Adam Minoprio comments on Auckland Match Racing Cup

The up and coming Kiwi sailor sent us his comments on the Auckland Match Racing Cup, where he finished fourth, eliminating on his way Luna Rossa's James Spithill. Should we expect to see Adam aboard an America's Cup yacht before the end of this decade?

As most of you will know Team BlackMatch was competing in the Auckland Cup Grade 1 Match Racing event last week. We managed to make it through to the semi finals, knocking out, amoungst others, Prada America's Cup Skipper James Spithill in the process. With racing cancelled on Saturday due to lack of breeze, the regatta's top qualifier Dean Barker from team New Zealand, had a night to ponder who he would race in the semi finals and he chose us. The other semi final was contested by world number 2 and 3 Ian Williams from Great Britain and Mathieu Richard from France.

We managed to take the first race from Team NZ, leading from start to finish, but lost the second when roles were reversed. In the third race we managed to 'lock' Dean and the boys out at the boat, this resulted in a massive advantage off the startline for us, but the sometimes unpredictable conditions of the Waitemata harbour went against us and we were overtaken up the first leg allowing Dean to continue with a win. The final race of the first to 3 semi final also went to Team NZ who had really been setting the standard all week and were well deserved finalists.

In the other semi final Ian Williams was first to three wins over Mathieu Richard. This semi final went to two all with the Brit coming out on top, leaving us to race the formidable Frenchman for third. We ended up losing out to Mathieu and finished the regatta in fourth place.

Dean and boys went on to win the Regatta and were definitely the team that set the standard throughout the week. This was good to see and bodes very well for our upcoming America's Cup Challenge.

Congratulations to Team New Zealand and good luck for Valencia!!!!!!!

This week Team BlackMatch are racing in the under 25 years of age Grade 3 Regatta, The Hardy Cup. This regatta is being competed in Elliot 6 meters which are 3-man boats and is being sailed out of the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron. The weeks team is Adam as Skipper, Dave as middleman and Nick on the bow. Today was the first day of racing which went well for us. We managed to win all five of our first five matches and are at the top of the table. The regatta format means we have to make the top six of the twelve teams after the first round robin. This is a particularly hard format to progress through to the finals so it was important to start off well.

Thanks all,

BlackMatch Racing