5:43 PM Thu 18 Dec 2008 GMT
A third place in the Monsoon Cup and a lot of hard sailing during the year looks set to deliver a World Match Racing Tour card for young Australian skipper Torvar Mirsky.
At the start of 2008 the Mirsky Racing Team set their sights on winning the coveted card. A year of pushing themselves through a punishing match racing program will give them not only the tour card, but also a solid knowledge base on which to continue building their skills and results.
'The goal of this year was just to get results and to gain experience so we did 20 events. We have learnt all the different situations, been to all the countries, sailed in all the different boats and picked up this huge knowledge database. This was our goal; to get around as much as we could, to meet as many people as we could and to sail as much as we could. We've done that, and it looks like we've got our place on the tour now,' Mirsky said.
Mirsky competed in eight of the nine World Match Racing Tour events. At the start of the final event of the season, the Monsoon Cup, he was in equal fourth place on 53 points with young New Zealand rival, Adam Minoprio.
There were a lot of expectations placed on the Mirsky Racing Team as they went into the event, by both the team members and the public. Young, aggressive and highly successful during the 2008 season, the door was open for them to blast their way to the podium and grab a third place in the 2008 ISAF Match Racing World Championship along the way.
The team moved smoothly through the Monsoon Cup round robin stage to finish second to Italian skipper Paolo Cian, winning nine of their 11 matches. In the background Ian Williams, Sebastian Col and Mathieu Richard, the top three skippers on the World Tour, struggled to really make a significant impact on the event results.
'Mathieu and Sebastian both had an eye on the world title and I think they put quite a lot of pressure on themselves to have a crack at that; they really wanted the title. I think that distracted them from actually trying to win the regatta. If there was no world title there and they were just trying to win the Monsoon Cup I think you would have seen better results from them.'
In the quarter finals Mirsky chose Magnus Holmberg as his opponent and successfully won three straight matches to qualify for the semi finals. In that stage Mirsky met his one-time match racing teacher, Peter Gilmour. Three matches with three losses to Gilmour, and the Mirsky Racing Team were disappointingly out of the top two.
'Gilmour has just got so much experience. He's got so much confidence in his own abilities. He struts around when it's getting to finals days and you can just feel it that he's ready for it. He can take out regattas, no problem. There's a whole new area of building your mind up just to be able to win a regatta and not just to do well in it. Peter's certainly won a few in his day, and he showed it again on last day.'
Mirksy believed his team faltered in their matches against Gilmour. 'He turned the racing around into his favour. When we first started our first race against Peter he'd just had that protest hearing over Col. He had done five races out on the water. It was a long time and it had been raining all day. We thought he'd just struggle through, he'd be exhausted and this would be the perfect time to race him. But, he just managed to turn it around and get us by surprise.
'Peter's team had just got a bit of momentum and they were working really well together - they were able to claw that little bit extra out of it and force the mistake on us.'
Rising to the challenge of facing World Champion Ian Williams in the Petite Final, Mirsky won two hard-fought matches to take out third place.
'We smashed him in the two races. I think we had a bit of a psychological edge on him in that race, because he'd just been crowned World Champion the night before and I don't think he was quite as hungry as us to win that day. He lost all of his races that day. He lost three straight to Adam and two straight to us, so it wasn't his best day.
'It's one thing to have all your skills right and all your mechanics right, but it's another thing to be confident and psychologically show the other team that you're better and more fierce and ready for it. When it comes to the end of the regatta, those sorts of things are more important than your abilities.'
The key to the Mirsky Racing Team's performance in the Monsoon Cup was consistency. They produced good results throughout the event, however, when it counted the most, Mirksy said that 'maybe just not lifting it up enough at the end' was the difference between winning and losing.
The 2009 World Match Racing Tour is due to commence in May. Mirsky will find himself up against some solid match race players including Ian Williams, Mathieu Richard, Sebastien Col, Paolo Cian, Peter Gilmour, Ben Ainslie, Magnus Holmberg and his close rival, Adam Minoprio.
'Adam's just got this victory over us and I feel like he's overtaken us a little bit now. I don't like losing very much. He's definitely sailing very well, and it's good to have the two teams fighting each other to be in front all the time. We have a good friendly rivalry about it.'
Sponsorship important to success
The Mirsky Racing Team's team success has certainly raised their profile within the international sailing community, but as yet it has not delivered a key sponsor for the team. They have the support of the Royal Perth Yacht Club, some private supporters and last season's prize money to start them on their way towards the tour events in 2009. Securing a major sponsor for team will ensure they have the resources available during next year to continue delivering podium results.
Mirsky said his team has quite a lot of benefits to offer a sponsor. 'The WMRT events have a lot of television exposure world wide, so there are plenty of branding opportunities. We're a very successful team and we think we can provide that team attitude and apply it to anything to help someone or some business become successful as well. We structure ourselves just like a business does and we work hard to achieve our goals. We can pass that sort of knowledge over to someone and provide talks, seminars, anything they like to help them.'
Mirksy will to be in Europe by March to start his team's 2009 campaign towards the Match Racing World Championship title.
by Tracey Johnstone
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