The Wave Muscat climbed to the top of the World Match Racing rankings yesterday for the first time in their career.

It has been a long time coming, with the team rapidly climbing to 10th in their first European season after a number of unexpected wins, and ever since then being top contenders for the Match Racing World Championships.

This year, The Wave Muscat is in as strong a position as ever, with only 6 points separating them from the leaders, two time World Champions Ian Williams and his Team GAC.

With the Monsoon Cup kicking off yesterday, there are only three more days until we find out if The Wave Muscat will reach their goal of winning the World Match Racing Tour, and topping off their World number one ranking with the World Championship crown.

The official ISAF website says:

(Torvar) Mirsky has timed his run in for the World Match Racing Tour title perfectly and with the Monsoon Cup to go the Australian is just six points behind Tour leader Ian Williams (GBR) and Francesco Bruni (ITA). All three occupy the top spots in the Open Match Race Rankings with Williams moving from #3 to #2 and Bruni dropping from World #1 to #3.

Torvar Mirsky won a sudden death final against Johnie Berntsson at the Argo Group Gold Cup in Bermuda to claim his second consecutive victory on the 2011 World Match Racing Tour. A win in the petit final for Francesco Bruni over Phil Robertson means just over six points now separate the trio of Ian Williams, Bruni and Mirsky with only the Monsoon Cup to go.

Going into the final day, Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team was already assured of an automatic qualifying spot for the Monsoon Cup while Robertson (NZL) WAKA Racing would retain tenth place overall regardless of his petit final result. They were fired up though, as were their opponents who were both seeking to close the gap on Tour leader Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar sponsored by Argo Group Gold Cup.

At the start of the Gold Cup, Mirsky (AUS) The Wave Muscat and Berntsson were even on head to head wins this season. The final proved no different. In the first match, as they approached the first mark Berntsson careened into Mirsky’s stern and picked up a penalty, the umpires ruling that the Swede altered his course towards Mirsky and didn’t give him room to keep clear. A further penalty downwind forced the 2008 Gold Cup winner into an immediate penalty turn which he had to repeat after the umpires ruled he hadn’t completed the first properly. That spelt disaster for Berntsson but first blood to Mirsky who went on to take the win.

A pause for the Junior Gold Cup allowed Berntsson to re-focus and the Swede fought back brilliantly in the next match. His team were smooth through their manoeuvres and with no penalties this time, Berntsson went on to win with time to spare.

If Berntsson could avoid the penalties, it looked like he had the superior boat speed to win, but he was flagged in the pre-start of the next match. Again, he read the shifts well and his boat speed allowed him to take the lead however Mirsky continued to shake things up and kept it tight round the course. It proved critical. When Berntsson took his penalty turn on the line, he needed to get out the way of Mirsky who was on starboard with all the rights. Mirsky lined him up from 100 yards out and Berntsson didn’t keep clear, forcing the penalty back onto Berntsson and take the match. 2-1.

A comprehensive win for Berntsson in the next match, the Swede leading from start to finish with no penalty complications, took the final into sudden death. No team on port entry had won a match in this final so on paper it was Mirsky’s. A poor start from Berntsson gave the advantage to Mirsky who put in a series of classic match racing defence moves to deny Berntsson the lead. Mirsky continued to pick the shifts perfectly and built an unassailable lead to take the match and the 2011 Argo Group Gold Cup.

Mirsky was knocked out of the 2010 Gold Cup in the quarter-finals by Berntsson and more than avenged for that defeat this year. He said: “We are over the moon with winning two titles in a row. We’ve never done that well in Bermuda and we’ve never had many Tour wins so this is fantastic, we’re really on a roll. I’m so proud of the way the team sailed this week, everyone just knew what they were doing on board and we felt comfortable and confident. Johnie really tested us in the final which made for some great sailing.

“We are now close to Ian in the points and we have a big chance for the world title so we’ll be fighting for it! Hopefully we can keep on this roll and win in Malaysia too.”

Berntsson, who picked up 22 points for his win here to give his season a huge fillip, commented: “We’re disappointed but it was a great performance overall. The finals were really tight and we felt like it could have gone either way. We collected too many penalties though and lost the last pre-start and that really cost us. Torvar did a great job and was tough to beat so congratulations to him.

“Maybe in an hour we’ll be happy but right now we’re really disappointed because we came so close to winning. We’ve got a 3 year aim to finish on the podium so we’re progressing well towards that.

“We’re happy to get an automatic invite to Malaysia. That was our goal.”

Mirsky’s other arch rival for the Championship is Bruni who was involved in the petit final earlier in the day. The first match was really all over in the pre-start, Robertson picking up two penalties which forced him to take an immediate penalty turn and hand Bruni a sizeable lead that he maintained to cruise to a 1-0 lead.

Robertson made a cleaner start in the next match and managed to stay within touching distance as they approached the first mark. Despite not having raced the IOD class before, Bruni’s boat speed had been strong all week and he managed to open a gap on the first downwind leg which he extended on the final lap through to the finish for a deserved win.

Bruni, who now sits in 2nd place in the Championship, just six points adrift of Williams, said: “It was a really intense regatta for us. We came here knowing it was going to be tough – we didn’t know the boats but I think we adapted really well to them.

“The most important thing is that Ian didn’t go through to the semi-finals and we gained valuable points on him. Everything will now be played out at the Monsoon Cup and that was our aim heading into this regatta. We truly believe we can win in Malaysia.”

Robertson, who remains in tenth place overall, reflected: “It was a good result for us overall, the team have done a great job and if anything I let them down in the pre-starts today. It’s disappointing to lose the semi-final and then the petit final but it is what it is.

“It’s been an interesting year for us, very much up and down but we’ve learnt a lot and we are hoping to just keep learning and take it all away and use it to improve next year.”

Last year’s Tour leader going into the Monsoon Cup Mathieu Richard drops down to ninth in the overall Tour standings and will not get an automatic invite to the Monsoon Cup. The 2011 ISAF Match Racing World Championship will be decided at the Monsoon Cup which takes place from 22-27 November in Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia.

Argo Group Gold Cup Final result:

• Torvar Mirsky (AUS) The Wave Muscat beat Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team 3-2

Argo group Gold Cup Petit Final result:

• Francesco Bruni (ITA) Bruni Racing beat Phil Robertson (NZL) WAKA Racing 2-0

Argo Group Gold Cup standings:

1. Torvar Mirsky (AUS) The Wave Muscat
2. Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team
3. Francesco Bruni (ITA) Bruni Racing
4. Phil Robertson (NZL) WAKA Racing
5. Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team
6. Jesper Radich (DEN) Adrian Lee & Partners
7. Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar sponsored by Argo Group
8. Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Alandia Sailing Team
9. Bjorn Hansen (DEN) Mekonomen Sailing Team
10. Eric Monnin (SUI) Oklays Corum Sailing Team

Overall Championship Standings – after 7 stages:

1. Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar – 106pts
2. Francesco Bruni (ITA) Bruni Racing – 100pts
3. Torvar Mirsky (AUS) The Wave Muscat – 99.8pts
4. Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing – 78.8pts
5. Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Mekonomen Sailing Team – 75pts
6. Damien Iehl (FRA) French Match Racing Team – 74pts
7. Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team – 73.2pts
8. Jesper Radich (DEN) Adrian Lee & Partners – 71.2pts
9. Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team – 69.6pts
10. Phil Robertson (NZL) WAKA Racing – 64.4pts

After The Wave Muscat breezed through the Quarter Final stage of the Argo Group Gold Cup yesterday, they managed to keep their momentum to roll over Phil Robertson’s Waka Racing Team in a decisive 3-0 victory.

Johnnie Berntsson from Sweden took the scalp of the Tour’s second place team lead by Italy’s heavyweight team, skippered by Francesco Bruni. This puts Berntsson through to his third finals here in Bermuda, but with The Wave Muscat continuing their winning form on from St Moritz last month, the Swede will have a lot on his plate if he wants to take home this Gold Cup.

The 24 teams are split into 3 groups, the top two from each group then move straight through to the Quarter Finals, while the 3rd and 4th seeds are left to fight for the remaining two Quarter Final spots in an all or nothing repacharge round.

With so many teams and such an unusual format, the Gold Cup claims a lot of Tour regular’s scalps, and having finished the first two days with two losses to the lower seeded Canfield and Fraser.

“Things weren’t looking too good for us” said tactician Kyle Langford after the full day came to a conclusion. “Kinley and I had to arrive late coming straight from the extreme 40′s, so we didn’t get much of a chance to train. Yesterday was a pretty big learning curve, it was just unfortunate that some of our mistakes cost us the race. We knew we had to keep the heat in the oven today to make it through, and everyone stepped up to the plate, so we are going into the next round with a bit more confidence.”

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

Torvar takes some time in St Moritz to talk to Hannah White about the year so far including the choices that had to be made to make the most of opportunities with the Extreme Sailing Series and Venezia Challenge America’s Cup team.

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

Australian Mirsky, who turns 25 later this month, is recognised as one of the hottest talents in international sail racing, claiming a superb second spot on the prestigious Tour in 2009 before following that with an impressive third overall last year.

However, despite enjoying one of the most consistent records on the Tour, which attracts the best match racing talent on the planet, Mirsky and his teammates have not yet been able to convert their consistency into multiple event wins, and ultimately the championship.

The Wave, Muscat is the leading lifestyle development just north of Oman’s capital city, and Mirsky Racing Team is the second major international sailing partnership it has committed to, also supporting one of Oman Sail’s two Extreme 40s in the Extreme Sailing Series.

With The Wave, Muscat’s backing, Mirsky insists 2011 is the year his team can seal WMRT championship glory for the first time. He said:

“Traditionally our team has done everything off our own backs and as cheap as possible like staying in backpackers and relying on friends for support to live away from Australia. The support of The Wave, Muscat means that we can now put a campaign together that we allow us to take part at the level required to win the WMRT, for example we are hoping to have a coach at some events. We really appreciate the support and of The Wave Muscat and it will make such a big difference to our campaign this year.”

“This year we are out to win. We’ve done a lot of sailing this year already, but it has been six months since the last WMRT finished so we have had a big break from match racing and there are a few nerves and lot of excitement about starting up again. We need to get back in the rhythm as we want to be sailing at a high level. We know we will be a little bit rusty at the first event but we are excited about getting back into it.”

David Stafford Vice President of Sales and Marketing at The Wave, Muscat said:

“We are delighted to be supporting Torvar and the Mirsky Racing Team in this year’s World Match Racing Tour. With Torvar also skippering The Wave, Muscat in the Extreme Sailing Series this year we were eager to extend our support of someone we believe will be a sailing superstar for many years to come

“The Wave, Muscat’s premier 400-berth Marina ensures our country’s proud maritime heritage sits at the heart of the Muscat tourist experience. Through our support of world class sailing we hope to promote Oman as a new and exciting sailing destination. We wish the Mirsky Racing Team all the very best for the forthcoming season.”

As well as their WMRT commitments this year, Mirsky and two of his Mirsky Racing teammates, Kyle Langford and Kinley Fowler, are also racing in the Extreme Sailing Series. Mirsky is skippering the reigning champion boat, The Wave, Muscat, with Langford as tactician while Fowler is calling tactics aboard Oman Sail’s second entry, Oman Air.

By competing in both the Extreme Sailing Series and WMRT Mirsky is confident that it will be of benefit to both campaigns, and with no event clashes he is in no doubt that his team can successfully combine campaigns to be at full throttle for the WMRT, which gets underway with Match Race France in Marseille on 10 May. The Tour takes in nine venues with the final Monsoon Cup showdown taking place in Malaysia in November.