Exceptional day for Francesco Bruni on Day 2 of St. Moritz Match Race

[Source: World Match Racing Tour] No. 50 in the ISAF ranking, the Italian skipper was on fire today. Sailing alongside Rod Davis, he made no mistakes and won six out of six races!

Chief umpire Bill Edgerton took some time during this morning’s briefing to remind the teams that crashing boats is not necessary to secure a penalties against your opponent and that points would be deducted from a teams score if they were found to have caused damage. The skippers took heed, and Sébastien Col (FRA) commented that “these boats are very lively and manoeuvrable, which incites you to go for the contact and keep the pressure on your opponent. As a consequence, there were several light contacts yesterday and quite a few penalties.”

Video highlights from the second day of the St Moritz Match Race. St Moritz, 3 September 2009. Video copyright World Match Racing Tour

After a short delay for the weather to improve the Race Committee got racing under way just after lunchtime and benefited from a good breeze – although quite shifty and not as strong as yesterday – to complete eight flights. Altogether the twelve teams racing in St. Moritz Match race have finished 18 flights in two days out of the 22 required to complete the Round Robin.

Francesco Bruni (ITA), Joe Fly Match Race and Peter Gilmour (AUS), YANMAR Racing are the great winners of the day. The Italian sailor won all of the six matches he sailed today whilst Gilmour managed to win five. The Australian veteran demonstrated once again his impressive capacity to progress through the event after a rather disappointing first day.

At the other end of the leaderboard, Björn Hansen (SWE), Onboard Sailing Team suffered from a shocking day, loosing all of his matches whilst local favourite Eric Monnin (SUI), Swiss Match Race Team, finally managed to grab a point.

The French Match Racing Team sailors Mathieu Richard (FRA) and Philippe Presti (FRA) both managed to win a race whilst Sebastien Col (FRA) grabbed two precious points.

Arguably the leader of the Round Robin so far remains Ian Williams (GBR), unbeaten after two more victories this afternoon and with the ability to end the round without loss.

An unfortunate incident happened to Dan McLean, bowman onboard Team Joe Fly, who dislocated his shoulder when he fell overboard. The courageous sailor managed to knock his shoulder back into place and carried on racing as if nothing had happened.

Francesco Bruni was on a roll in the second day of the St Moritz Match Race. St Moritz, 3 September 2009. Photo copyright Loris von Siebenthal

They said:

Sébastien Col: “The conditions are typical of St. Moritz although the wind is lighter than yesterday. You need to be opportunistic and you must not try to understand everything or to anticipate. The only rule is to play with the wind in real time instead of trying to imagine what’s going to happen. It’s also good to remember that a race is never over until the finish line.”

Peter Gilmour: “I think that we were still lacking some practice on these boats yesterday. We needed one more day than the others to get comfortable with it. I haven’t sailed much recently and I needed this time to adapt. We were therefore not too frustrated at the end of the first day and the progress we’ve made today is satisfying. We very much enjoy sailing here in St. Moritz.”

Francesco Bruni: “I wasn’t expecting such a good result. I did notice that we were sailing very well yesterday, probably better than our results were showing. My feeling is therefore very positive. Today we won against the best teams and I am very pleased with this. Rod Davis does a great job and the team works very well; It is a real pleasure when things go that well.”

Peter Gilmour lies third after the end of the second day of the St Moritz Match Race. St Moritz, 3 September 2009. Photo copyright Loris von Siebenthal

St Moritz Match Race provisional results after 18 flights:

Name of the skipper, ISAF ranking, Nationality, Number of victories / losses

Francesco Bruni (50) ITA, Team Joe Fly Match Race; 8/3
Ian Williams (4) GBR, Team Pindar; 7/0 (-0,5 point penalty)
Peter Gilmour (11) AUS, YANMAR Racing; 6/5
Philippe Presti, (7) FRA, French Match Racing Team; 5/3
Sébastien Col (3) FRA, French Match Racing Team; 5/3
Torvar Mirsky (6) AUS, Mirsky Racing Team; 5/2
Adam Minoprio (1) NZL, ETNZ/BlackMatch; 4/2 (-1 point penalty)
Matthieu Richard (2) FRA, French Match Racing Team; 4/4
Alvaro Marinho (17) POR, Seth Sailing Team; 3/7
Johnie Berntsson (9) SWE, Berntsson Sailing Team; 3/7
Björn Hansen (10) SWE, Onboard Sailing Team; 2/8
Éric Monnin (31) SUI, Swiss Match Race Team; 1/9