SLAM Kiwi Match 3rd in Korea Match Cup Qualifier
It was a shaky start just trying to get to Korea for the Korea Match Cup Qualifier after Logan missed his connection from Hong Kong and it definitely wasn’t all plane sailing after we all arrived.
With only a couple of hours to fit in our training session on Wednesday the pressure was always on to get off to a good start; and with an entry into the Korea Match Cup World Tour event on the line the stakes were always high. The competition at this years qualifier was second to none with 4 of the top up and coming match racing teams from New Zealand competing. Also a full professional team from Finland which included Americas Cup sailor Jes Gram-Hansen, and one of the best match racing teams from Japan.
The typical light conditions which are standard here in Korea were a little non-existent on the first few days of the competition, but unfortunately it was the lack of wind that was the ultimate decider allowing no racing to take place on the final day.
We had put ourselves under a little pressure on day 1 with first up losses to Phil Robertson and Will Tiller before we managed to find our form and get on a winning streak. We went from strength to strength winning all the remainder of our round robin races and qualifying 3rd for the semi finals. Our semi final against Will Tiller ended with a score card of 1-1 as did Phil Robertson’s against Ollie Pekker. However on the final day PRO Harold Bennett was unable to get any more racing away as the light conditions returned to Korea and a glassy calm settled over the race track.
This meant that that the final results were calculated on count back to the round robin with Phil and his Waka racing team finishing first, Will Tiller second and us in third place. We’re naturally disappointed as we feel we were sailing better and better and felt really confident that we could have done the business if we had of had some sailing today.
Full congratulations though must go to Phil and his team who sailed consistently and won the races when it mattered. We’ll definitely build off this result and feel really good at this early start of the season of the things to come.
A big thank you must go out to our supporters, SLAM and all our friends and family that have been following our progress on facebook, twitter and of course our website.
With only a couple of hours to fit in our training session on Wednesday the pressure was always on to get off to a good start; and with an entry into the Korea Match Cup World Tour event on the line the stakes were always high. The competition at this years qualifier was second to none with 4 of the top up and coming match racing teams from New Zealand competing. Also a full professional team from Finland which included Americas Cup sailor Jes Gram-Hansen, and one of the best match racing teams from Japan.
The typical light conditions which are standard here in Korea were a little non-existent on the first few days of the competition, but unfortunately it was the lack of wind that was the ultimate decider allowing no racing to take place on the final day.
We had put ourselves under a little pressure on day 1 with first up losses to Phil Robertson and Will Tiller before we managed to find our form and get on a winning streak. We went from strength to strength winning all the remainder of our round robin races and qualifying 3rd for the semi finals. Our semi final against Will Tiller ended with a score card of 1-1 as did Phil Robertson’s against Ollie Pekker. However on the final day PRO Harold Bennett was unable to get any more racing away as the light conditions returned to Korea and a glassy calm settled over the race track.
This meant that that the final results were calculated on count back to the round robin with Phil and his Waka racing team finishing first, Will Tiller second and us in third place. We’re naturally disappointed as we feel we were sailing better and better and felt really confident that we could have done the business if we had of had some sailing today.
Full congratulations though must go to Phil and his team who sailed consistently and won the races when it mattered. We’ll definitely build off this result and feel really good at this early start of the season of the things to come.
A big thank you must go out to our supporters, SLAM and all our friends and family that have been following our progress on facebook, twitter and of course our website.
