Swinton leads Asian Match Racing Championships

2:19 AM Sat 29 Nov 2008 GMT

'2008 Monsoon Cup Asian qualifiers. Keith Swinton' Gareth Cooke Sub Zero Images Click Here to view large photo

Competition is heating up on Day Two of the Asian Match Racing Championships in Kuala Terengganu, as the round robin was decided during the final flight. Tied for wins on six a piece, the round robin came down to the final match up of Australia's Keith Swinton and his Black Swan Racing team, and Natsuki Motoyoshi and the Orbit team from Japan.

Swinton commented that at the start of the race, 'we started to leeward in a good position, he (Motoyoshi) tacked off and we extended, and he gained an advantage.' Motoyoshi held the advantage to the windward mark however, a series of luffs at the top of the race course resulted in a penalty against Motoyoshi for not keeping clear. The Orbit team maintained a lead over Swinton but the Japanese team were overtaken by the Australians on the way to victory.

2008 Monsoon Cup Asian qualifiers. Natsuki Motoyoshi - Gareth Cooke SubZero Images Click Here to view large photo

This morning, the weather appeared to continue the light wind pattern that has been apparent over the past week. Racing started slowly with the sou-westerly breeze constantly dissipating. Competitors were brought in when racing was postponed at around 12pm. As the rain began to ease, the northerly breeze increased and the competition became intense when the team's boat handling was truly put to the test.

Earlier in the day, a close prestart between Swinton and Byeong Ki Park from Korea resulted in Park forcing Swinton to tack. In the midst of the last minute manoeuvre, Park also collided with the start boat and was penalised, an error that cost himself precious time against the undefeated Swinton. The Black Swan Racing team capitalised on this penalty to take the win and increase their scorecard to seven wins.

Tomorrow will see the completion of the semi-finals between Marty Kaye and Keith Swinton, and Hiroshi Miura and Natsuki Motoyoshi. The winner of each of these matches will proceed to the Final, in which the last wildcard invitation for the Monsoon Cup will be decided.