BNP Paribas Match Racing Visitors’ Cup - Lipavsky emerges victorious

by Lindsay Lyons on 12 May 2012 At the 2012 BNP Paribas Match Racing Visitors’ Cup, Vladimir Lipavsky displayed an impressive mastery of tactics and tides to emerge the undisputed winner in Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour.

Early morning, Race Officer Inge Strompf Jepsen found a steady 10 knot easterly in front of Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club’s Kellett Island base, and proceeded to set her course with a choice of three windward marks to allow for the customary wind shifts. There was a strong flood tide to start with and some adjustments had to be made to deal with drifting before racing finally got underway.

The format for the day was two round robins, five flights in each and two matches in each flight. The four umpire boats put in a sterling day’s work, with Tony Lu of CYA joining Marianne Middelthon, Masaaki Tanaka and Tom Sheppard to keep competitors on the straight and narrow.

After 20 matches, Lipavsky was victorious, with Ridgely Balladeras in second, Laurence Mead third, Morten Jackobsen fourth and Toshio Toya fifth after the Japanese team suffered a technical problem with a winch.

BNP Paribas Match Racing International Regatta gets underway tomorrow with the round robin stage, featuring eight skippers in flights of three, totalling 28 matches.

Entry List for the International Regatta is as follows:

Peter Backe (Sweden)
Ridgely Balladares (Philippines)
Morten Jackobsen (Thailand)
Marty Kaye (Hong Kong)
Vladimir Lipavsky (Russia)
Laurence Mead (Great Britain)
Tim Somerville (Australia)
Toshio Toya (Japan)