World title for Williams in Malaysia

Ian Williams, sponsored by Bahrain Team Pindar, won his second consecutive ISAF World Match Racing title today, at the Monsoon Cup in Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia, the final event of the 2008 World Match Racing Tour.

He beat one of his closest rivals Mathieu Richard, of Team French Spirit, in the quarter final stages, then secured the title when Sebastian Col, French Team K Challenge, nearest to Williams on points, lost to former World Match Racing Champion Peter Gilmour, of PST.

Williams and his crew of Gerry Mitchell, Mark Nicholls, Simon Shaw and Richard Sydenham, knew the had to sail out of their skins to win as the three leading crews were closely matched on points. Sailing aggressively from the start today, they won three straight matches against Richard, ending the Frenchman's championship hopes.

Williams, who was reigning champion going in to the Cup match, said: "We are absolutely thrilled. It was quite a strange way to win as we were out on the water when the Col/Gilmour match was decided. It all came together today, the crew were amazing and we really sailed like champions – I don’t think we have ever beaten Richard 3–0 before."

"We will be giving it our all tomorrow to reach the final of the Monsoon Cup and hope to make it a double celebration."

Williams needs one more race win to guarantee his place in the final of the Monsoon Cup, where he would then face either Peter Gilmour in a repeat of the 2007 final, or Torvar Mirsky of Mirsky Racing Team.

Now in its fourth year, the cup is contested by some of the best match racing sailors in the world. Twelve crews were competing on identical Foundation 36 Yachts for a share of $295,000 prize money. The entries this year included Britain’s three times Olympic Gold medallist and ISAF Rolex Sailor of the Year, Ben Ainslie, of Team Origin. Ainslie, who could only compete in a few of the match racing events this year, due to his Olympic commitments, is to contest the whole of the championship next year.

I hope the BBC has made a note of Williams' success. The UK doesn't have too many world champions and he deserves to be among those recognised during the annual Sports Personality of the Year evening on December 14.

Williams wins Danish Open

Ian Williams extended his lead in the current World Match Racing Tour at the weekend when he and his Pindar racing team won the Danish Open. Williams, the current world champion, pulled clear of his nearest rival, Frenchman Mathieu Richard who failed to make the semi-finals.

This was my first trip to one of the match racing events and the Danes were very welcoming hosts. All the crews have identical boats so it really is a test of team work, tactics and helming skills.

There is simply no room for error so every manoeuvre has to be like clockwork. It's more like boxing than racing with umpires following the two-boat races on an end-to-end course that must be rounded twice. This means that spectators have a clear understanding of who is in the lead as the boats converge for each buoy rounding.

In the battle for dominance, however the boats undertake many more manoeuvres than in a fleet race, tacking and back tacking when fighting for position. In the pre-race jostling they sometimes do a series of pirouettes as they try to make the best position on the line.

The tour seems to be attracting increasing interest from potential hosts, not to name some big names in sailing such Magnus Holmberg. A group from a Bahrain bank were visiting this tie, looking at the feasibility of staging an event in Bahrain.

The tour includes stages in Brazil, Germany, Korea, Switzerland and Sweden but has no UK event as yet. This seems odd since the world champion is British. Sooner or later one of the hungrier ports - Cardiff, Liverpool or Hartlepool perhaps - is going to wake up and bid for the event. It beats duck racing.