THE MONSOON CUP


winning at some stage, and many observers felt 2011 was the year for Mirsky. And so it seemed, did Mirsky. “We’ve only won one Tour event but have come second a great number of times. We’ve had consistent great performances but feel this lack of wins has weighed down on us - it’s time to change this. We’re ready to win events and the WMRT.”


Mirsky is well on the way to delivering. A poor start to the season can largely be blamed on uncertainty in other parts of his sailing career, but he refocused and turned up in St Moritz on a mission. He won there, and then won again in Bermuda to get right in the frame for the title. It’ll be the second time he’s gone to Malaysia with a shot at the prize. The previous experience will surely help Mirsky this time around but, as with Williams, he knows that nothing less than a win will be good enough. And that knowledge can only add to the pressure.


Moving off the podium and down into fourth we find Peter Gilmour on 78.8 points, a full 21 points off the pace. The multiple champion has a very slim shot at the title, and one that relies on all three of those teams above him failing in Malaysia. Gilmour’s season is surely a disappointment. The match racing legend told us at the beginning of the


year. “For all the teams on the WMRT success is obviously winning the Tour... this is a very competitive game, and so I think the ultimate success is to do as best as they possibly can, and for us that would be winning once again.”


The devil is in the detail though - Gilmour heads an incredibly tight


The Wave Muscat win their first WMRT event since 2009 in St. Moritz. Photo: Chris Davies - WMRT


group, the span is less than ten points all the way back to Matthieu Richard in ninth. The whole season is teetering on a knife’s edge; for half a dozen teams, it could yet be good, bad or ugly. Any one of them could end up not just missing the title and the podium, but getting dumped to the bottom of the pack!!


Crowds line the island of Marstrand for STENA Match Cup Sweden 2011. Photo: Chris Davies - WMRT


MATCH RACING 360° | NOVEMBER 2011 page | 8


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