11:47 PM Sun 30 Nov 2008 GMT
This week's Monsoon Cup in Malaysia will experience an invasion of young, highly-talented experienced and entry-level match racing skippers take on the World Match Racing Tour leaders.
Four young skippers have achieved entry to the Monsoon Cup which is the final event in the nine-regatta series of the 2008 ISAF World Match Racing Championship to be held from the 3 to 7 December 2008. While Adam Minoprio (NZL) and Torvar Mirsky (AUS) qualified through their results from the World Match Racing Tour events, wildcards were awarded to Asian Match Racing Championship winner Keith Swinton (AUS) and Malaysian Match Racing Championship winner Nurul Ain Md Isa.
Black Swan Racing skipper 22-year-old Keith Swinton convincingly won the Asian Match Racing Championships held in Terengganu over the weekend suffering only one match loss during the three-day event. Second in the event was Japan's Natsuki Motoyoshi ahead of Hong Kong's Marty Kaye.
Swinton is new to the Match Racing Tour. In his first Grade 1 events Swinton finished third in the Spot Match Race and fourth in the Trapani Cento Cup. He followed these strong results in his first World Match Racing Tour event, the King Edward VII (Bermuda) Gold Cup, placing sixth behind tour leader Ian Williams and ahead of Sebastian Col who finished seventh.
"We are thrilled to have won the Asian Match Racing Championships. The event was tough. Having never sailed many of the other competitors before there is always an element of surprise as you never really know what your coming up against. Together with the extreme Monsoon conditions over the three days it made racing hard work. I think in the back of our minds we always expected to qualify."
Going into the Monsoon Cup Swinton and his team plan to race to their highest standard. "At this stage being a young team we are hungry to do well and also learn as much a possible going forward.
New to keel boat racing and the demands of match racing, 23-year-old Nurual Ain Md Isa is the only female skipper in this year's Monsoon Cup. Nurul fought off seven other Malaysian skippers to win last week's Malaysian Match Racing Championship and a wildcard entry to the Monsoon Cup. 300px :
Nurul's time spent racing in the Optimist, 420 and 470 class, including winning silver medals at the 2001 and 2007 South East Asian Games, prepared her for top level competition. Her greatest challenge in going into the Malaysian Match Racing Championship was making the transition from dinghies to keel boat racing. She used the opportunity of two weeks pre-event training against the Navy Team and the experience of her four-man Perak Sailing Team to successfully make the transition.
Over in New Zealand Ben Ainslie and Adam Minoprio used the tightly contested 2008 New Zealand Match Racing Championships to practice their skills ahead of the Monsoon Cup. Ainslie rarely faulted on the race course during the two round robins with 15 wins and five losses to place his Team Origin second behind four-time national match racing title holder, Dean Barker.
In the final Barker continued his dominance over Ainslie to win both final matches. Laurie Jury finished third and Rod Davis fourth.300px :
Minoprio and his Black Match Racing Team were equal fourth on the points table at the completion of the round robins, but some earlier losses in the regatta left the team out of semi-final four. He reported at the conclusion of the regatta "we are happy with the way we were sailing here in Auckland and it has been a great preparation for the Monsoon Cup in Malaysia next week.
"The Monsoon Cup is the final of the World Tour and a win there could see us elevated to second on the World Match Racing Tour. This week's sailing has been unbelievably competitive and we are hoping the level of sailing here in New Zealand has put us in good stead for our upcoming event."
The hard work for the young Australian Mirsky Racing Team continued in Perth last week with a four-day training camp. The Mirsky team went out on the Swan River racing the Foundation 36s against Ian Williams, Mathieu Richard and local sailor, Robert Gibbs.
Team member Kinley Fowler reported "our team worked with some physiotherapists from Risely Physio during the training to get a program set-up for our off-season to improve our physical ability. This has involved a number of fitness tests and they have also come out on the boats with us to watch us in action.
Tour leader Williams utilised the training camp to achieve two important pre-Monsoon Cup goals; to get into the type of boat they would be racing in Malaysia and to get their body clocks into the right time zone. "It is really good for us to be out here starting to get over the jet-lag early", Williams said.
The training took in both the light morning easterly breezes and the strong afternoon Fremantle Doctor. Williams found the most valuable time on the water was in the morning as he and his team practiced their light air skills in anticipation of similar conditions in Malaysia.
Back on the land Williams said the teams did not spend too much time together are likely to make up the top group in this week's event. "It is a little bit awkward this close to a regatta. It is not that open in terms of discussion. We were both providing a good trial horse for the other one."
Coming out of the four-day training camp with Mirksy, Williams is more aware of the young skipper's growing talent. The Mirsky Racing Team may be a serious challenge for Williams and Team Pindar in this year's Monsoon Cup.
"Torvar is learning all the time. He has had a great first full season on the World Tour and he is getting better all the time. He has been a strong competitor for us all year and he is getting all the time."
by Tracey Johnstone
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Cape Byron, NSW
