London, United Kingdom - 22 December, 2011: With the 2011 World Match Racing Tour season all wrapped up Tour Director Craig Mitchell reflects on what was a thrilling year of racing. From France through to Malaysia 2011 saw some of the fiercest on-the-water battles to date with the season finishing on a high with Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar taking home his third world title.

Match Race France

The season got off to a thrilling start with debut Tour Card Holder Damien Iehl (FRA) French Match Racing Team lifting the trophy but unfortunately Iehl failed to emulate his success in France and didn’t make it onto the podium again.

“It was a tough year for Iehl as it all went downhill from a spectacular start with the win in France. I don’t think there was any one reason for this. He sailed well during qualifying at many events but got caught on the wrong side of a quarter final pick in Germany, lost a tie break in Portugal, got knocked out in the quarter final by the winner of Sweden. He just didn’t catch the break he needed to turn the year around. A lot of match racing is in the head and a losing streak can be hard to break. He’ll come back having learned a lot this year and is capable of getting onto the podium as he proved in France.”

Match Race Germany

Continuing on to Langenargen, Germany Francesco Bruni (ITA) Bruni Racing took home his first Tour event win and let everyone know he was a serious contender for the title.

“I think your first Tour event win means a lot as it proves you have what it takes to play for the title and this was certainly the case for Bruni. 2010 was a year of frustration for him as he made it through to a lot of knockout rounds but always seemed to stumble just at the last minute. He clearly learnt from those experiences and so winning Germany got the monkey off his back and the team grew in confidence which made him a contender this year.”

Korea Match Cup

Korea is an emerging sailing nation and the Korea Match Cup has been hugely influential in increasing the interest in sailing in the region. Competing as a wildcard entry local skipper Sung Wook Kim (KOR) Busan Match Team showed that while sailing is a new sport they are determined to be up there with the best.

“It’s always tough being a wildcard at a Tour event as you’re up against very experienced top class sailors but it’s especially hard for the guys from emerging sailing nations. Keelboat racing is in its infancy in Korea so building up the knowledge and experience will take time and effort but I’m sure that with some help along the way it’s something that can be achieved. Hopefully the combination of the Korea Match Cup and the White Tiger America’s Challenge, both run by Dong-Young Kim will stimulate sailing in Korea.”

Portimao Portugal Match Cup

Heading into the waters of Portimao saw the Tour celebrate its 100^th event since its inception in 2000. This event was to end Ian Williams’s long wait for a victory, taking his first win since the Danish Open in 2008. With a solid crew and sponsorship Team GAC Pindar was able to achieve the results that had eluded them for the previous few seasons.

“Team stability has been the key component compared to 2009 and 2010, enabled by a better funded programme. Williams brought Bill Hardesty back into the team with whom he has won the world title in 2007 along with multiple keelboat world championship winning bowman Matt Cassidy and top class trimmers Gerry Mitchell (who Williams won with in 2008) and Mal Parker, which has created a consistent team that is pretty hard to sail past.”

STENA Match Cup Sweden

Continuing on with his current winning form Ian Williams beat the local skipper Bjorn Hansen in what was an extremely close and thrilling final.

“The final at STENA Match Cup Sweden is always a cracking show. This year the weather was perfect which brought the crowds out in their droves egged on by the fact that a Swedish team in the guise of Bjorn Hansen made the final, which we haven’t seen since Mattias Rahm won in 2008, so expectation on Hansen was sky high. Hansen had won qualifying and the final went 3-2 with the wins going to the starboard entry boat up to 2-2 so everything was stacked in Hansen’s favour. Leading for three quarters of the final race Hansen looked a sure winner but a fight back by Williams and a dust up at the last mark left Hansen taking penalties and trailing Williams to the finish. A phenomenal battle.”

St. Moritz Match Race

In the picturesque setting of St. Moritz wildcard entry Pierre-Antoine Morvan (FRA) Extreme Team Morbihan successfully took on and beat the more experienced teams such as Ian Williams to make it all the way to the finals.

“I think it’s great to see new faces fight their way into a Tour event like Morvan did through a Tour qualifier and then really make an impression at the event. Morvan has been building momentum over the last couple of years at lower graded events so it’s not like he’s come from nowhere. It’s good to see his hard work has paid off. I think we’ll see more of him in the future.”

Argo Group Gold Cup

Having won the title of ‘King of the Mountain’ Torvar Mirsky (AUS) The Wave Muscat backed it up with another victory in Hamilton Harbour, Bermuda. It seemed the young skipper had finally shed his ‘nearly ran’ tag.

“You have to remember that although Mirsky is still pretty young he has a wealth of experience behind him. His first Tour event was the Argo Group Gold Cup in 2006 followed by STENA Match Cup Sweden in 2007 where he finished 13^th. In 2008 he finished 2^nd at STENA Match Cup Sweden, so you can see that he has had the potential to win the Tour for quite a few years. He has a great team of guys with him and a world championship silver and bronze medal. He is at the point where winning the World Championship is something he can do and I am sure will be trying to work out why it didn’t happen this year.”

Monsoon Cup

The final event of the season proved to be on of the most thrilling yet with some surprising results and a massive shakeup to the race for the overall title. With what was probably their most important match all season Francesco Bruni beat Torvar Mirsky by a matter of centimetres knocking him out of the race for the world title.

“The Monsoon Cup always throws up some interesting results and this year was no different. For a start the top 10 on the Tour leaderboard were there including all 9 Tour Cardholders, and Will Tiller (NZL) Full Metal Jacket Racing, the winner of one of the qualifying events, is a great talent with the potential (as he proved) to stir things up. So to start off with there were always going to be at least 3 very disappointed teams by the end of qualifying. It’s also too easy to get sucked into projecting the final result from the qualifying session when if you look at the results it was only a 2 point margins from 1^st to 8^th in the qualifying session. You’ve also got the curve ball that some teams have less distraction than others as the battle for the world championship intensifies along with some insanely tricky conditions, all which makes the ingredients for a truly magnificent showdown. This year was first class and I’m looking forward to next year delivering more of the same.”

The highs and the lows of 2011

With a total of USD1.89 million in prize money awarded, 38 skippers competing in at least one Tour event and around 800 matches across the season it was a thrilling season from start to finish which makes pinpointing the most memorable match so tricky.

“Every event has its share of outstanding matches, some because of how close the match is and others because of the tension and drama of the moment. The easy one to pick for a joyous moment is the World Championship winning match in the Monsoon Cup quarter final between Bruni and Williams, especially this year as Williams’s team won their third world title. For tension and drama the round robin match between Bruni and Mirsky at the Monsoon Cup where the winner advanced to continue their world championship dream and the loser was bounced out of the competition was second to none. Heartbreak for Mirsky who was leading halfway down the last leg but got pipped at the post by a jubilant Bruni."

For Mirsky and a few others skippers this season didn’t go as planned, failing to reach the goals they set themselves at the start of the year. For the likes of Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team however, he reached his 3 year goal of finishing on the overall podium in just one year.

“Johnie Berntsson definitely exceeded my expectations this season. He had a distinctly average start to the year with a peak in Portugal but followed that up by other drop in form but two second places in the last two events really propelled him up the leaderboard to land on the podium. If you ask him he’ll probably agree that it was a little unexpected but it shows that with the new points system you have to fight to the end and Johnie never gave up. In the end there were just 12 points between 2^nd and 6^th place.”

“Torvar Mirsky on the other hand didn’t perform as well as I thought he would. He won the two events and before Malaysia looked like he was on a roll and a shoe in for at least a podium place if not the top step. Mirsky will really be hurting as this season was as good an opportunity to win as he’ll ever get. Mathieu Richard has also seen a huge slump in form, from 2^nd in 2010 to 10^th in 2011. Richard has been the very model of consistency in recent years and will be wondering where it all went wrong.”

With the 2011 season all wrapped up the World Match Racing Tour is now looking towards 2012 in what is set to be even bigger and better year of racing.