Minoprio new world match racing champion

Match racing has a new world champion. New Zealander Adam Minoprio and his crew had already secured the title when they defeated Ben Ainslie's yacht in the final of the Monsoon Cup in Malaysia yesterday.

Minoprio and his ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing crew of Tom Powrie, David Swete, Nick Blackman and Dan McLean defeated a TeamOrigin boat that included triple Olympic gold medalist Ainslie on helm and double Olympic gold, Ian Percy.

Ian Williams, world champion for the previous two years, was forced to concede his title in the round robin stage when he was unable to progress to the later stages.

Ainslie - absent for part of the season - plans to do the full tour next year in order to give him a better chance of securing the world title in what has become a high quality event attracting much of the world's best match racing talent.


Monsoon Cup Results
1st Adam Minoprio (NZL) BlackMatch Racing Team
2nd Ben Ainslie (GBR) Team Origin
3rd Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing
4th Sebastien Col (FRA) French Match Racing Team/ALL4ONE
5th Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team
6th Phil Robertson (NZL) WAKA Racing
7th Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team
8th Damien Iehl (FRA) French Match Racing Team

Final tour Standings
1. Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing 138 Points
2. Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team 97 Points
3. Ben Ainslie, (GBR) Team Origin 95 Points
4. Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR 93 Points
5. Mathieu Richard (FRA), French Match Racing Team Racing 79 Points
6. Ian Williams (GBR) Team Pindar 75 Points
7. Sebastien Col, (FRA) French Match Racing Team 55 Points
8. Damien Iehl (FRA) French Match Racing Team 48 Points

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.

Monsoon Cup

For the past few weeks I have concentrated here almost entirely on the Vendee Globe, with odd mentions of Pete Goss. But there are other big sailing events going on just now.

I had hoped to catch up with the Volvo Ocean Race in Capetown but domestic engagements got in the way so my plan now is to visit the boats in Singapore in January where I hope to get the opportunity to sail in a practice session on Puma, in third place just now.

More immediately, this weekend in fact, we shall know the outcome of the world match racing championship at the Monsoon Cup in Malaysia. Again, I turned down an invitation to attend the event, partly because I have a feature in the Weekend FT magazine on Saturday. The feature that focuses on the current title holder, Ian Williams, was written some time ago.

This is the problem with magazine writing - it lacks the immediacy of the blog where I can click to the event that shows all of us the standings as they are. Anyway Williams will know this weekend whether or not he retains his title. I think it will be tough for him to pull it off but a consolation is that it's just as tough for his immediate rivals.

If you want to get a feel for world match racing you can watch televised Monsoon Cup coverage here.