Photo by Gareth Cooke - Subzero Images, http://www.subzeroimages.com/
Paolo Cian Wins 8 from 9 Races to Storm the Korea Match Cup Paolo Cian and crew with silverware.
Gyeonggi, Korea: After a day of semi-finals that grew in pace and excitement, today started flat, grey and uninteresting, and looked like staying that way. Yesterday commentator Martin Tasker defined it neatly, saying "the breeze is in, the boats are hot, and so is the action."
Bjorn Hansen went down 0-3 to Ian Williams, and Paolo Cian defeated Ben Ainslie 3-0, but the scorelines don't reflect the closeness of the racing, with penalties a-plenty, boats OCS, collisions, crew overboard, close calls, luffing matches and lucky break shifts that produced multiple lead changes.
At 1450 hrs there was some sign of sunshine - an ingredient that might, just might, encourage a little sea breeze. And then a breath of wind. Cian put up a spinnaker and sailed around slowly, as if to demonstrate to the Race Committee that there was enough breeze to get things started, and at 1530 hrs racing did indeed get under way.
It has been a shaky start to the series for Cian, and his position in the quarter-finals wasn't assured until the last moment. But after losing the first two matches of the best-to-five quarters to Adam Minoprio, Cian was on fire, reeling off 7 wins in a row, dropping one to Ian Williams, and then coming back in the last one to win the final. It was definitely celebration time on the Italian boat - champagne was spraying everywhere, and Cian executed a stylish back-flip into the water. Well, who wouldn't, with KRW75,000,000 (US$60,000) about to come his way?
At KRW300,000,000 (US$240,000), the Korea Match Cup is the richest purse on the World Match Race Tour. A good deal more champagne was soon sprayed on stage in front of the Closing Ceremony crowd, and the giant cheques were presented by the Governor of Gyeonggi Province, Kim Moon-Soo. It had been a desperately slow start to the day, but it finished in cracking style with a great demonstration of light-air precision from The Quiet Italian, Paolo Cian.
Overall Results
1. Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Shosholoza
2. Ian Williams (GBR) Bahrain Team Pindar
3. Ben Ainslie (GBR) Team Origin
4. Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Team Onboard
5. Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing
6. Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing
7. Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing
8. Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team
9. Sebastien Col (FRA) French Match Racing Team/K-Challenge
10. Laurie Jury (NZL)
11. Philippe Presti (ITA) French Match Racing Team
12. Byeong Ki Park (KOR)
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http://www.wmrt.org/
