After yesterday’s torrential rain and pea soup fog that restricted visibility on the race course, Mother Nature today smiled upon Newport, Rhode Island. The early morning mist burned off, finally revealing Goat Island and downtown Newport (invisible all of yesterday), and the sun came out, allowing a gusty sea breeze to build into the high teens.
Day two of the World Match Racing Tour Newport saw a continuation of the Qualifying fleet racing rounds, used to determine the seeding going into the “Super 16” knock out match racing rounds. With the M32 teams divided into four groups of five for the Qualifying fleet racing, the aim for crews today was to get into the top three in their group, which guarantees a Super 16 berth. The bottom two in each group will get to match race in the “Sail Offs” first thing tomorrow morning. The winner will get one of the final Super 16 spots.
First on today were the continued races for Group 2. This developed into a heavyweight bout between young Scandinavians Dane Nicolai Sehested and his Trefor Match Racing crew and Nicklas Dackhammar and his ESSIQ Racing Team. A late charge from Sehested, who posted a 2-1-1-2 today, caused him to end the day tied for the top with his Swedish opponent, to win on countback.
Sehested commented: “We are pretty happy winning the group, but, as we proved in Copenhagen (when we also won the group), anything can happen when it comes to the knock-out stages. We are happy and we sailed well, but we are just going to keep our heads down. It’s a good start, but means nothing yet.”
Compared to yesterday’s racing, today’s competition followed more conventional lines, such as actually being able to see the weather mark and the course boundaries. “Today it was a bit more about doing your job right rather than waiting to get lucky. Yesterday was more about gambling, and we got lucky, but we prefer fair conditions.”
Group 4 saw New Zealander Phil Robertson and his WAKA Racing team displacing Yann Guichard’s Spindrift Racing crew from the top spot. However grabbing the headlines in the latter races was Spanish double Olympic gold medalist and round-the-world sailor Iker Martinez. In the penultimate race he was awarded an impressive three penalties, while in the final race he managed to capsize his M32 catamaran.
“It was the first day of my sailing the M32 in these conditions – I have to learn about how to sail them. To start with, we couldn’t tack…,” explained Martinez whose only other visit to Newport was as skipper of MAPFRE in last year’s Volvo Ocean Race. “Plus the boundaries were very close to the marks, and where I was steering from, it was difficult for me to see the marks.”
Finishing uncharacteristically at the bottom of his group, Martinez gets to compete in the Sail-Offs tomorrow against young Australian David Gilmour. Martinez is anticipating that he and his crew will perform well in less wind, as they did in Copenhagen, and he prefers the match racing format with less boats on the course.
The stand-out performer of Qualifying was Chris Steele whose average score of 1.71 will make him top seed in tomorrow’s Super 16 Knockout round. But again it was not the winner in this group that stole the limelight. Former World Match Racing Tour champion and WMRT Copenhagen winner, US Virgin Islander Taylor Canfield, claimed today’s first two races, but in the third and final race was black flagged when he failed to keep clear of Australia Keith Swinton’s Team Accure, which was unable to avoid a capsize. However finishing third was enough to get Canfield a Super 16 berth.
Six-time match racing world champion, GAC Pindar skipper Ian Williams had a “black and white” Qualifying, scoring a mix of 1s and 5s, but enough for him to come out on top in Group 3. Nipping at Williams’ heels was the all-American crew of Californian Michael Menninger, previously part of American Youth Sailing Force which competed in the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup in San Francisco three years ago. Menninger finished second in the group, just four points adrift of Williams, despite trawling the weather mark in the penultimate race.
“We are happy as a group to get into the next round,” said Menninger. “We still have some work to do as a team. I have some experience sailing the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup, so I’m used to fleet racing starts in catamarans, but it was a team effort.”
Tomorrow, conditions are set to be rain-free and will be fractionally lighter. The regatta enters its match racing phase starting with the Sail-Offs before launching into the Super 16s.
Newport Results Day 2 – Qualifying
Group 1
1. Chris Steele (NZL), 36 Below Racing – 12 points
2. Taylor Canfield (ISV), US One – 19 points
3. Mattias Rahm (SWE), Rahm Racing – 19 points
4. Steve Thomas (AUS), RPM Racing – 26 points
5. Keith Swinton (AUS), Team Accure – 34 points
Group 2
2. Nicolai Sehested (DEN), TRE_FOR Match Racing – 18 points
3. Nicklas Dackhammar (SWE), ESSIQ Racing Team – 18 points
3. Sally Barkow (USA), Team Magenta 32 – 22 points
4. Eric Monnin (SUI), Albert Riele Swiss Team – 28 points
5. Chris Poole (USA), Riptide Racing – 36 points
Group 3
1. Ian Williams (GBR), GAC Pindar – 16 points
2. Michael Menninger (USA), 13FIFTY Racing – 20 points
3. Hans Wallen (SWE), Wallen Racing – 21 points
4. Matt Jerwood (AUS), Redline Racing – 23 points
5. Evan Walker (AUS), KA Match / CYCA – 25 points
Group 4
1. Phil Robertson (NZL), WAKA Racing – 16 points
2. Yann Guichard (FRA), Spindrift Racing – 19 points
3. Johnie Berntsson (SWE), Flux Team – 26 points
4. David Gilmour (AUS), Team Gilmour – 29 points
5. Iker Martinez (ESP), Team Espāna – 38 points
For more information, go to World Match Racing Tour Newport. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
World Match Racing Tour Official Site
About the World Match Racing Tour Newport
Hosted by Sail Newport, the World Match Racing Tour Newport is sponsored by WJAR TV Channel 10, Cox Business and Heineken. It runs until June 4that Fort Adams State Park and features high-speed stadium-style racing between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. each day except for Saturday when the finals are expected to end at 4 p.m. Racing is on the Newport Harbor side of Fort Adams. The event will be live streamed online at www.wmrt.com from Wednesday, June 1 through Saturday, June 4. The event also features the race boats on display at the public dock, live play-by-play commentary broadcast throughout the shore-side venue as well as music, food, family lawn games, a hospitality tent, and an M32 on shore. The event is open to the public, with no admission fee and free parking. wmrt.com/newport
About Sail Newport
Sail Newport is Rhode Island’s Public Sailing Center and is a non-profit educational organization. Sail Newport is the host for the World Match Racing Tour May 30 – June 4, 2016 at their facility in Fort Adams State Park. Since 1983, Sail Newport has provided public access to sailing through community programs for all skill levels and ages to enjoy the sport of sailing. In addition, Sail Newport has hosted many local, national and world championship regattas including several Olympic and Paralympic Trials, the America’s Cup World Series 2012 and the Volvo Ocean Race’s only North American stopover in May 2016. sailnewport.org
via Barby MacGowan, Media Pro Int’l
