Irish Sailor’s have been making themselves known in the world of Match Racing this summer!
You may be familiar with Match Racing if you’ve ever seen the Elliots out chasing each other on a Sunday in the winter months, or if you’ve come across the Craic’n racing Instagram account. But if not let me quickly introduce you!
Unlike fleet racing or team racing, match racing only consists of two identical boats racing against each other. This one-on-one duel is a game of strategy, racing rules and tactics, in which the winner is usually only decided a few boat lengths before of the finish line.
This summer the of Irish Crew of ‘Craic’n Racing’ competed in 7 of the world match racing tour events. (LA, Italy, Montenegro, Poland, Chicago, Detroit & The Thompson Cup). They are currently sitting 12th on the leaderboard and hoping to qualify for the final in China in December.
We caught up with the team to ask how they got on at the most recent event The Thompson Cup in Oysterbay, NY last week.
“This event was one of the toughest I think we sailed competition wise, but also I think the best regatta both myself and the team have sailed.
Our pre-starts are getting better with each regatta and we are still finding areas we can improve and tighten up. Boat handling wise the crew at this event was fantastic, it’s a hard job in a normal race, but when you hoisting and dousing a kite 4 times in a single downwind because of a luffing match it’s hard to not make a mistake.”
This regatta we were in 40 ft boats (Swedish match 40s), competing against some of the best sailors in the world including Americas Cup Skipper Gavin Brady, world No. 1 match racer Chris Pool and a handful of top 49er sailors so it was fantastic to come away with 4th (Taking a race of Chris in the Semi Finals was also great!).
We now confidently know the areas at which we need to improve, so that we can win these events in future. We’re looking to train up over the winter and hopefully be a contender for the tour finals and trophy next year!”
And its not just them who are looking to train up over the winter! As the winter season returns so does the match racing season in Ireland. So watch this space …