Match Race Germany: Four semifinalists ready to rumble, Germany's Max Gurgel eliminated
by Match Race Germany 20 May 2018 17:32 PDT
16-21 May 2018
2018 Match Race Germany - Day 3 © NIco Martinez / MRG
They have achieved their minimal goal, but couldn't hide their disappointment: Max Gurgel and his Team Vmax Yachting are eliminated from the 21st edition of Match Race Germany. The only German skipper in the fleet of twelve teams from nine nations and his team from Hamburg were defeated by Vladimir Lipavski's Russian Team Ost Legal Sailing (1:2). With their eyes firmly set on the semis, Gurgel's crew suffered from two weak quarter final starts, normally a strenght of the team. Said the 32 years old physicist Gurgel after having sailed a brilliant preliminary round, "we are quite disappointed. We just didn't get it right at the starts of two races."
In contrast to the Germans, Dejan Presen's Lumba Match Race Team got it right in two out of three quarter final races and defeated 24 years old Szymon Jablkowski and his Jablkowski Sailing Team by 2:1, earning their spot in the semis. Third team to join Defending Champion Eric Monnin and his Albert Riele Swiss Match Race Team in the semi-final round, was the former Matchrace World Champion, twelve times Ice Sailing World Champion an America's Cup semi-finalist Karol Jablonski. The 56 years old helman from Poland increased his performance from race to race and defeated Maxime Mesnil's French Match in Black by Normandy Elite Team by 2:1.
Eric Monnin and his Albert Riele Swiss Match Race Team had catapulted themselves directly to the semis a day earlier after they won the preliminary round where they only lost one race against Jablonski's crew.
The semi-final pairings are thus determined: The Monnin's Swiss clockwork meets up with Lipavski's Ost Legal Sailing. In the other duel Dejan Presen is facing Karol Jablonski who struggled in the early stages of the German Grand Prix of the Match Race Super League but got better and more compelling throughout the series.
The semi-finals were scheduled to start on Sunday late afternoon, but a persistant calm put a test of pacience on Race Officer Rudi Magg and his team from Yacht Club Langenargen. Match Race Germany will celebrate its Grand Final and the winners on Monday (Pentecost).
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