No 1 in the world ranking, the Kiwi sailor Adam Minoprio made no mistakes during the quarter and semi-finals. He got the first ticket for the event's final.
Indeed, the kiwi skipper won the six matches he sailed today, kicking Ian Williams (GBR, Team Pindar) out of the event in the semi-finals after a “loud & clear” 3/0 in the semi-finals.
Torvar Mirsky (AUS, Mirsky Racing Team) didn't have to compete in the quarter finals thanks to his victory in the Round Robin. He had the right to choose his opponent and decided to sail against Philippe Presti in the Semi-Final. A choice that proved to be good (so far), the Australian managing to win his first two matches. The Race Committee then decided to postpone the third and decisive match to tomorrow morning because the wind just wasn't stable enough this afternoon.
The numerous public who made the trip to St. Moritz didn't regret the move! The wind wasn't at its best today, but the sun was shining and the show was great. Philippe Presti (FRA, French Match Racing Team) started the day in style, beating the Italian sailor Francesco Bruni (Joe Fly Match Racing) by 3 – 0. “It was like a boxing match”, commented Presti after the Series. Indeed, there were many collisions in this contest. Bruni said, laughing, that his new sunglasses were responsible for his lack of precision…
Adam Minoprio also managed to beat his opponent in the quarter final by 3 – 0. Sailing against Peter Gilmour (AUS, Yanmar Racing), the Australian didn't leave many opportunities to the Australian America's Cups veteran, earning his spot in the semi-finals convincingly.
Ian Williams had a harder time against Sébastien Col (FRA, French Match Racing Team), incurring many penalties and even a negative point due to a collision.
We will know tomorrow who the « King of the Mountain » 2009 is: a great contest to come between Adam Minoprio and Torvar Mirsky or Philippe Presti?
They said :
– Rod Davis (tactician on board Francesco Bruni's Joe Fly Match Race Team) : “We never really got in the rhythm today whilst Philippe sailed very well. His style is pretty close to ours, but Francesco only competes in 2-3 events per year. The loss is kind of frustrating; however we are satisfied that we finished the Round Robin in second.”
– Philippe Presti (after the quarter final) : “Francesco wasn't an easy opponent today; he was on great form after finishing second in the Round Robin. Perhaps he didn't have such a good day. As for us, we became better throughout the day. It was quite tough with the northerly breeze, because there are big shifts and windless patches. But there's also a lot of action; it's cool.”
– Ian Williams : « It was one of those days when whatever we did proved to be wrong. Adam did a great job, and managed to benefit from every shift. It's quite frustrating for us because we won all our starts and always managed to go where we wanted.”
Results, Day 4
Name of the skipper, ISAF ranking, Nationality, Name of team
Quarter Finals :
– Philippe Presti, (7) FRA, French Match Racing Team beats Francesco Bruni (50) ITA, Team Joe Fly Match Race; 3 – 0
-Ian Williams (4) GBR, Team Pindar; beats Sébastien Col (3) FRA, French Match Racing Team; 3 – 1
-Adam Minoprio (1) NZL, ETNZ/BlackMatch beats Peter Gilmour (11) AUS, YANMAR Racing; 3 – 0
Semi Finals :
-Adam Minoprio (1) NZL, ETNZ/BlackMatch beats Ian Williams (4) GBR, Team Pindar; 3 – 0
-Torvar Mirsky (6) AUS, Mirsky Racing Team leads 2/1 against Philippe Presti, (7) FRA, French Match Racing Team
