Solid Start for Black Swan Racing at Trapani International Match Race 2009

We have arrived safely in Trapani, Sicily for our last European event for 2009. It is great to spend out last week sailing in shorts and t-shirts on the beautiful Mediterranean sea. Today we began racing in the round robin, we had great 7-12 knot westerly winds which allowed the RC to provide some quality racing. We are racing Zip 25 4 man yachts which are very nice for match racing however all teams came to the event to sail a different 3 man yacht but because of some problems with these other boats all teams have been put into the Zip 25 1 man short. Fortunately we have been flexible with bowman Nick Bastow and trimmer Kyle Langford doing a great job.

We completed 4 races today winning 3 comfortably against Simone Ferrarese (ITA), Eric Monnin (SUI) and Nick Cherry (GBR). Our loss came in the final race of the day against our recent finals opponent in the Geneva Match Race Steffan Lindberg of Finland. It was a close race, we lead narrowly at the top mark but Lindberg did well to roll us on the downwind. At the bottom mark rounding we were hot on their heels however we accidentally ran into the umpire boat. In the heat of a tacking duel we forgot to put up our red protest flag meaning that we were given no chance for redress. This was a little disappointing but we are sailing fast, starting well and confident for tomorrow. Racing will continue tomorrow outside the Trapani Harbour with semi-finals and finals to be raced inside the harbour on Sunday.

Black Swan Racing

Trapani International Match Race 2009 Line-Up (10 teams)
Jure Orel (Slovenia)
Jacopo Pasini (Italy)
Simone Ferrarese (Italy)
Eric Monnin (Switzerland)
Rasmus Viltoft (Denmark)
G L Perris (Monaco)
Steffan Lindberg (Finland)
Nick Cherry (UK)
M Perris (Monaco)