Following our victory in Chicago we traveled to Bermuda for the Bermuda Gold Cup 2011. This World Match Racing Tour event consists of 24 teams sailing in the unusual IOD yachts.
Because of the 24-team format this event is extremely cut throat with half the teams being knocked out following a 7 race qualifying stage. Our qualifying group consisted of Staffan Lindberg, Bjorn Hansen, Francesco Bruni, Jesper Radich, Blyth Walker, Jordan Reece and Jakub Pawluk.
We didn’t begin the regatta well, receiving a pre-start penalty following a small collision with Staffan Lindberg. This put is on the back foot but we managed to gain the lead off the start. From here we worked on extending our lead but couldn’t get enough to complete our penalty ahead. On the final leg we completed a nice move wiping off our penalty but Lindberg was able to slip by for the win.
Following this loss we had to race 3 of the top teams Jasper Radich, Bjorn Hansen and Francessco Bruni. Each and every one of these races was extremely close. We lead for 75% of the race against Radich but made a mistake at the top of the course before the final rounding mark and allowed Radich to pass. We also push Hansen and Bruni hard but unfortunately they were able to hold us off in both races. We needed to win at least one of these races but we came up short, a frustrating day putting us out of the regatta.
Despite the disappointment of these losses we came out focused to finish the regatta well. We did this, reeling off solid wins against the lower ranked teams of Pawluk, Reece and local Bermudian sailor Blythe Walker who is very fast in the IOD yachts. It is always disappointing to be knocked out of an event early and this was no different especially after our good form in Chicago. We really believe if we had had got another win or two we really could have done very well later in this event. Now we put our focus towards the Berlin Match Race from the 2-6 November.
