Match Race Lugano - Cayard ousts young Kiwis

by Richard Gladwell on 29 Jun 2005 Young Kiwi crew of Laurie Jury, Daniel McLean and Robert Hielkema, representing the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron have finished sixth after a countback from a fourth place points in the Match Race Lugano 2005.

There was a three way tie for fourth place overall, at the end of the Round Robin phase, with Paul Cayard (USA), Ian Williams (GBR) and Kiwi Match (NZL).

Match Race Lugano is a Grade 2 match racing event. The regatta is sailed in UFO22 - a 22 foot sports boat with a gennaker and retractable prod, and a three man crew.

Ten teams from USA(1), Germany(1), Switzerland(1), Denmark(1), Russia(1), Italy(2), New Zealand(1), Poland(1) and England(1) competed for the event, which is held over four days. The event format is a single round robin with the top four progressing to the semis with a two boat final.

Several very experienced competitors including USA’s Paul Cayard, skipper of America One in the final of the 2000 Louis Vuitton Cup, raced in the regatta.

The Kiwi team takes up the story: ‘We had one practice day before the regatta in which to get use to the boats which we have never sailed before. We also had to try to understand how the wind shifts around the mountains of Lugano work.

‘On the 16th of June, the first day of racing, our first race was against Lars Nordbjaerg from Denmark who is ranked 17th in the world match race rankings. After waiting until about 3.00pm for the wind to fill in, we finally got a race in. We sailed well in very light shifty conditions to take the win.

‘Next we had Paul Cayard. We won the start and lead around most of the course. On the second run we had some problems with our tack line on the gennaker and this allowed Paul to catch up to us.

'When our pole retracted though a gybe, Paul overtook us to take the lead down the last run. Coming into the finish, we caught back up and looked to be in front, but Paul got a little more wind and only just beat us on the finish line.

‘Our next race was against Eungeny Neugodnikov of Russia who is ranked 10th in the world. Again we started well, but we got caught on the wrong side of a large shift up the first beat and rounded the top mark behind. The wind then shifted further left, turning the race into a one side affair; we had no opportunity to overtake and finished behind.

‘The next day we started with a race against Eric Monnin of Switzerland. So far he had been undefeated and proved to be very fast in the light wind. We had a good start, but went the wrong way up the first beat; Eric got a penalty for rocking off the start line. At the top of the second beat, he did his penalty and we were able to get to the right side of him. We stopped him from rounding the mark and in the process got two penalties. We sailed on to win the race.

‘After a break we raced Przemek Tarnacki from Poland. We started well to windward on starboard tack. Unfortunately, Przemek was a little faster and he was able to get in front. He held his lead through to the finish.

‘Our last race of the day was against Vito Moschioni. We went to the wrong side up the first beat and Vito had a small lead at the top mark. We rolled him downwind and then luffed him on port tack. Vito received a second penalty, which he did not complete quickly enough, and was Black Flagged, giving us the win.

‘On the last day the points were very close with Matteo Simoncelli on seven wins and most other teams on three or four wins. We had three wins and had to win our last three races to make the semis.

‘Our first race was against Stefan Mister from Germany. We went the wrong way up the first beat and he lead around the top mark, but we kept close to him downwind and closed up to him on the second beat. On the last run to the finish, he got caught out to the port side of the course by another match; we were able to find some more wind and over take him on the finish line.

‘Our next race was against Ian Williams, who was top ranked in the event, being eightth in the world. We got a penalty early in the pre-start for having our prod out. Ian got a Red Flag penalty at the start gun for barging in to windward of us at the committee boat end of the start line.

'We took the lead and extended up the first beat and we rounded the top mark about four boat lengths in front. Ian closed the gap up downwind and up the next beat. We tried to clear our penalty at the top mark, but instead got another penalty. We completed our first penalty, then gybed out to the left side of the course. We found more wind and crossed in front. Coming into the finish line, we tried to clear our outstanding penalty by luffing, but Ian rolled over us to finish in front.

‘Our last race was against Matteo Simoncelli who was so far clear leader of the event being the only undefeated team.

'We started well and choose the right side of the course, we rounded the top mark in front, but on the downwind leg, Matteo rolled over us. We had a jibing duel at the bottom mark and got inside for the mark rounding.

'Matteo didn’t give us enough room to round the mark and he got a penalty. We rounded in front - but lost the lead up the beat. On the last run, Matteo tried to clear his penalty by luffing us, but we rolled over him and sailed to the finish, taking the win.

‘At the end of the round robin we were tied for fourth place with Paul Cayard and Ian Williams. Unfortunately, we had lost to both these teams, so we ended up sixth on countback.

‘This was the toughest regatta we have sailed in so far, with some of top ranked teams competing, but we were pleased with our performance and proved that we could compete with the best of them.’

Kiwi Match is sponsored by the Royal New Zealand YS, Sail NZ, Dorlon, The Gearlocker and Davis Langdon.

At this stage of the season, the team is looking for other events to finish off the season. The Kiwi Match team has been confirmed for the Knickerbocker Cup in New York at the end of August – an event in which they competed last year.

Source: www.kiwimatch.com and www.kiwispy.com