COL AND WILLIAMS TO DO BATTLE IN FINALS AT KOREA MATCH CUP

“It has been 11 years since Ian and I were in the Finals against each other, I think it was Antibes,” said Col, “so I’m looking forward to sailing against him again.”

Williams, the reigning World Champion and current leader of the World Match Racing Tour, echoed Col’s sentiments, but coolly forewarned “Its been tough going all week, and I suspect it will be no different tomorrow. We should have some great racing!”

The warm dry offshore breeze this morning remained brisk enough for PRO David Tallis to set short multiple-lap courses across the harbor, with the windward mark placed just metres away from the spectator pontoon, giving everyone a front row seat to the mark-rounding action. But later this stability waned, and the shifts and puffs trended right into a light seabreeze by mid-afternoon, before caving in and blowing again offshore. Few leads were safe in these conditions, and even with courses’ short legs and multiple laps there were plenty of passing lanes available for the observant…and lucky.

Col’s path to the Finals started with having a strong finish of eight wins in the Round Robin, whereupon he chose Torvar Mirsky (AUS) and his Mirsky Racing Team to play in the first-to-three point Quarter Final round. He may have taken on more than expected, as the young Australian team has been improving in each of the last few events they’ve attended on the Tour, and put up a huge fight in his series against Col.

But just moments before even entering his first match of the day against Mirsky, Col had another battle which stopped him cold. In a narrow and very tightly constrained race area, Col managed to snag an unmarked underwater net with the deep 2.6 metre bulb keel on the KM 36, and after numerous tries finally got off but not before his match was postponed until the problem could be addressed.

Once free, Col lost this match to bring the score to even, but then went ahead and won the next two, since the third match had to be re-sailed after Mirsky protested it as unfair because the other pair racing on the course had him at one point sandwiched between them and unable to tack away.

Williams too had a good round robin, so he chose Paolo Cian (ITA) and his Shosholoza team, who struggled in that round to make the Quarter Finals, and could never find the rhythm needed to replicate his win at Brasil Match Cup as he fell to Williams 2-0.

Now in the Semi-Finals, Col met Jesper Radich (DEN) of the Rudy Project Sailing Team, a tough opponent and former Tour champion, where the Dane took the first win from him after he was given the double indignity of being called over early and given a penalty for not keeping clear. But in the next three matches Col mastered the starts and never allowed Radich to pass, which was a remarkable feat given the shifty conditions on the course.

Williams, on the other hand, had an even tougher opponent in another young talent in the field here in Korea, Adam Minoprio (NZL) of Emirates Team New Zealand/Black Match, and their series was by far the most exciting to date in this event. It started with Minoprio winning the first match as Williams was penalized once for tacking too close, but then extending to enough of a lead to absolve himself with a penalty turn, then earning another for forcing the Kiwi’s into an exclusion zone, and then another soon afterwards for not keeping clear while both boats were head to wind above the last windward mark rounding of this match.

Williams then fought back in the second to win that match, and then the third after Minoprio had what looked to be an airtight lid on that match, but a huge shift allowed Williams to pass. The Kiwis gained and held a huge lead in the fourth match to tie up the series, leaving it all down to the last match of the day.

In this last and most exciting match of the day, Williams looked to be in trouble after earning a pre-start penalty, but got off the start well and led up the first beat. But a shift and pressure at the top of the leg allowed Minoprio to gain back and challenge Williams, who vigourously defended his lead right in front of the crowds on the pontoons, and forced a penalty on the Kiwis to even the score.

But this thin lead was not safe, as Minoprio passed on the following downwind leg after a flawless gybe set and Williams not gibing fast enough to cover. But amazingly Minoprio made the same mistake on the final run, allowing Williams this time to pass, and win by less than a metre at an exciting finish.

Match racing resumes tomorrow morning at the Korea Match Cup with the Consolation Round to determine fifth through eighth places, followed by the Finals and Petit-Finals in the afternoon.

Quarter Final Results
Adam Minoprio (2) v Mathieu Richard (0)
Sebastien Col (2) v Torvar Mirsky (1)
Jesper Radich (2) v Bjorn Hansen (0)
Ian Williams (2) v Paolo Cian (0)

Semi Final Results
Ian Williams (3) v Adam Minoprio (2)
Sebastien Col (3) v Jesper Radich (1)

Finals Pairing
Ian Williams v Sebastien Col

Petit Final Pairing
Jesper Radich v Adam Minoprio