After a long week, The Wave Muscat have taken out the title as Kings of the Mountain.

Heavy clouds and rainfall meant the teams were held on shore for most of the day, but as the breeze filled in from every direction, the race committee sent the teams out and attempted to get some racing done. After two attempts however, they ran past the time limit, and the trophy was handed to Torvar Mirsky, skipper of The Wave Muscat.

“It’s never great to win an event without racing in the finals” said an elated Mirsky “but it’s not like we didn’t fight for it. We did 20 races in total, and 9 of them were done yesterday in the knockout stages. My guys worked as hard as they could to make it through to the finals, and it’s just bad luck that we didn’t get a race in today. Morvan and his team sailed really well this week as well, so it would have been fun to have a proper fight for the title.”

With this win under their belt, The Wave Muscat moves up into 3rd place in the overall championship, and only 6 points off the lead. With the Bermuda Gold Cup starting in October, The Wave Muscat are going to be well in contention to take out the World Championship.

The team would like to thank their many supporters including The Wave Muscat who came onboard this year, as well as the fans at home and the many supporters who made it to cheer the team on here in St Moritz.

After an epic day, The Wave Muscat have made it through to the finals of the St. Moritz Match Race. Up against the youngest skipper representing the French Match Racing Team, Pierre-Antoine Morvan, The Wave Muscat go into the series the favourites.

“Our preparation coming into this event wasn’t the best, with our bowman Graeme Spence getting a late call up for and America’s Cup job” commented Mirsky; “but today we got all the practise we needed against Richard, and it helped us get into our groove against the dark horse of the season in the semis.”

The Quarterfinal series against Richard saw The Wave Muscat up against the wall, but they gave their all and managed to take out the series 3-2. After a short break, it was Bjorn Hansen who was next on the chopping block, going down to The Wave Muscat 3-1.

Watch the racing live at: http://www.wmrt.com/live/wmrt-live-player.html

With just a few points seperating the top of the World Tour leaderboard, The Wave Muscat hit the water on the first day’s racing in picturesque St. Moritz with the overall championship far from their minds.

The team’s bowman, Graeme Spence is in training with the America’s Cup challengers China Team, giving The Wave Muscat a new hurdle to overcome.

This is the first event for Spence to miss out on since Mirsky started his campaign for the World Match Racing Tour title in 2007, but his absence is giving The Wave Muscat’s pitman Tudur Owen an opportunity to step up to the plate.

“I have a new found appreciation for Graeme’s work.” said a jubilant Owen after the racing was completed. “These boats are insanely busy for the bowman, made even harder with short courses. However I am relishing the challenge and definitely becoming a stronger sailor from it.”

Despite the change, the team didn’t lack results, and finished the day in 4th place with 3 wins and 2 losses.

Standings after the First Qualifying Session:

• Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar 5-0
• Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team 5-0
• Pierre-Antoine Morvan (FRA) Extreme Team Morbihan 4-1
• Torvar Mirsky (AUS) The Wave Muscat 3-2
• Damien Iehl (FRA) French Match Racing Team 3-2
• Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Mekonomen Sailing Team 3-2
• Francesco Bruni (ITA) Bruni Racing 2-3
• Phil Robertson (NZL) WAKA Racing 2-3
• Jepser Radich (DEN) Adrian Lee & Partners 1-4
• Eric Monnin (SUI) Oklays Corum Sailing Team 1-4
• Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team 1-4
• Jérôme Clerc (SUI) Team CER 0-5

The fickle mountain winds brought challenges for all the teams, but MRT found themselves on the wrong side of the shifts in most races.

The day was full of highs and lows, and the last race of the day against BlackMatch Racing saw plenty of both.

MRT lost the start and conceded a penalty, but with some neat shiftwork they managed to get themselves ahead at the top mark. Extending their lead around the track it looked as though they could wipe off their penalty and keep the lead, but now it was Minoprio’s team who worked their way back into the game, and forcing the error at the top mark they sailed away to a comfortable win.

Tomorrow MRT will race the rest of the teams who are all fighting to be the King of the Mountain

And a photo

Around the Bottom Mark.

In Front of Black Match Racing in the Finals

With a strong week behind them, MRT finished 2nd in the St Moritz Match Race, putting them firmly in second place on the World Match

Racing Tour behind BlackMatch Racing’s Adam Minoprio who took out the “King of the Mountain” title 2-1.

The morning saw the 4th and final race of the semi finals in a dying morning breeze. MRT had to win one more race to knock out French Match Racing Team’s Philipe Presti and advance through to race the ready and waiting BlackMatch Racing.

The first race of the final was sailed in extremely light conditions, the first upwind saw several lead changes with MRT trailing at the first top mark, a gybe set saw them narrow in on Blackmatch by the bottom mark. A close rounding saw the umpires award MRT a double penalty. After completing their immediate penalty MRT followed Blackmatch around the course unable to pass.

The second race saw a close battle on the first upwind, Blackmatch had a slight advantage off the line but MRT managed to put together a few shifts and take the lead by the top mark. Blackmatch got caught up with the boats from the petite final which allowed MRT to sail comfortably to even the scores at one all.

Blackmatch then went on to comfortably win the third and deciding race to secure victory in the 2009 Saint Moritz Match Race.

MRT finished a credible second which also puts then in second place overall on the World Match Racing Tour.

Next week the tour heads to Aarhus in Denmark for the next stage of the Tour where MRT looks to make another step towards becoming the 2009 World Match Racing Champions.

Final Results

• 1st Adam Minoprio
• 2nd Torvar Mirsky
• 3rd Ian Williams
• 4th Philipe Presti
• 5th Francesco Bruni
• 6th Sebatien Col
• 7th Peter Gilmor
• 8th Mathieu Richard
• 9th Johnie Berntsson
• 10th Bjorn Hansen
• 11th Alvaro Marinho
• 12th Eric Monnin

At the end of racing today Mirsky Racing Team leads France’s Phillip Presti in the semi finals 2-1.

After watching the quarter finals from the grandstands, amidst 200 spectators, MRT came to choose French Match Racing Team’s Philipe Presti after he qualified over Italy’s Francesco Bruni in a clean sweep.

Racing for the semi finals began in the late afternoon as the breeze began to die and swing all over the place, however the combination of  Torvar’s prestarts and Kyle’s tactical input, put them in a strong position over the French.

With one race in hand, the fight for the “King of the Mountain” title could be a repeat of the Portugal Match Cup, with Adam Minoprio’s BlackMatch Racing taking down Bahrain Team Pindar 3-0 to be the first finalist.

“After sitting out and watching the quarters its good to finish the day one point up and the team is feeling really good about how we are progressing” said Graeme after both teams were sent ashore in the fading afternoon breeze.

Tomorrow will see the deciding race where the winner will go through to the final of the 2009 St. Moritz Match Race.

The kiwi skipper won the six matches he sailed today, knocking Ian Williams (GBR, Team Pindar) out of the event in the semi-finals with a 3/0 score line.

Torvar Mirsky (AUS, Mirsky Racing Team) didn’t have to compete in the quarter finals thanks to his victory in the Round Robin. He had the right to choose his opponent and decided to sail against Philippe Presti in the Semi-Final. A choice that proved to be good (so far), with the Australian managing to win his first two matches. The Race Committee then decided to postpone the third and decisive match to tomorrow morning because the wind just wasn’t stable enough this afternoon.

The visiting public who made the trip to St. Moritz for the event were not to be disappointed. The wind wasn’t at its best today, but the sun was shining and the show was great. Philippe Presti (FRA, French Match Racing Team) started the day in style, beating the Italian sailor Francesco Bruni (Joe Fly Match Racing) by 3 – 0. “It was like a boxing match”, commented Presti after the series. Indeed, there were many collisions in this contest. Bruni said, laughing, “that his new sunglasses were responsible for his lack of precision.”

Adam Minoprio also managed to beat his opponent in the quarter final by 3 – 0. sailing against Peter Gilmour (AUS, Yanmar Racing), the kiwi didn’t give away anyy opportunities to the Australian America’s Cups veteran, to take his spot in the semi-finals convincingly.

The ‘King of the Mountain’ 2009 will be crowned tomorrow. Competition will be fierce and a great spectacle for all the visitors to St Moritz Match Race.

And a Photo…

Torvar on TV.

Hot on Richard's Tail - St Moritz

The third day of Saint Moritz Match Race sees MRT win the round robin stage and fast track to the semi finals in stunning fashion as they eliminated current WMRT leader Mathieu Richard.

Once again Saint Moritz provided some very difficult conditions for sailors as winds varied from 5-18knots with 80degree wind shifts.

MRT had four remaining races against difficult opponents but with good pre-starts and solid boat handling they managed to secure three victories from four races.

An all important race against Mathieu Richard to decide the winner of the round robin saw a red flag penalty off the start line which gave MRT the jump. The French Team sailed strongly to pass on the downwind and narrowly take the lead around the first bottom mark. A close upwind saw the French lose their lead as MRT ground them down after a vicious tacking duel and take the lead and go on to  secure the round robin without having to sail the last race against Presti.

“It’s a great feeling to skip the quarters and go straight through to the semi finals, tomorrow we will be watching the quarterfinalists closely to help us decide who to pick for our semi final match” said helmsman Torvar Mirsky at the commencement of racing.

Tomorrow positions 2-7 will race off for the remaining three positions in the semi finals.

Quarterfinals:

• Yanmar Racing Peter Gilmour vs. ETNZ Blackmatch Adam Minoprio
• Bahrain Team Pindar Ian Williams vs. K-Challenge Seb Col
• Joe Fly Francesco Bruni vs. French Match Racing Team Phillip Presti

• 8th French Spirit Mathieu Richard FRA
• 9th Berntsson Sailing Team Johnnie Berntsson SWE
• 10th Team Onboard Bjorn Hansen SWE
• 11th Seth Sailing Alvaro Marinho POR
• 12th Search.ch Eric Monnin SUI