What a way to conclude a week of racing at the 2012 Monsoon Cup. Two young and aggressive match racers that fight to the very last race, plenty of penalty flags and decent breeze are certainly a positive note after some very slow and definitely difficult days with very light breeze. Saturday was indeed the very first day there was a normal sea breeze pattern in Kuala Terengganu that peaked at around 4pm.

Earlier in the day, Taylor Canfield and Phil Robertson had breezed through the semifinals, easily beating their opponents, Peter Gilmour and Ian Williams respectively. They both advanced to the finals with a 2-0 score, in two races under very light and tricky breeze where picking the wrong side could mean falling behind dozens of boatlengths.

The two match racers then faced off in a series of five races that offered exciting and close sailing, especially in the first race with an unreal situation on the finish line where four penalties were given in less than a minute. Both sailors and their crews being experienced match racers, the final result came down to who would commit the least number of small errors. Unfortunately for Robertson it was Canfield that seemed to be the one, in particular in the all-decisive last race.

In what regards the podium of the 2012 Alpari World Match Racing Tour, there wasn’t any change from yesterday in the first and second place. Ian Williams was crowned world champion yesterday while Björn Hansen was sure he would get the silver. Three sailors – Phill Robertson, Keith Swinton and Peter Gilmour – were in contention for third place, depending on the outcome of today’s races. Peter Gilmour was defeated in the Petit Final by ian Williams and with the second place at the Monsoon Cup, Robertson clinched the overall bronze, a mere 2 points ahead of Swinton and 2.75 of Gilmour.

Final 1
Stating that the finals started with a bang would be a major understatement. The prestart of the first race was intense but uneventful. Robertson got the upper hand as he squeezed Canfield at the race committee boat and led the race to the first weather mark. Down the run Canfield managed to catch up with his opponent, tried to sneak in at the bottom gate and was penalized. Canfield had an excellent second beat and run and was able to build a slim lead that would seem just about enough to let him offload the penalty and maybe take the win.

When the two boats approached the finish line all hell broke loose. Robertson pushed Canfield who tried to hook him. That landed him a second penalty as the two boats collided. While he was offloading the first one, Robertson tried to make his way through Canfield and the committee boat and got a penalty and a flag! That left the two skippers right on the finish line with one penalty each to offload! The USVI skipper managed to offload his a split second before Robertson and got the win! This is probably a proof that one doesn’t really need very fast boats to have thrills and spills, as long as there is a decent breeze.

Tough start for Canfield as he’s blocked by the committee boat. Kuala Terengganu, 8 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Robertson leads in the first beat. Kuala Terengganu, 8 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Robertson leads in the first run. Kuala Terengganu, 8 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Canfield is leading at the second top mark but is carrying a penalty. Kuala Terengganu, 8 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Canfield approaches the finish line with, still carrying a penalty. Kuala Terengganu, 8 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

The two boats collide and Canfield gets his second penalty. Kuala Terengganu, 8 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

After offloading his first penalty Canfield offloads the second one before Robertson completes his penalty turn! Kuala Terengganu, 8 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Final 2
It surely was an uneventful prestart, compared to the thrilling finish a few minutes before, but Robertson did manage to push Canfiled over the line and take the upper hand from the start. He managed to hold on to his lead even if in the last run he seemed to have taken too much of a lateral separation from Canfield, letting the Chicago-based skipper find some better breeze on the right. However, that wasn’t enough and Robertson tied the score.

Prestart of the second race of the 2012 Monsoon Cup. Kuala Terengganu, 8 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Robertson pushes Canfield over the line. Kuala Terengganu, 8 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Robertson leads at the first weather mark. Kuala Terengganu, 8 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Spectators watch Robertson from the balconies round the bottom gate ahead of Canfield. Kuala Terengganu, 8 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Robertson is ahead at the second weather mark and sails to victory. Kuala Terengganu, 8 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Final 3
The right shift had made the right-hand side of the course the favored one and both Robertson and Canfiled were keen to take it or maybe a bit too keen in the case of Robertson. He tried to squeeze between Canfield and the race committee boat, pushing his bow through. The umpires deemed he could have avoided it and slapped him with a double penalty. He offloaded the first one immediately but that gave Canfield the opportunity to gain the lead. There was nothing Robertson could do from that point other than be at the stern of Canfield’s and watch him cross the line ahead of him.

Prestart of the third race of the 2012 Monsoon Cup. Kuala Terengganu, 8 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Canfield takes the lead in the first beat. Kuala Terengganu, 8 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Canfield leads in the first run. Kuala Terengganu, 8 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Canfield rounds the bottom gate ahead of Robertson. Kuala Terengganu, 8 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Canfield wins the third race of the 2012 Monsoon Cup. Kuala Terengganu, 8 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Final 4
The fourth final race was very straightforward. Phil Robertson had the upper hand during the prestart and hit the starting line clearly ahead of Canfield, with definitely better speed and avoided making any tactical mistakes. He led the race from start to finish and tied the score at 2-2.

Prestart of the fourth race of the 2012 Monsoon Cup. Kuala Terengganu, 8 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Phil Robertson gets off to a better start. Kuala Terengganu, 8 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Phil Robertson leads at the first weather mark. Kuala Terengganu, 8 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Phil Robertson is in the lead in the first run. Kuala Terengganu, 8 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Phil Robertson wins the fourth race and ties the score. Kuala Terengganu, 8 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Final 5
With the breeze dropping and the pressure to wrap up the finals within the TV schedule, the race committee had no option but shorten the race course quite considerably, putting a premium on a good start. The sailor that had a clean start, ahead of his opponent and stayed out of major trouble would most probably be the one to be crowned king of the Malaysian event and that’s exactly what took place.

Prestart of the fifth race of the 2012 Monsoon Cup. Kuala Terengganu, 8 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

That’s it! Canfield has a much better start and crosses the line ahead of Robertson at a faster pace. Kuala Terengganu, 8 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Canfield starts the first beat ahead of Robertson. Kuala Terengganu, 8 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Canfield leads the first weather mark ahead of Robertson. Kuala Terengganu, 8 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Canfield rounds the bottom gate in the lead. Kuala Terengganu, 8 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Not an enviable position for Robertson to be in the last beat. Kuala Terengganu, 8 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Not an enviable position for Robertson to be in the last beat. Kuala Terengganu, 8 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Canfield leads in the last run. Kuala Terengganu, 8 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

A happy Canfield crosses the finish line for the very last time and bags the 2012 Monsoon Cup! Kuala Terengganu, 8 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

It was a huge gamble that Björn Hansen took on Friday morning and it didn’t pan out the way he would have liked. He had finished the round robin in second place and it didn’t come as a surprise when top-seeded Peter Gilmour picked the weakest opponent, that also happened to be his son, David Gilmour. What came as a surprise though was Hansen’s decision to race his closest opponent in the fight for the ALPARI World Match Racing Tour, Ian Williams. The British skipper was sitting a mere 2.5 behind Hansen and there was no doubt at all the fight for the world title would have been fierce. However, nobody was expecting it to be so short as it was decided a full day before the end of the Monsoon Cup.

After a slow start on Friday morning to finish the round robin under very light conditions, the unusually very dry and sunny weather allowed for a gentle and decent sea breeze to develop later in the afternoon. In fact, it might be called the Monsoon Cup but there has hardly been any substantial amount of rain in the last week or so. The only drawback is that racing has to start a bit later than scheduled and in the tropics at this time of the year sunset takes place quite early in the afternoon, leaving just about the sufficient time for racing.

All quarterfinals were fiercely fought and equally interesting, but Hansen’s decision to face Williams put the spotlight on that race as it was a make or break battle. As a result, our report today is focused on Hansen and Williams battling it out for the world title, prematurely…

Quarter final 1
What a race! The championship-deciding quarterfinals couldn’t have had a more interesting start. Ian Williams threw his match racing tricks on Hansen and forced him to a penalty at the committee boat. The Swede however had a plan, to take the right side of the course. He was off the starting line with slightly better speed at the pin end but quickly tacked and headed for the right, while Williams opted for the left. And the right paid as a big shift gave Hansen an immense lead which in turn offered him the opportunity to offload his penalty in the second beat, hold on to his lead
and score the first point.

Hansen gets a penalty at the prestart of the first quarterfinal race. Kuala Terengganu, 7 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Vsail.info

Hansen looks back at Williams in the first run. Kuala Terengganu, 7 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Vsail.info

Hansen rounds the bottom gate with an immense lead. Kuala Terengganu, 7 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Vsail.info

Hansen has offloaded his penalty and crosses the finish line. Kuala Terengganu, 7 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Vsail.info

Quarter final 2
Momentarily, I thought the second race of the quarterfinals would be a repeat of the first one but that wasn’t to happen. Just like the first race, Hansen got a penalty in the prestart but this time there wouldn’t be a huge tactical error by Williams to turn the tables around. Although Hansen hit the starting line at the pin end with slightly better pace, Williams got the right side, held on to it in the first beat and managed to stay comfortably ahead to the finish line.

Hansen gets a penalty at the prestart of the second quarterfinal race. Kuala Terengganu, 7 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Vsail.info

Hansen in the first beat of the second quarterfinal race. Kuala Terengganu, 7 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Vsail.info

Williams builds a comfortable lead in the first run. Kuala Terengganu, 7 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Vsail.info

Williams rounds the bottom gate ahead of Hansen. Kuala Terengganu, 7 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Vsail.info

Williams leads in the second run. Kuala Terengganu, 7 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Vsail.info

Williams crosses the finish line ahead of Hansen and scores his first point. Kuala Terengganu, 7 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Vsail.info

Quarter final 3
The third race was a fiercely-fought roller coaster that turned the tables and gave Williams the lead. Williams had a good start, went to the right-hand side of the course, crossed ahead of Hansen and then tacked, heading for the left. He picked the left shift and rounded the first top mark in the lead. Hansen had an excellent run and managed to be in contention at the bottom gate and went into the lead at the last weather mark. Despite the very short courses with legs of less than 500 meters, tactics can at times make the difference and that’s exactly what happened in the last run. Williams played the left shift, went as close as possible to the shore line and managed to get ahead, scoring an important second point.

Prestart of the third quarterfinal race between Björn Hansen and Ian Williams. Kuala Terengganu, 7 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Vsail.info

Williams halfway through the first beat. Kuala Terengganu, 7 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Vsail.info

Williams crosses in front in the first beat. Kuala Terengganu, 7 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Vsail.info

Williams rounds the first weather mark in the lead. Kuala Terengganu, 7 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Vsail.info

Hansen has an excellent run and catches up Williams at the bottom gate. Kuala Terengganu, 7 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Vsail.info

Hansen in the second beat of the race. Kuala Terengganu, 7 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Vsail.info

Hansen leads in the second beat. Kuala Terengganu, 7 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Vsail.info

Hansen rounds the second weather mark ahead of Williams. Kuala Terengganu, 7 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Vsail.info

Brilliant tactical move by Williams as he goes to the left, close to the shoreline, gets the better breeze, overtakes Hansen and scores a decisive second point. Kuala Terengganu, 7 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Vsail.info

Quarter final 4
The fourth and final race of the 2012 Monsoon Cup quarterfinals was probably the most straightforward. Although it was a intense prestart, Williams got off to a better start with better speed and opted for the right hand side of the course. He was ahead at the first cross and managed to hold on to this lead throughout the race, despite Hansen’s attacks, especially in the first run. Williams could always feel Hansen hot on his heels but the Swede was unable to find a passing lane. After crossing the finish line ahead of Hansen, Williams not only advanced to the Monsoon Cup semifinals but, much more importantly, he equaled Peter Gilmour’s four World Match Racing Championship titles.

Start of the fourth quarterfinal race between Björn Hansen and Ian Williams. Kuala Terengganu, 7 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Vsail.info

Williams is ahead at the first cross of the first beat. Kuala Terengganu, 7 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Vsail.info

Williams rounds the first top mark in the lead. Kuala Terengganu, 7 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Vsail.info

Start of the fourth quarterfinal race between Björn Hansen and Ian Williams. Kuala Terengganu, 7 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Vsail.info

Williams squeezes in at the bottom mark. Kuala Terengganu, 7 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Vsail.info

Williams leads Hansen in the final run. Kuala Terengganu, 7 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Vsail.info

Williams crosses the finish line, comfortably ahead of Hansen. Kuala Terengganu, 7 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Vsail.info

Celebrating a well-deserved victory and a world title! Kuala Terengganu, 7 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Vsail.info

Celebrating a well-deserved victory and a world title! Kuala Terengganu, 7 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Vsail.info

[Source: ALPARI World Match Racing Tour] Bjorn Hansen and Phil Robertson endured tough starts to their bids for Monsoon Cup glory this week but fought back strongly today in the third Qualifying Session. Hansen has kept his World Championship quest alive by Qualifying for the knock-out stages while Robertson posted three wins from three today to leave himself on the cusp of a Quarter Final berth at the finale of the 2012 Alpari World Match Racing Tour.

Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Mekonomen Sailing Team came through what could be a crucial test to his Championship credentials in his match against Ian Williams (GBR) GAC Pindar. It was a closely fought battle, with Williams seizing the lead after a pre-start jostle left Hansen trailing the Brit up to the first mark. Hansen dug deep and managed to pull back the lead though by rolling Williams on the first downwind run. It was a lead he held onto despite a spirited effort from Williams who stuck to his tail throughout.

The win took Hansen’s total to seven wins and alleviated a few nerves: “On the first day we said we weren’t going to panic – we’re pretty happy with the way we’re sailing. I’m feeling good. Against Ian we managed to come from behind in what could turn out to be an important win if conditions don’t improve.

“We haven’t talked about Quarter Final picks at all. I doubt we’ll be the ones to pick. It might be nice to have a Championship match between Ian and ourselves later in the competition but we’ll wait to see what happens.”

Phil Robertson steps up his game and leads the round robin. Kuala Terengganu, 6 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Robertson also responded well following a poor start to his Monsoon Cup. Unbeaten today and currently in sixth on the Qualifying table, he said: “We’ve turned it around today, we went three and zero, a perfect day for us. We’re sailing a lot better, we’re patient and waiting for opportunities to pass.

“The guys have been great, my tactician was really dialled in and everything is going well. It’s important to get as many wins as we can now. Six for the Quarter Final then the others to get us up the ladder as far as possible.”

One of those victories was against Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Bertnsson Sailing Team, who, despite taking two victories from his first three races in the first Qualifying Session, becomes the first Tour Card Holder casualty here. The 2011 Monsoon Cup runner-up was unable to recreate his impressive showing of last year and he will not take any Tour points from the event, finishing 2-9.

One of the session’s other notable matches saw Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing taking on his son, David Gilmour (AUS) Team Gilmour, who skippers for the first time at an Alpari World Tour event. Having yesterday announced his retirement from the world of professional match racing after the Monsoon Cup, Gilmour Snr. said he was pleased to take on his son in his swansong:

“I’m so proud that David is out here competing and even though I obviously wanted to take the win today, good on them for getting out and having a bit of a go. It’s great to see them racing at this level. It’s the beginning of the journey for them and I’m very pleased he’s mixing it up with the rest of the best.”

The race was all but decided in the pre-start when Gilmour Jnr. came off second best having tried to force his father over the start line early, only to see him escape and lose momentum himself. Commenting on the race, Gilmour Snr. said: “The race could have been a lot closer if that pre start decision had gone his way but I think we had about 10cm before we would have got the penalty. It was green flagged but on another day, it’s the sort of decision that could have been a red flag immediate penalty.”

David Gilmour suggested that his elder was lucky to have got away with the manoeuvre but admitted that he had enjoyed the experience anyway: “I thought he should have gotten a penalty for the port-starboard in the pre-start but these things happen. It was a unique experience to go head-to-head in competition conditions but definitely one that I enjoyed.”

David Gilmour managed a win over reigning Tour Champion, Ian Williams in his last match of the day. The result leaves him with a chance of qualifying for the knockout round of the biggest Tour event of the year, if he is able to better his 4-5 score line tomorrow.

The remaining Qualifying matches and Quarter Finals are scheduled for Friday 8th December.

Monsoon Cup – Qualifying Table, Round 3:
Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing 7-3
Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Mekonomen Sailing Team 7-4
Ian Williams (GBR) GAC Pindar 6-3
Keith Swinton (AUS) Black Swan Racing 6-3
Pierre-Antoine Morvan (FRA) Vannes Agglo Sailing Team 6-4
Phil Robertson (NZL) WAKA Racing 5-3
Taylor Canfield (ISV) USone 5-4
Adam Minoprio (NZL) Alpari Racing Team 5-4
David Gilmour (AUS) Team Gilmour 4-5
Laurie Jury (NZL) Kiwi Match Sailing Team 3-6
Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team 2-9
Jeremy Koo (MYS) KFC Malaysia/KRT 0-8

Photo gallery from the third day of racing at the 2012 Monsoon Cup:

Third day of racing at the 2012 Monsoon Cup. Kuala Terengganu, 6 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Third day of racing at the 2012 Monsoon Cup. Kuala Terengganu, 6 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Third day of racing at the 2012 Monsoon Cup. Kuala Terengganu, 6 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Third day of racing at the 2012 Monsoon Cup. Kuala Terengganu, 6 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Third day of racing at the 2012 Monsoon Cup. Kuala Terengganu, 6 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Third day of racing at the 2012 Monsoon Cup. Kuala Terengganu, 6 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Third day of racing at the 2012 Monsoon Cup. Kuala Terengganu, 6 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Third day of racing at the 2012 Monsoon Cup. Kuala Terengganu, 6 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Third day of racing at the 2012 Monsoon Cup. Kuala Terengganu, 6 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Third day of racing at the 2012 Monsoon Cup. Kuala Terengganu, 6 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Third day of racing at the 2012 Monsoon Cup. Kuala Terengganu, 6 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Third day of racing at the 2012 Monsoon Cup. Kuala Terengganu, 6 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Third day of racing at the 2012 Monsoon Cup. Kuala Terengganu, 6 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Third day of racing at the 2012 Monsoon Cup. Kuala Terengganu, 6 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Third day of racing at the 2012 Monsoon Cup. Kuala Terengganu, 6 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Third day of racing at the 2012 Monsoon Cup. Kuala Terengganu, 6 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

[Source: Alpari World Match Racing Tour] Record four-time ISAF Match Racing World Champion and multiple America’s Cup campaigner, Peter Gilmour today announced his retirement from the Alpari World Match Racing Tour and professional match racing on the second day of racing at the Monsoon Cup. Gilmour will bow out after the event concludes this Saturday 8 December.

On the water, Ian Williams looked ever-more the natural successor to Peter Gilmour as he returned to action in commanding style, remaining unbeaten at this Monsoon Cup on 5-0 to reaffirm his intent to retain his Tour crown and equal Gilmour’s record of 4 Tour titles.

It was a fitting moment for Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing to announce his retirement having been one of the key architects behind the birth of the Monsoon Cup event and also the development of the Alpari World Match Racing Tour in his role as President. Flanked by his son, David Gilmour (AUS) Team Gilmour, who is skippering at his first ever Tour event and likely to face his father on the water tomorrow, Gilmour said:

“It would be fabulous to finish my career with a win here but the Monsoon Cup is always very tight, it goes down to the wire each day.

“I just realised that I’ve got to that point in my life. I’m not as athletic as I used to be and I used to win one or two events per year and we haven’t won an event for a few years now. The other teams aren’t necessarily getting that much better, I’m probably just slipping a bit. It’s good to finish while I’m still at the pinnacle of the sport.”

It’s an end of an era for Peter Gilmour. Kuala Terengganu, 5 December 2012. Photo copyright Gareth Cooke / Subzero images – Monsoon Cup

Fellow Tour stalwarts, Williams (GBR) GAC Pindar and Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Mekonomen were quick to praise Gilmour’s achievements and influence. Hansen, began: “I’d like to thank and congratulate Peter on his career – he’s been at forefront of the match racing world and could easily compete at this level for longer if he chose to. It’s been a pleasure to race against him and, looking around, I guess I’m next in line for retirement!”

Williams echoed the sentiments of the Swede, pointing to the support and advice he has received over the years from his fierce rival. He said: “We first faced Peter [Gilmour] in the late 90’s and he gave us a thoroughly good schooling, and when we joined the Tour in 2005 he continued to give us a schooling. We’ve had some great races over the years and he really has been a benchmark for all of us growing up. He’s always been keen to lend a hand, never turning us away when we asked for advice on match racing or how to run the business side of a professional sailing team. I’d like to thank him for the help and certainly we’ll be giving it our best shot to equal him this week.”

Today, Williams again demonstrated why he is considered most likely of the current crop of Tour Card Holders, to match Gilmour’s impressive total of Tour titles. With five wins and a 100% qualifying record on his first day of competition in Kuala Terengganu, he has also again shown that he has the focus to perform under pressure.

Reflecting on his start to the finale of the 2012 Alpari World Match Racing Tour, Williams, said: “It’s a great start. We were behind in three of our races today in conditions where it was difficult to read the breeze and current. If you keep the pressure on then they can makes mistakes and we managed to do that. We had a bit of luck too – the one that was abandoned [against Pierre Antoine Morvan] was a bit lucky as we were behind.

“We improved during the day which showed in the last race which we controlled a lot better. If we continue to improve we have a great chance of winning the Monsoon Cup and the Alpari World Match Racing Tour.”

According to the official line, Malaysia’s former prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, was on a fishing trip in Terengganu during the monsoon season when he got the inspiration to create an event that would help break the misconception about the region. Tourism in the state of Terengganu in particular and the eastern coast of Malaysia in general is marked by clear seasonality, with the monsoon season considered a dead period avoided by tourists.

So, in what has become a very frequent trend in the last 10-15 years, a sailing event has been used in order to either promote a coastal city or region or renovate a dilapidated area of a port city. It was done in Auckland, it was done in Valencia and numerous cities around the world host or hosted events of the Extreme Sailing Series, the Alpari World Match Racing Tour or the former AUDI Medcup, hoping to put their names on the world map. Some are more successful than others and the jury is still out as to whether these investments, at times topping hundreds of million of euros, provide indeed the promised return but it is an undeniable fact there is a clear trend. Whether we like it or not, a number of sailing events wouldn’t have existed if some cities didn’t put the monies up to bring them in their port.

In a typically Asian way, once the decision was taken in 2005 to create a match racing event and incorporate it into the World Match Racing Tour, within a year organizers had in place an enormous purpose-built marina and all the related buildings. Racing was to take place within the estuary of the Terengganu river and provide a natural sailing stadium, a term that has become so fashionable in sailing nowadays. They wanted to make a strong statement that major international events could be held there even during the month of December when

Day 2 of the 2012 Monsoon Cup is slow but sailing in Malaysia seems to grow fast. Kuala Terengganu, 5 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

This is the fourth edition of the event that I cover and when I first came here in 2009 I had absolutely no idea where Kuala Terengganu was located, let alone that one could hold an international regatta there. I couldn’t, obviously, claim that Kuala Terengganu is Nice, Barcelona, Lisbon, Miami or Valencia because it simply isn’t. However, it is encouraging to see major sailing events held in non-traditional markets, far away from the main venues of the world. Hopefully, this will boost interest in the sport of sailing in those countries and something will finally trickle down from the presence of twelve top international sailing teams in the city.

That was exactly the goal Monsoon Cup organizers had last year when they conceived the Malaysian Match Racing Circuit. Although there is pool of good, talented sailors who compete in Optimists and Lasers in Malaysia, practically all of them retire very young, when they start their university studies and get a “real” job. With a handful of exceptions it is impossible to be a fully-professional sailor in this Asian country. Suffice to say that Malaysia had just one sailor in the Weymouth Olympics last summer, Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy, who finished 47th in the Laser class! Therefore, there is shortage of competitive keelboat sailors. Wan Hisham, vice president of the Malaysian Yachting Association (MYA) and director of T-Best, the company that organizes the Monsoon Cup, saw it as an opportunity to develop the sport in their country.

Up to last year’s edition, the Malaysian skipper that participated in the Monsoon Cup was decided in a 5-day qualifying regatta, held a couple of weeks before the main event. Although it attracted the country’s top match racers, this one-week event was probably their one and only occasion throughout the year to race at a highly competitive level. That was then reflected in the abysmal distance from the other international skippers and scoring just one victory against any of them was considered an enormous success.

It was obvious that one single event per year wasn’t enough to build a long-term and consistent base in the sport. Skippers needed more practice, more events and more visibility that could potentially help them secure some sponsorship as well. That’s where the MYA and T-Best jointly conceived the Malaysian Match Racing Circuit, a series of four events held throughout Malaysia. There was strong interest and a total of 7 crews took part in the circuit from May to September. As expected, Jeremy Koo was crowned champion and is currently representing Malaysia in the Monsoon Cup. No miracles should be expected from this opening season but it is an important stepping stone, a basis to build upon for the future development. For example, Koo is now backed by the famous fast food chain KFC and their support will certainly help him race more within Malaysia and abroad.

For 2013 organizers hope to attract new venues and expand the circuit with more events and, more importantly, more sailors. Their efforts will be focused on marketing the circuit, getting more media value for their sponsors and attracting new ones. Longer term, the MYA has set a goal of having one Malaysian match racer that will be fully participating in the Alpari World Match Racing Tour. It will also expand its network of sailing schools across the country. It currently has ten with more than 200 children in each one and hopefully, more of them will represent their country in the future Olympics. There will not be any overnight miracles and it will be long and tedious process but such initiatives are much-needed, especially when sailing is under tremendous pressure in its “traditional” Mediterranean countries because of the financial crisis there.

As the 2012 Monsoon Cup started today we caught up with the man in charge of running the ALPARI World Match Racing Tour and talked about its present, its future developments as well as the overall state of the sport of sailing:

VSail.info: A couple of years ago, the World Match Racing Tour presented an overly optimistic plan of having 15 events by 2013. The 2012 season is now coming to an end and we had just eight events this year. What is the current state of affairs of the Alpari World Match Racing Tour? Are you satisfied with how things turned out?
James Pleasence: I haven’t been involved for the last two years, I only joined recently, on August 1st of this year. Although I had been involved with the Tour since 2001, I only rejoined a few months ago. However, yes there were some objectives laid down a couple of years ago and I think it’s fair to say they were ambitious objectives in terms of increasing the number of events around the world, which is still very much one of our key objectives and missions of the Tour.

At the same time, in the last few years, the economic environment and the global financial crisis haven’t helped that process. They slowed it down. Funding from governments, tourism boards and even the private sector is evidently not as easy to find as it was before two years ago. Therefore, the rate of increase in the number of Tour events hasn’t been as fast as we would like to. However, we have a very strong Tour this year and we currently have some very advanced discussions with new events. I think that to be realistic, in 2013 we are likely to remain at the same number of events as this year and for 2014 I will add, certainly, two and, hopefully, more. Let’s not be too ambitious again. By 2013 I would like to see 10, possibly 11 events.

VSail.info: Does that mean that some of the current events could drop out and be replaced by new ones?
James Pleasence: An event dropping out can be done for many reasons. Portugal Match cup this year was unfortunately cancelled late in the day and that was due to a funding problem they had. Government funding of the event fell short of their requirement. As a result, the event had to be, unfortunately, cancelled and removed from the Tour schedule. In terms of the current events from this year we expect the calendar, although it’s not yet confirmed, to remain the same. However, from next year we will have a new event, the Dutch Match Cup, held in Lelystad, north of Amsterdam, in September. We are full steam ahead with Dutch Match Cup and the official announcement will be made shortly. That will make it nine events for 2013.

James Pleasance, executive director of the ALPARI World Match Racing Tour, presenting the Tour Trophy. Photo copyright Gareth Cook / Subzero Images – Monsoon Cup

VSail.info: Do you have a specific geographical focus or priority in the selection of new events?
James Pleasence: For us it is about finding existing events or promoters of events that are in suitable locations for the style of events we want to run for the Tour and not just geographical for the sake of filling the calendar or filling the map. At the same time, as you very well know, we are in the first year of a long-term partnership with our new title sponsor, Alpari, and we talk to them about certain markets and countries that are of interest to them. We do what we can to help align ourselves with some of their objectives, in terms of their key markets. They include South America and the Middle East.

In addition to that we are in discussions with groups in South Africa and Western Australia. Crucially, for next year, we are delighted to continue with Chicago Match Cup. We signed a long-term partnership with them that will help us build our presence. It was a hugely successful event last summer and it’s the only Tour event in the US at the moment. One of our key objectives is to grow the interest and appeal of the Tour in the US to the extent that I would like to have one or two additional events there, within the next few years.

VSail.info: Do you think there is a market or potential for three Tour events in the US?
James Pleasence: Realistically, having three events in the US would be a very good footprint. One on the east coast, another one on the west coast and a third one somewhere in the middle. There is a lot of interest in sailing on the west coast thanks to the America’s Cup. The America’s Cup is still a match race and we are the world match racing championship. If we align those interests and look at possible venues on the west coast I would like to do that. If you look at the history of the Tour, we had events on the west coast, the Allianz Cup in San Francisco. It took place in 2006 and was a hugely successful event.

VSail.info: You mentioned the interests of Alpari. I know it’s only the first year of your partnership but what is their feedback so far? Are they satisfied with what they have seen so far?
James Pleasence: They entered a long-term partnership with us and therefore their goals and objectives are not all to take place in the first year. They have a five-year strategy working with us. In terms of this year, it is about promoting the brand, educating, not only event spectators but the entire sailing community, what Alpari is. The Tour has been a fantastic platform to do that and that’s why you see the brand everywhere, from magazines, online and a considerable amount of TV coverage. It’s still too early to assess whether they achieve the full objectives of the partnership. As I said, the first year is about building and educating about the brand. As we move to the second and third year the focus will shift to converting that to leads and new business.

As we saw this year Tour has been very good to introduce Alpari to a whole new community. It’s the first time they are involved in sailing and as we know, the sailing industry is seen as affluent and wealthy and the people involved align with the profile of Alpari’s target clients.

Batavia Haven in Lelystad, the Netherlands will enter the Alpari World Match Racing Tour in 2013 by becoming the venue of the Dutch Match Cup

VSail.info: How much did Alpari pay for the title sponsorship of the Tour?
James Pleasence: It wouldn’t be right to share that information. Suffice to say that compared to other sailing properties we believe we have a very compelling and competitive proposition, not only to Alpari but all our sponsors.

VSail.info: Does Alpari’s sponsorship cover all your costs? Are you actively looking for more sponsors?
James Pleasence: It doesn’t cover our costs at all and we are actively looking for other sponsors, to enhance everything we are doing, be it marketing, media or TV coverage, where we are very strong. The Tour has a number of revenue streams which largely comes from sponsorship, the Tour card holders and the event sanction fees. Adding all that together allows us to operate the Tour and provide the benefits back to the events. We are always looking for more sponsorship, we have many things that we could do with additional funds. To give you an example, it would be to continue our broadcast live TV, not just stream it on the internet but on TV. We have invested significantly in that this year, it has been successful, it is something we would like to continue but it is expensive.

VSail.info: Not only is it expensive but it turns out that even the America’s Cup has to pay to go on prime TV.
James Pleasence: I think it’s no secret that sailing doesn’t generate the TV rights and income that Formula 1 and other major sports do. It all comes down to covering the production costs and other events have seen it as well. It’s not cheap.

VSail.info: Do you mean that if you could have better TV production you could achieve more mainstream TV coverage?
James Pleasence: Absolutely.

VSail.info: So, you claim that mainstream TV networks are willing to take more sailing.
James Pleasence: Definitely. If it’s produced well and if the story is told well, frankly I think that sailing is as good as any other sport. It has all the ingredients. The reason we don’t see sailing on television is that the sport has never had the budgets to produce it at that level. We invested significantly this year to increase our quality. We have seen a sharp increase in the number of broadcasters taking our live feed which we link by satellite, something not easy when you do live link from the boats.

We currently have 18 broadcasters that take our live feed, two hours per day during the last two days of each event. That’s four hours of live coverage and for any network to take two continuous hours of live sailing is fantastic. Parallel to that we are streaming to the internet through the Livestream platform, the same one the Volvo Ocean Race uses. In addition to the live coverage, after each of the events we produce a 26-minute and a 47-minute post-edited highlight show and distribute them to 38-40 broadcasters worldwide. Some of them play the shows up to five times and that includes the likes of Sky Sports which is perhaps the best known.

We believe that television is key in order to promote sailing to a broad fan base. Coupled with that of course is the value it gives back to the sponsors but also to each of the events. Each of the events of the Tour will then have the value of this combined coverage because only we can do these deals with broadcasters to take a series of 8, 9 or 10 shows and put them all together rather than single events. All of the events are therefore benefiting from being part of the Tour and the TV agreements we are able to put in place. I would love to see the day where broadcasters pay fees for our television. I know it happened in the past with the America’s Cup.

Alpari foray into sailing expanded with the sponsorship of Adam Minoprio’s team. Kuala Terengganu, 3 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

VSail.info: in that same presentation a couple of years ago, the Tour showed the specs of a proposed new bigger yacht the new venues would have to use starting 2013. Is that something that is still valid? What is the current situation with the proposed new boats?
James Pleasence: A couple of years ago, the Tour commissioned a number of designers to create designs for new Tour boats. The goal was to let new events to be able to select one of these designs which were pre-approved by the Tour. However, in much the same way as it happened with the number of new events, the economic environment made it difficult for existing and new events to finance that level of new boats. Therefore, we relaxed the requirements of events to have a new custom fleet of boats, however we encourage them as much as possible to do that, finance them in three to five years coupled with sailing academies. There is a whole business in buying and owning a fleet of boats. Unfortunately, for 2013 we won’t be seeing the new boats but hopefully, I’d like to see them in the future.

VSail.info: You previously mentioned the Tour card holders as one of your revenue streams. I have to admit that at times it’s difficult to understand the logic behind the scoring system and the process of allocating events to each skipper? Do you plan to simplify that?
James Pleasence: Absolutely, starting from next year. We plan to simplify the process. We issue a certain number of Tour card holders which reflects the number of invitations at events that the Tour controls. Out of the 12 invitations in each event, the Tour controls eight of them, two come from the qualifying events and the remaining two are wildcards. These are given to the events so that they can attract local teams, for example Jeremy Koo in this event.

The Tour card holder system allows consistency for the sponsored teams because their sponsors are also looking for consistency. Starting next year we will simplify the process and we will give Tour card holders the possibility to sail in all events, if they want, but only only a certain amount of them will count. Currently, they count their best four results plus the Monsoon Cup. As the number of events increase, the number of Tour card holder will also increase as will the number of events that count towards the overall ranking. However, there is a strict procedure regarding the skippers we invite. It’s not a free for all, it is related to the ISAF Match Racing rankings. You just can’t pay money and buy your way into the World Match Racing Tour. It’s not about the money, it’s about qualifying to be invited to have a card. It’s aligned with the ISAF rankings because the winner of this Tour will be crowned the ISAF World Match Racing Champion. You just can’t give it to the highest bidder.

We are a commercially-run series and we want to build the athletes, the sailors, their profiles and help build their careers, especially the young skippers. We used to have Dean Barker, Russell Coutts, Ed Baird or Peter Holmberg who were regular in the Tour. They have gone off to greater things or even retired and we now see this new breed of match racers. They are less known in the community but when James Spithill first started in the Tour very few people knew who he was.

VSail.info: This remarks brings me exactly to the last question I wanted to ask. Historically, until 2008, the World Match Racing Tour was the obvious training camp for America’s Cup sailors and the springboard for young aspiring sailors that wanted to get to the America’s Cup. That’s why the skippers you mentioned, Ed Baird, James Spithill, Dean Barker, the top America’s Cup skippers were all racing in 2005 and 2006. Currently, none of the America’s Cup skippers is taking part in the Tour. Do you feel the move to multihulls has relegated the Tour to a second-division status?
James Pleasence: No, it hasn’t relegated the Tour a lesser status. I have always said that to win the America’s Cup you first have to win the Tour. The World Match Racing Tour has always been a monohull match racing series and it was a natural progression to the America’s Cup which was in monohulls. However, when the decision was made for the America’s Cup to turn to multihulls many of these sailors had to go and learn a totally new form of sailing. This is why we haven’t seen them sailing here. However, unless there is a significant change to the rules, the America’s Cup is a match racing event. To be the best match racer in the world requires sailing skills but also the strategy and the tactics in match racing. The Alpari World Match Racing Tour is still the best series where to hone those skills whether you then match race on one or two hulls. We don’t have any plans to change to a multihull series because there are other multihull series that exist and the heritage and history of the World Match Racing tour has always been with monohulls.

At the end of the day, who knows what will happen with the America’s Cup a year from now? It might go back to one hull, who knows? We can’t change every time the America’s Cup changes and I think the Tour is as important now as it has always been!

Adam Minoprio is back in action at the Monsoon Cup with the Alpari Racing Team! The young kiwi match racer is back on familiar waters as he was crowned World Match Racing champion right here, off the Kuala Terengganu marina, exactly three years ago. The newly-formed Alpari Racing Team consists of Minoprio together with three sailors of his former core crew – Dave Swete, Tim Powrie and Nick Blackman – and newcomer Chris Main, and is a first attempt by the former world champion to mount a fully-fledged campaign next year. Obviously, that will depend on whether he’s successful in securing the necessary funding and hopefully Alpari, the title sponsor of the World Match Racing Tour, will extend their backing for the entire season.

Monday was practice day here in Kuala Terrengganu and the nine crews took to the waters of the Malaysian city for a two-hour training session each. We were onboard Minoprio’s yacht and the former world champion chose as sparring partner the current champion, Great Britain’s Ian Williams. Their training consisted mainly of a number of prestarts and two full races. Conditions are very good, compared to what we have witnessed in the four previous editions we attended. It is unusually dry with very little rain in the past week, plenty of sunshine and no trace of a monsoon. The breeze is also quite decent, with peaks of 10-12 knots in the afternoon. One truly hopes that these favorable conditions will prevail during the rest of the week in order to watch an exciting finale to the 2012 Alpari World Match Racing Tour

Onboard Adam Minoprio’s Alpari Racing Team during the Monsoon Cup practice day. Kuala Terengganu, 3 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Onboard Adam Minoprio’s Alpari Racing Team during the Monsoon Cup practice day. Kuala Terengganu, 3 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Onboard Adam Minoprio’s Alpari Racing Team during the Monsoon Cup practice day. Kuala Terengganu, 3 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Onboard Adam Minoprio’s Alpari Racing Team during the Monsoon Cup practice day. Kuala Terengganu, 3 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Onboard Adam Minoprio’s Alpari Racing Team during the Monsoon Cup practice day. Kuala Terengganu, 3 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Onboard Adam Minoprio’s Alpari Racing Team during the Monsoon Cup practice day. Kuala Terengganu, 3 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Onboard Adam Minoprio’s Alpari Racing Team during the Monsoon Cup practice day. Kuala Terengganu, 3 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Onboard Adam Minoprio’s Alpari Racing Team during the Monsoon Cup practice day. Kuala Terengganu, 3 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Onboard Adam Minoprio’s Alpari Racing Team during the Monsoon Cup practice day. Kuala Terengganu, 3 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Onboard Adam Minoprio’s Alpari Racing Team during the Monsoon Cup practice day. Kuala Terengganu, 3 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

Onboard Adam Minoprio’s Alpari Racing Team during the Monsoon Cup practice day. Kuala Terengganu, 3 December 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info