THE MONSOON CUP
We’ll start at the more cheerful end of the leaderboard and the top ranking Ian Williams. The Brit holds a slim (just over six points) advantage over Italy’s Francesco Bruni. Williams told us ahead of the first event; “We’d love to go out and win our third title so we’re closely evaluating how things went in 2010. We are certainly going to do a lot more match racing this year - last year our training was very limited and I think that proved pretty costly.”
Judging by the results so far – Williams’ scoreline includes two wins and two thirds - the extra practice has worked. But so has the change in the line-up of Team GAC Pindar. Williams added, “I will also be racing with a slightly different team this year. It’s changing due to a variety of reasons and getting the right balance will be critical. Our strength is the team that we employ.”
The new line-up has worked well and many pundits point to the key addition of the current Etchells World Champion, Bill Hardesty as tactician. Hardesty complements Williams’ analytic, measured style and they’ve been unstoppable when they’ve hit their straps. But as we’ve seen, Williams needs to deliver the goods in Malaysia. Only a third title will be enough for the man who once was king.
Team GAC Pindar lift the STENA Match Cup Sweden 2011. Photo: Chris Davies - WMRT
Right behind Williams in the standings is the Italian, Francesco Bruni, and there’s no doubt that Bruni has achieved his goal for the season. Bruni had this take on 2011 at the beginning of the year; “Honestly, this season we’re looking at the top three – we have to get there.” Bruni’s concern came after a 2010 season of near-misses. “We seem to do well in qualifying but we’re missing something in the knock- out phases. A lot of times we ended up losing 3-2 and not progressing to the semi-final.”
This season Bruni has found what was missing and has turned near misses into results – a win in Germany, second in
Korea and Portugal, and then third in Bermuda. The difference has probably been a clearer focus on match racing. The supporting evidence is the mid- season slump that began with a 12th in Sweden, at a time when Bruni had been on the road racing for many weeks. But with the sailing calendar thinning out considerably as we head into the northern hemisphere winter, there is every chance that the Bruni we will see in Malaysia is the Bruni of Lake Constance, not Marstrand.
In third place, just 0.2 point behind Francesco Bruni, comes Torvar Mirsky. The Australian has been playing the role of promising young sailor for a while – and podium finishes for the last two WMRT seasons were good enough. But promise has to become
Bruni Racing team take the spoils at Match Race Germany. Photo: Chris Davies - WMRT
MATCH RACING 360° | NOVEMBER 2011
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