2:30 AM Fri 5 Dec 2008 GMT
In the third day of the Monsoon Cup the event leaders face more tough matches as they bid to hold their places at the top and qualify for the quarter finals.
Top of the leader pack is Paolo Cian's Team Shosholoza with seven wins and only one loss after 11 flights. Today he will be up against Ben Ainslie's Team Origin and Sebastien Col's K-Challenge.
"I think that every match is a different story and it is very reliant on the weather conditions and the current conditions so you know if it is a match you can attack or you want to be a little smoother and try to slip away. Ben Ainslie and Sebastien Col are top sailors all over the world and they have demonstrated in different classes, in match races, America's Cup and so on. It will be tough like every time," Cian said.
Second equally on the leader board are Adam Minoprio's Black Match Racing Team and Torvar Mirsky's Mirsky Racing Team.
Mirsky's Racing Team admit they still have a lot of tough racing ahead of them today before they can secure a quarter final berth. 'We had two big grudge matches (yesterday) against the fellow Perth team Black Swan Racing headed by Keith Swinton and New Zealand's Adam Minoprio and his Black Match Racing. We were fired up on all cylinders, but we were only able to outsail Swinton as Minoprio's team sailed smooth and fast after already winning the start."
The team face Ian Williams, Sebastien Col and the big gun, Dato' Peter Gilmour in today's fights. "Although we are sitting comfortably in third place, we still have a lot of racing to do. Thankfully we have a strong foundation to build on and are taking positive steps in the right direction to take this one out."
Current world champion Williams still considers his team to be in the hunt. His Bahrain Team Pindar have four matches today, each of them against some very tough teams including Mirsky, Mathieu Richard and Col. "We are looking forward to having a good day (today) and a slightly less eventful day, hopefully, and try to get into the quarter finals," Williams said.
Mathieu Richard who lies third on the World Match Racing Tour scoreboard has the toughest battle of all the skippers today. Only the highest scoring eight skippers can qualify for the quarter final round. Richard, with two wins and five losses sits in the bottom group. He will have to fight every moment of his four scheduled matches if he has any hope of making the top eight. The match to watch for Richard will be when he meets Minoprio in Flight 13. No doubt Minoprio will be doing everything in his power to ensure Richard does not win the match.
Sebastien Col admits he has struggled in the first two days of racing. He is currently equal with Williams and Ben Ainslie with four wins apiece. He admits his team's performance has improved since the first day. Col's greatest challenge seems to have been in matching the aggression of the Mirsky and Minoprio. Today he is expected to turn on that aggression as he battles to secure a quarter final berth. "We can and do adapt to the conditions during an event. That is the nature of match racing," Col said.
The protest hearing over the results of the re-sail match between Holmberg and Williams saw Holmberg lose one point from his overall score for causing Level C major damage to his boat. This point deduction sees Holmberg slip back to be on equal points with Gilmour.
Chief Umpire Shane Borrell reported he is looking forward to a quieter day today. "It was really tough yesterday with match after match. Every one of them was tight," Borrell said.
The race committee plan to complete today the round robin stage and make a start on the quarter final matches.
The forecast is currently for more light east, north-east winds early building to 12 knots later in the day. The conditions at the start of the day are glassy with the scheduled start time of 10am under review.
While the teams are out racing today the local Terengganu community is enjoying a public holiday. They started early competing in the Monsoon Cup Fun Run. Later today over 10,000 people will attend the Public Dinner, to be held in the area adjacent to the event precinct, with free food and entertainment provided as part of the Monsoon Cup experience.
Check out the live vision on www.sail.tv. Live updates on today's matches are available on www.monsooncup.com.my
Asia's ESPN Star Sport telecast each night at 10.30pm highlights from the day's racing. Other broadcasters showing race day reports and highlights are: (check your local guide for times.):
Eurosport - Europe
Sky New Zealand - NZ
Showtime Arabia - Middle East (Dubai)
Setanta - UK/Ireland
SuperSports Network TV - Germany
Eurosport Asia - Pacific
American 1 Sports TV - USA
Eurosport.com - International and China
Sports Max Caribe
Eurovision - Switzerland/U.K
BT Vision - UK
Viasat VOD - Europe
Al Jazeera - International
Moto TV - Egypt
Euro News - Europe
Watch the racing on the internet, www.sail.tv
www.monsooncup.com.my
by Tracey Johnstone
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