The Team Kiwi Match season has finally come to a close at the conclusion of the Carlos Aguilar Match Race in the US Virgin Islands. Our final result here wasn't as successful as we had originally hoped, but on reflection there are a multitude of positives to be taken away from this regatta.

Unfortunately for us, the US Virgin Islands is an extremely difficult place to get too, with 2 days of flying, 2 transits and a massive time zone change. We also had a new team member, Andrew Lam joining us for this regatta from Hong Kong.  In hindsight, all these factors meant that we turned up to this event in less than ideal condition. This showed through both on our training day, and our first race day; we really struggled to get to grips with sailing the boats smoothly and figuring out the challenging local conditions.

We likened the race course to sailing inside Fitzroy Harbour (for those familiar with the Great Barrier Island). Charlotte Amalie Harbour is surrounded by tall hills and ranges which caused some really random puffs and some huge wind shifts. With the race course set right next to the break wall, there was no way to read the conditions or predict the next puff. It was much more a case of sailing free and not over covering, rather than trying to predict the next shift. Even winning the favoured start was often not ideal, as most boats that lost the start would win the first cross.

So with a really tough first day, possibly one of our worst of the season, losing 5 races in a row, we were really on the back foot from the start.  We tried our best to fight back the rest of the week but it was always going to be an uphill battle to make the semi finals given our early position. We definitely improved throughout the regatta, getting used to our crew positions and the weather. We knew it wasn’t going to take much to start converting races into wins, with us leading almost all our races at one point or another.

The first day did prove to be our undoing and the challenge proved a little too big for us. Our final result also wasn’t helped by the race committee being unable to complete the entire second round robin although the damage for us was already done.

This was a very well organised and well run regatta in a very beautiful part of the world. With just as much focus placed on the sailors having an enjoyable and memorable experience as there is with running great races it’s always going to be a winning formula. Although this event is only in its third year it continues to go from strength to strength. It attracts first class competition, great sponsors and is run by committed organisers.

We now return to New Zealand for the summer and the team will commence a comprehensive training programme as we look towards next season.  We also have some exciting developments that we have been working on over the last few months. We have been really lucky to have had support for these last few regattas from Zoke, and look to welcome them onboard as a new sponsor going forward. Standby for more information as we finalise all the details.

Thanks to everyone who has supported us throughout the year. We have learnt a lot from what has been a challenging season, and look forward to building on everything we have achieved so far.

In our last play for the year Kiwi Match is off to the US Virgin Islands to compete in the Grade 2 Carlos Aguilar Match Race from the 1st to the 5th of December. Sailed in the beautiful waters of the Charlotte Amalie Harbour in St. Thomas this will be a great end to a very busy season of racing. Hosted by the St. Thomas Yacht Club this will be the third annual running of the event and has once again attracted a very competitive field of local and international match racers. Also for the first time, this event has been chosen to be part of the World Match Racing Tour as a qualifier for one of the Tour events, Match Cup Sweden. The winner of this year’s open division will be awarded a berth to sail in Sweden at their 2011 event. All the more incentive to finish this year on a high and give a good boost to our 2011 season.

This event will be sailed on a home grown boat developed and built right in St. Thomas. In an effort to reinvigorate a dying local racing scene local sailors took it upon themselves to develop a new class to suit the local scene. The goal was to keep it easy, simple and cheap and in the end the decision was made to take some of the existing 6000 J24 yachts and modify them by cutting off the deck and cabin and making them comfortable with a “Melges 24” type cockpit. The IC 24 or Inter-Club 24 was born. These make an excellent match race boat perfectly suited to the local conditions.

With the open division field made up mostly from American and Virgin Island teams it is by no means one to be taken lightly. For starters, representing the Virgin Islands, Alinghi’s America’s Cup winning helmsman Peter Holmberg; there to defend his 2009 CAMR title. Alongside him representing USVI will be All-American sailor Taylor Canfield currently ranked 27th in the world. From the USA will be veteran match racer and rules expert Dave Perry and Chris Van Tol, both whom we have raced many times in Chicago and Detroit. Colin Rathbun will make the trip across from the neighbouring British Virgin Islands. From further afield Poland’s Alvaro Marinho and Greek sailor Stratis Andreadis make up a tough line-up.

We feel like we have a real good chance at this event, coming off the back of a successful regatta in India and having quite a bit of experience in the J24 type yacht. We will however, need to quickly grasp  the local conditions as the course will be set only 50 metres from the downtown Charlotte Amalie seawall. Great viewing for the spectators, but it will undoubtedly create tricky conditions where the local sailors might have a slight advantage. To complement the up close action the CAMR will feature live commentary on the waterfront provided by America’s Cup-sailor-turned commentator, Geordie Shaver, and a live webcast on the event website www.carlosmatchrace.com. We will also provide links to all the action on our website as well as photos and updates, so be sure to check in next week and see how we get on.