Asian Match Racing Champs - Day 1

by Adam Minoprio on 9 Sep 2007
One of the rising stars of the international match racing circuit, BlackMatch, are this week competing in the Asian Match Racing Championship. The winner goes on to secure a place in the Grade 1 Monsoon Cup. Adam Minoprio reports from Thailand:

Hi all from BlackMatch,

We are currently in Malaysia competing in the Asian Match Racing Championship. This is the second year this event has been run and the winner earns the right to compete in the prestigious Monsoon Cup World Tour event.

BlackMatch are the defending champions and there are a few new faces that have joined the team for this event as Nick (Blacky) and Josh (Monster) are away sailing overseas, Nick in Europe and Josh in Mexico. We welcome Tim Lidgard (Mudgaurd) and Matt Kelway (G Unit) to the team for this regatta.

After arriving yesterday we registered and weighed in. The weight limit is an average of 87.5 kg's per crew, the general rule being that you want to be as close to the limit as you can, but even with Dave weighing in at 109 kg we were still 10 kg under the 437.5 kg total. Weigh in followed with an afternoon in the pool and a rugby ball, the result was pretty severe sunburn and a blood nose for Adam.

The first day of racing saw us finishing with a perfect scorecard, winning 4 from 4 in a day where conditions consisted of a 10-12 knot sea-breeze and a big current, much like Auckland in summer, but twice as hot and extremely humid.

In our first match against Neil Semple representing Thailand, we managed to get a penalty on him in the pre-start and started with pace heading out to the favoured right hand side of the course. We sailed pretty conservatively for this first race, taking note of the prevailing current and shifty wind conditions to finish safely ahead.

Our closest match of the day was against Martin Kaye from Hong Kong. After Adam got another glamour start, we found ourselves once again heading out to the favoured right hand side of the course and gaining a healthy lead. With current behind us going upwind and the top mark situated in the centre of the unrelenting flow, we found our lead was diminished some what as Martin came storming upwind while we were punching into the current and the fickle breeze eluded us. Some good tactical calls from the new recruit Tim Lidgard and a little bit of patience resulted in us maintaining and extending to finish in front.

We look forward to tomorrow's racing and hope to be in the final gunning for that Monsoon Cup spot.

A special thank you to our sponsors, John Brown from Waiwera Infinity and Ross Munroe from Line 7, their support helped make this opportunity possible for the BlackMatch boys. To the RNZYS and everyone else thank you for your support back home and go the All Blacks!

BlackMatch Racing