Chicago Match Race 2011 Wilson victorious in Match Cup B Event

by Chicago Match Race Center on 28 Jun 2011 Chicago Match Race 2011 Wilson wins GoPro Match Cup B Event

'We have Boat 6 going upwind with a spinnaker,' voiced Principal Race Officer Darcy Cooke over the radio after an unpredicted twist of the wind after the start of flight nine. The race committee was disappointed they didn't fit in a full round robin, but eight and a half flights were completed on the first day of the GoPro Match Cup B Event.

Several boats from Friday/Saturday's 'A' event were joined by skippers Taylor Canfield, Nick Dugdale and Lars Hansen for the B event. Although the wind was on and off for the better part of the day, at least the skies were clear and the temperatures were in the mid-60's offshore.

The most anticipated match of the day was between ISAF ranked 29th Taylor Canfield and GoPro Match Cup 'A' Event victor Nevin Snow. The breeze was very light when the two teams entered the box providing a difficult situation for the dial-up. Snow provided the play-by-play. 'When we dialed Taylor up, we were on port. When we were both head to wind, we got a big shift from the left filling our sails to port as Taylor anticipated the wind and came at us calling starboard.' A penalty was given to Snow. Snow also crossed the line on the pin end three seconds early, and a large gap developed between the two boats. It wasn't until the second downwind leg that Snow was able to catch up to Taylor and get his bow across the finish line first. Unfortunately, Snow also had to address his penalty before he actually completed the race. 'We felt really good about the race other than a few simple mistakes at the start. We'll be getting our heads on straight and doing a little more pre-start research if we have to face Taylor again,' Snow confidently stated.

In Flight six, Guy Mossman proved to start with a clean slate from the A event as he went up against Taylor Canfield. 'Friday and yesterday, I felt like I had too many things in my head from work and such. I feel much better now,' Guy explained. The teams were well matched in the pre-start taking turns at controlling each other. 'As we were in the heat of it, he got close enough to push up from leeward and when we tacked, our transom hit him,' gaining a penalty. Even with the penalty, Mossman was in a better position for the start and was able to take off at the line. The team continued to extend on the first upwind after covering for a few tacks. At the second encounter with the windward mark, Guy's team briefly considered scraping off the penalty, but the wind conditions weren't ideal. So it was downwind at the finish line when they tried to burn the penalty off as they crossed the line. 'We tried to make sure the spinnaker was below the gooseneck before we went head to wind, but it just didn't quite make it.' This technicality cost Mossman the match against the highest ranked racer in the event. 'It felt good to be that close racing against someone like Taylor Canfield.'



The end of the day unknowingly occurred during Flight nine Match one 'We coasted across the finish line right before the wind shut off,' described Don Wilson's bowman, Erik Shampain. By the time Match 10 was in sequence, boats were attempting to sail both upwind and downwind with spinnakers. Shampain stated at the end they were just barely going to make the pin layline when a 60degree wind shift came around and they managed to finish at the boat.

The CMRC media decided to try a few new positions for GoPro's today, putting their stabilization to the test. During the match of Canfield versus Snow, Canfield was wearing a headcam as well as Snow's jib trimmer. Mounting the cameras to the masts to look back at the crews was another new addition. The waterproof casings provided a new underwater angle of the foils as the boats passed as well.

The weather for tomorrow is forecasted to have a 70% chance of precipitation and winds of up to 25 knots. Hopefully the winds will come through without storms for some exciting, fast-paced racing. With two and a half flights left to finish the round-robin, the race committee is waiting on the weather to determine the format. If the storms are bearing down, the RC might push straight into the semi-finals.

Weather pending, the completion of the round robin will commence at 9AM tomorrow. Real-time results and videos can be found on the CMRC website and live text updates can be followed on Twitter @matchracecenter. Media resources (results, press releases, photos and videos) will also be posted on the CMRC website.

GoPro Match Cup B Day one Results:

1) Taylor Canfield 6-2
2) Nevin Snow 5-2
3) Colin Rathbun 4-2
4) Don Wilson 4-3
5) Guy Mossman 4-2
6) Nick Dugdale 4-3
7) Lars Hansen 3-4
8) Stratis Andreadis 2-4
9) Lance Fraser 2-4
10) Leo Vasiliev 0-7






Official Partners of the CMRC include Eurex, CME Group, Newedge, City Inns family of hotels and Line Honors is the Official Clothing Supplier to CMRC. For more information on CMRC, visit www.chicagomatchrace.com or contact CMRC Program Director Tod Reynolds at tod@chicagomatchrace.com.

For the complete list of events for the 2011 season, please visit Chicago Match Race 2011.