WMRT

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I think there's some good news in there somewhere

 

http://www.wmrt.com/mobile-news/headlin ... eille.html

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Kiwis both advance to semi finals

 

Marseille, France – 27 September, 2012: After his progression through Qualifying at Match Race France went down to the wire, Ian Williams returned to form in his Quarter Final today as the challenge ended for home favourites Damien Iehl and Pierre-Antoine Morvan of France.

 

Ian Williams (GBR) GAC Pindar put in a dominating performance to beat the reigning 2011 event Champion, Damien Iehl (FRA) Wind 2 Win in three straight matches. In the absence of Tour challenger Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Mekonomen Sailing Team in the latter stages, Williams sees the regatta as an opportunity take top spot on the overall Alpari World Match Racing Tour (AWMRT) leaderboard.

 

He said: “It’s a great win today for GAC Pindar and adds to our set of results which we can take to Malaysia for the Monsoon Cup. We’re really pleased and now we’ll look to score big at this regatta.

 

“If we can make the Final of Match Race France, we’ll definitely be in with a shot at taking the Tour title.”

 

The Quarter Final win wasn’t as clear cut as the 3-0 scoreline suggested and Williams suggested that he had to be on top of his game to knock out the Frenchman at his home event, saying: “It was fantastic to beat someone as strong as Damien Iehl, it might not have looked that close but it was a tough battle out there where the starts were critical and the umpire calls that went our way today.

 

“We were a bit ragged for the first couple of days after the practice session was cancelled but as we go through the event we’re feeling more and more comfortable. If we carry on like we are, we’ll be in good shape.”

 

Iehl remained happy after the defeat in his first Tour event this season, having competed as a Tour Card Holder last year. He said: “I’m very happy to come back on the Alpari World Match Racing Tour and I knew it wasn’t going to be easy because I am competing with a new team. A lot of the guys I was with last year are on different boats and my tactician [Fred Guilmin] is even competing at this event with Peter [Gilmour].

 

“There is a big difference not sailing all the events compared to sailing with the same crew for six years. That makes it much easier to work together so this wasn’t as easy for just one event.”

 

French hopes were extinguished as Pierre-Antoine Morvan (FRA) Vannes Agglo Sailing Team also failed to progress at the hands of William Tiller (NZL) Full Metal Jacket Racing, who features in the Semi Final as one of two New Zealand teams remaining. Morvan, said: “We’re disappointed after coming second in Qualifying yesterday. It’s an event we expected to do well at and I thought we had a good chance to win.

 

“The team were all agreeing on taking the left or the right in the starts and we won the side of the course we’d hoped for in most of the matches. I just think we were a bit unlucky with some of the pressure today and a few times our choices turned out to be wrong.

 

Reflecting on his season ambitions following the exit at Match Race France, Morvan said: “We started the season looking for a top 5 overall but coming into this event I think we had a chance to podium. It’s not over yet but we’ll have to do well in Malaysia.”

 

Laurie Jury (NZL) Kiwi Match continued his good run of results from the opening two days of the event, beating Simone Ferrarese (ITA) Ferrarese Racing Team, who was showing some of his best form of the Tour season in Qualifying. Jury, said: “I think once you’ve qualified for the knockout stages, the picks don’t really matter to be honest. Coming top in Qualifying, the best thing is that you’re finishing at least fifth. These guys all know what they’re doing out there and showed that to get to the knockout stages.

 

“Whoever we go up against now in the Semi Final, it’ll be a tough match. It’ll be down to who sails best on the day.”

 

In one of the most exciting and tightly fought matches of the day, a to and fro affair between fellow Perth skippers Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing and Keith Swinton (AUS) Black Swan Racing eventually went the way of the youngster. Swinton, said: “The thing is, when you’re sailing against Gilly [Gilmour] it is so hard to get rid of him. He just won’t go away!

 

“It was really tight throughout that match and we felt like he was always right on our heels. In that last one, we took the right hand side on the last upwind and it paid off for us.

 

“At this event we’ve had a little bit of a different feeling to St. Moritz, where we were improving all the time. Here I think we’ve hit a really good level quite early. We’re in the Semi’s and that’s a good step so far.

 

Gilmour could have felt unfortunate not to get the better of his compatriot, but feels that on his current form, he could be one to watch out for in the latter stages: “They won the last event and they’re sailing really well. They could go all the way again.

 

“We’ve chosen to race Keith and his guys a couple of times this season and gone on and beaten them so I guess it was likely that they’d come back and wack us one at some point.

 

“That final race was a bit disappointing but the frustrating thing was that we let it get to that situation in the first place.

 

“In the last match, we really just wanted to put him under a bit of pressure at the end there. We were a little bit behind so tried to get him in a difficult situation. Unfortunately it worked out perfectly for him and he managed to jump us.”

 

The teams will be back on the water from 1115AM local time (GMT+2) tomorrow for the Semi Final at Match Race France (24 – 29 September) in Marseille, the sixth stage of the Alpari World Match Racing Tour. Semi Final picks will be made in the morning, before racing.

[Guest]

Will Tiller and his team have just taken down Laurie Jury 3-0 in the all kiwi semi to progress to the final where he will probably face the tours defending champ Ian Williams who is currently up 2-0 in his semi. This is a great result so far for the young kiwi match racing team who are continuing their great run of form at the moment and they could take their first ever WMRT title.

[Guest]

Tiller the Suprise Package in Marseille

 

Young New Zealander William Tiller won an all-Kiwi Semi Final battle today against compatriot Laurie Jury to book his place in the Final of Match Race France, whilst reigning Tour Champion Ian Williams also progressed.

 

Having edged through the Qualifying round after a countback, Tiller (NZL) Full Metal Jacket Racing recorded an impressive 3-1 win against Pierre-Antoine Morvan (FRA) Vannes Aggle Sailing Team in the Quarter Final. He then followed up with an outstanding 3-0 Semi Final victory over the form skipper of the event, Laurie Jury (NZL) Kiwi Match Racing, on the penultimate day of sailing.

 

Tiller qualified for Match Race France by winning the Race Sails of White Nights Grade 1 event in St Petersburg and came into the event confident that his team could challenge for the title at the sixth stage of the Alpari World Match Racing Tour. He said: “We came here to win. It’s our third Tour event and we’re always looking to compete at this top level. There are so many top New Zealand teams at the moment so we need to beat them at the highest level to try and move up the world rankings.

 

“It was a lot tighter than the scoreline suggested but we did a great job getting around the course fast and were able to take advantage of the small errors that Laurie [Jury] made.”

 

It was a composed Semi Final performance from Tiller and his crew. In the second match of the first to three points encounter, Jury had built a slim lead on the final downwind but carried a penalty from the pre-start. Jury tried to slow up and lure Tiller into tussle in an attempt to offset his penalty. Reflecting on that finish, which would eventually put the young Kiwi 2-0 up, he said: “It got pretty tight there on the last downwind. He tried to slow up at the finish line to trap us. We were probably a bit excited and got too close but we managed to stay out of trouble and keep a bit more pace to roll him at the end there.”

 

After taking the final match to make it a clean 3-0 sweep, Tiller then looked ahead to his opponent for the Final, either of which he felt would prove an interesting battle: “It won’t make a big difference who we face. We’re sailing well and I reckon we’ve got a good chance against either. Both Ian [Williams] and Keith [swinton] are great yachties so it’ll come down to our own performance in the Final.”

 

Jury was certainly no passenger in the tie and threatened several times before ultimately coming up second best. He said: “Today we really let ourselves down and to be honest I especially let the team down a lot with a few stupid mistakes. I got us one penalty in the prestart which was ridiculous and I hit the top mark to get another. Just stupid, you know.

 

“The guys were sailing the boat well and we were leading the races and winning the starts but 3-0 is what it is. We were definitely in all the races, we were leading a lot of the time. We just gave it away.”

 

Jury will now start to prepare for the season-finale Monsoon Cup in Malaysia in December. “We’ll go back to New Zealand, get the five guys together and do some training. We’ve been there twice before crewing for other teams so we’re looking forward to doing well again this year.”

 

In the day’s other Semi Final, some fantastic sailing from both Ian Williams (GBR) GAC Pindar and Keith Swinton (AUS) Black Swan Racing resulted in a tightly-fought 3-2 victory for the Brit, who will now move into first on the overall Tour leaderboard, regardless of his result tomorrow. Swinton had battled back from a 2-0 deficit but was unable to stop Williams, despite leading the must-win fifth match over the start line.

 

The bad start from Williams was quickly recovered with some excellent boat handling in the first downwind, he said: “We made it hard for ourselves today. I’m not sure we won a single start and in that final prestart, we lost concentration and Keith just shut us out at the committee boat end. We brought it back though when we managed to get across him up the first beat, allowing us to round the top mark ahead. We were consistently faster downwind so we were away.”

 

Swinton came into the event off the back of a win at the St. Moritz Match Race and was targeting a strong finish to his Tour season in a bid to challenge for a podium position come Monsoon Cup. He said: “We’re disappointed not to have done better after our win in St. Moritz. It was a difficult match with a few small mistakes and some bad luck. Frustratingly, we held the lead in each of our races against Ian but just couldn’t seem to make the lead count by pulling away.

 

“Overall though, we’re happy with how we’re sailing, we’re in a good position going towards Malaysia, hopefully lying in third after France. We want a podium finish – that would be a great season for the team.”

 

Williams will target a victory tomorrow before looking ahead to Bermuda and then the Monsoon Cup as he chases down Tour leader, Hansen: “We just want to get as close as possible to him. Sometimes it’s better to be the hunter and not the hunted. I think, now, whoever wins out of us and Bjorn in Malaysia will probably win the title.”

[Guest]

And its all done and dusted in France with the kiwi teams in the finals finishing 2nd and 4th

 

Williams Takes Tour Lead at Match Race France

Marseille, France – 29 September, 2012: Reigning ISAF Match Racing World Champion Ian Williams overcame a spirited performance by young Kiwi William Tiller and torrential conditions to win the Final of Match Race France. It was Williams’ fourth podium finish in five events this season which propels his GAC Pindar team to the top of the Alpari World Match Racing Tour (AWMRT) standings as the Tour heads into its penultimate event next week.

 

Williams arrived in the Final off the back of a hard-fought Semi-Final victory against Keith Swinton. Light conditions delayed the race start, eventually forcing the Race Committee to shorten the Final to a ‘first to two points’ format. When the breeze finally kicked in for the first match, Williams’ team had clearly recovered from their epic Semi-Final, winning the start and gaining an almost immediate two boat length lead up to the first windward mark. From there on, Williams’ team closed the door on Tiller, maintaining enough of a lead to not get sucked into a tactical battle. 1-0 and Tiller was already facing sudden death.

 

Tiller regrouped for the next match, the rain now beating down and the wind constantly picking up. Despite another poor start, a spirited Tiller managed to edge a lead over Williams round the first lap. Williams was not about to let this one slip though, and ground Tillers lead down on the second windward leg to round the final mark a boat length ahead. On the final downwind, Tiller had to attack but Williams’ boat speed, helped by some hard hiking from his crew, carried him to the line to take the victory by just over a boat length.

 

“We’re super happy to get the win,” said Williams. “It was one of those days where everything was changing very, very fast, especially the wind shifts. We got a few more of the important things right than he did today. In those conditions, if you can’t concentrate on the details, you need to get the big stuff right. It was good for us that we didn’t have to go out and win another one but I think we would have if we’d had to.”

 

Asked if it was a ‘perfect win’, Williams said: “Not quite. We could have been dry. That would have been perfect!

 

“That win has put us firmly in the hunt now and that’s what we wanted. Every year it seems the guy that gets the early lead in the Tour tends to drop out towards the end. One year we had a 30 point lead and ended up going to Malaysia in 2nd place. Same for [Francesco] Bruni last year and this year it’s happened to Bjorn [Hansen]. He had a strong lead but dropped off his form in the last two regattas. It’ll be interesting to see who else is in the mix in December but you suspect whoever wins between us and Bjorn’s team in Malaysia will take the season title.”

 

It was Tiller’s first Tour Final which left the defeated Kiwi with mixed emotions: “We were happy to make it to the Final but disappointed not to make more of it. We felt we got things together as the week progressed but couldn’t keep it going into the Final.

 

“Well done to Ian and his team. He got two good starts and, although we took the lead in the second race, we made a few errors to let him back into it. Trailing in the second match of a first to two point Final, you’d like another chance but the conditions dictated otherwise.

 

“We’ll look to take this form into Bermuda where we’ll have another shot at beating Ian.”

 

In the day’s Petit Final, the winner of the previous stage at the St. Moritz Match Race, Keith Swinton (AUS) Black Swan Racing, went up against Laurie Jury (NZL) Kiwi Match in a first to one point format.

 

Jury carried a penalty from pre-start but lead throughout the encounter and elected to take his turn as he approached the top mark for a second time. A slight mistake was all Swinton needed to pass his opponent and hoist his spinnaker for the final downwind, taking a comfortable victory.

 

After taking third place and 19 Championship points which have pushed him up to 3rd place in the overall standings, Swinton said: ““Those were tricky conditions but we managed to put the early pressure on with a penalty. We took the lead on the downwind and once we were ahead, we pushed on.

 

“We’re pretty happy with third and I think it’s well deserved. We pushed Ian [Williams] hard in the Semis and were maybe unlucky not to get to the Final.”

 

As for Jury, he felt the defeat was much his team’s own fault: “We’re obviously disappointed but more so because we kept making stupid mistakes. We decided to go left only to find the right was paying more and then the penalty in the pre-start. It is what it is, we can’t change anything now. We have sailed well this week but we’ve got some bits to work on.”

[smithy09 50]

Nice reporting Stephen C. Thanks.