Light and shifty conditions forced the race committee to work hard to be able to deliver a fair outcome to the West Coast Cup today. With time and wind running out the semi-finals and final were cut, leaving the event result decided by the double round robin results.
The decision brought mixed emotions as always but with Holmberg and Nørregaard leading both round robin results tables they appeared in a class of their own over the three day competition.
Typhoon X has looked strong throughout this regatta and skipper Måns Holmberg couldn’t be happier with the guys onboard. “We’ve had great team work and done few mistakes. Even with lost starts we’ve managed to come back and win,“ Måns comments. The team has borrowed Johan Bäckström from Essiq Racing for this event, but Bäckström will be back with regular skipper Nicklas Dackhammar next event.
“It’s been great to have another very experienced M32 sailor onboard and it has really given us an edge. But it will for sure be harder to have Johan and Essiq Racing against us at the next event.” Holmberg continues. As with many other teams also continuing to the next WT event on Hönö, Typhoon X Racing will have just one lay day to rest the muscles and get their minds refocussed.
Taking the other prestigious qualification to the WC event was Danish Olympic star Allan Nørregaard. The team has constantly improved during this regatta and the combination of Nørregaard’s experience in skiffs and catamarans, along with tactician Torvar Mirsky’s match racing calls, has proven lethal.
“We’ve had an amazing time here and the set up at Cape Crow Yacht Club is really great. We now have to go back and figure out how to get our hands on a boat so as to best prepare for our first WC event.” says Allan Nørregaard. The team will switch roles this weekend when Allan will call tactics for Mirsky. The team will also keep Olympic gold medalist Max Salminen on the team so they will be a strong contender for this weekends Cape Crow Cup WT event…especially if they keep improving at this current rate.
For the two teams in third and fifth the inconsistent breeze was a hard blow since they were deemed outside the chance to win the entry to the next stage. Both Patrik Sturesson and David Gilmour came in to shore with hanging heads all round but Gilmor still saw something good in the situation. “We need as much racing as possible to progress so this has been good for us. If you want to win you need to start winning already from the start of the regatta, something that both Holmberg and Nørregaard did and we didn’t. We probably suffered from the long travel from Australia at the start and will come in stronger at the next event.” David Gilmour finishes.
The winner and runner up to WMRT West Coast Cup win invitations to the first WC event of the 2016/2017 World Match Racing Tour season. More information at www.wmrt.com
