with risk of thunder and fair to poor visibility, becoming isolated showers in the afternoon... Seas inside the reef 1 to 2 ft... Outside the reef 4 to 7 ft... Sunrise: 7:28 am; Sunset: 6:37 pm.

Marek Stanczyk: We had a great result today and in part it is because we are missing our friend and a fellow crewmember, Dominick Niskiewicz, who has been here for two prior Gold Cups. He passed away this year. So we are glad we did so well today for him.

Ian Williams: We had a lot of tough races and shifty conditions today. It was a very difficult day on the harbor with more penalties that we would like. We are looking forward to a better day tomorrow.

Taylor Canfield: There was some really tough competition out there this year and we are facing a southeast wind so that makes things very challenging. Hamilton harbor always is a challenging place to sail. We did lose the first race to Chris Poole and then put together wins for the next three. Racing here for the first day is difficult but it gets more comfortable as you go along.

Nathan Outteridge: This is the kind of racing that I am not entirely accustomed to and at 2-2 we have our work cut out for us tomorrow. I am someone who likes to sail everything and I am getting up to speed. I just hope we can sail well tomorrow and sail the shifts well. What is great about being out here is I see some of the colleagues I knew sailing 49ers and even as a junior match racer. It is great to be around people I have sailed with all my life.

Chris Poole: We came out swinging today and we have a new crew and it is our first time sailing together in competition. We feel we did pretty well with 2-2 on the board. We have five more races to go to see what will happen.

Keith Swinton: It was a pretty tricky day, disappointing and I got a bit of a hiding from the RBYC Commodore Kempe, but we got it together and sailed well for the rest of the event.

Johnnie Berntsson: It is still in our hands at 2-2 but I think we were a bit lucky today as there were a lot of penalties and we might have had a few more as the day went. But, we are just happy to be here and the sailing is great so far.

Francesco Bruni: We still have a chance but we have not sailed as well as we could today. We were leading all of our races at some stage but in this game you cannot make mistakes. So, we have five races tomorrow and we are hoping we do better.

Somers Kempe: Sometimes you get beat by Hamilton Harbour but out of our four races we had one win against Keith Swinton. That race went down to the wire and we slid a bit in the next three. But, we definitely felt that there was no reason why we should not be out there. We need a few more lucky breaks and maybe we will get that tomorrow. There are no easy races, that is for sure but we treat every race separately and we try to learn from each one. Unfortunately, the round robin does not give us that much room to learn.

Richard Storrs: This is my first major event and I am 70-years old so this has been thrilling for me. Just getting an invitation to this premier match racing event is a thrill. So, this is a major event for me and I am just honored to be here.

Qualifying session Group 1		IW	KS	PAM	BH	JB	FB	AH	SK	DS	DJK	Pts	Pl
Ian Williams GAC Pindar			N/A	1	N/A	N/A	1	N/A	N/A	1	1	3.5	1
Keith Swinton Team Alpari FX		N/A		N/A	1	1	N/A	1	0	N/A	N/A	3	2
Pierre Antoine Morvan Vannes Agglo Sailing Team		0	N/A		N/A	N/A	1	N/A	N/A	1	1	3	3
Björn Hansen Hansen Sailing Team		N/A	0	N/A		1	N/A	1	1	N/A	N/A	3	4
Johnie Berntsson Stena Sailing Team		N/A	0	N/A	0		N/A	1	1	N/A	N/A	2	5
Francesco Bruni Luna Rossa		0	N/A	0	N/A	N/A		N/A	N/A	1	1	1.5	6
Arthur Herreman Match The World		N/A	0	N/A	0	0	N/A		1	N/A	N/A	1	7
Somers Kempe Raymarine/Ocean Electronics		N/A	1	N/A	0	0	N/A	0		N/A	N/A	1	8
David Storrs Pequot Racing Team		0	N/A	0	N/A	N/A	0	N/A	N/A		1	0.5	9
Dirk-Jan Korpershoek Korpershoek Racing		0	N/A	0	N/A	N/A	0	N/A	N/A	0		0	10

Qualifying session Group 2		TC	SL	MS	EM	NO	CP	MR	DG	LF	PR	Pts	Pl
Taylor Canfield US One			1	N/A	1	1	0	N/A	1	1	N/A	5	1
Staffan Lindberg Alandia Sailing Team		0		1	N/A	N/A	1	N/A	1	1	N/A	4	2
Marek Stanczyk Henri Lloyd Rainmaker Racing		N/A	0		1	1	N/A	1	N/A	0	1	4	3
Eric Monnin Swiss Match Race Team		0	N/A	0		1	N/A	1	N/A	0	1	3	4
Nathan Outteridge Artemis Racing		0	N/A	0	0		1	1	N/A	N/A	1	3	5
Chris Poole Riptide Racing		1	0	N/A	N/A	0		N/A	0	1	1	3	6
Mathieu Richard LunaJets		N/A	N/A	0	0	0	N/A		1	N/A	1	2	7
David Gilmour Team Gilmour		0	0	N/A	N/A	N/A	1	0		1	N/A	2	8
Lance Fraser DigiCel Bermuda		0	0	1	1	N/A	0	N/A	0		N/A	2	9
Phil Robertson WAKA Racing		N/A	N/A	0	0	0	0	0	N/A	N/A		0	10

2014 Alpari World Match Racing Tour Standings coming into the Argo Group gold Cup:

1 Ian Williams (GBR) GAC Pindar 94pts
2 Taylor Canfield (ISV) US One 88pts
3 Mathieu Richard (FRA) LunaJets 76pts
4 Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Hansen Sailing 63pts
5 Keith Swinton (AUS) Team Alpari FX 58pts
6 Phil Robertson (NZL) WAKA Racing 56pts
7 David Gilmour (AUS) Team Gilmour 39pts
8 Francesco Bruni (ITA) Luna Rossa Event website