The Official
Website of the
International
Sailing Federation

After a tense period of deliberation locked away in the race office, the committee called for a sail-off but the skippers were unimpressed. In an atmosphere of tension, confusion and frustration, Ainslie's tactician Iain Percy remonstrated that his team's earlier defeat of Minoprio appeared to count for nothing. Ian Williams also called to question the very format of the proposed sail-off.

It fell to the International Jury to attempt to diffuse the mounting controversy.After a long deliberation, Chief Umpire Shane Borrell explained that the countback should be based on all the earlier matches, not just those in the Play-Off. The sail-off was therefore unnecessary and Ben Ainslie and Adam Minoprio would go forward to join the other six teams in tomorrow's Quarter-Final knock-out matches. The decision, however, left Williams enraged and he stormed off with his quest to become ISAF Match Racing World Champion for a third time in tatters.

On the water it had been an action-packed day with strong and gusty winds, saw numerous quick-fire penalties, breakdowns and collisions that brought spectators off their seats. The tone was set from the start with Williams pinned between the start boat and Minoprio's vessel, eventually colliding with both and earning Williams a double penalty. That's a costly manoeuvre in the long-keel International One Designs raced in Bermuda and the British skipper never recovered. See the play of the day at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqRAHM6aI10

With next to no room for error in the Qualifying Play-Offs, every skipper had to be on their game. Like Minoprio, Ainslie displayed a ruthless yet tactical edge in each of his matches. Having clawed back a three-length deficit against Álvaro Marinho (POR) SETH Sailing Team, Ainslie jostled with the Portuguese skipper, exchanging a string of penalties before the Brit landed the final knock-out blow just before the finish line.

With the pressure increasing on Minoprio, Ainslie and Williams, the latter's match against Phil Robertson became even more crucial. The intensity matched the importance with penalties picked up in the pre-start and on the final beat. Although Robertson finally powered ahead to take the lead seconds before the finish, he didn't have time to spin his penalty off before Williams took the winner's flag.

Ainslie vs Minoprio was a monster match that Ainslie needed to win to retain a chance of staying in the competition, while victory for Minoprio would secure him one of the two remaining Quarter-Final places. Minoprio started tight under Ainslie's leebow, forcing the Brit to tack away to the right of the course. This put them on the best side of the big windshifts to take a four-length lead at the first mark. Minoprio challenged hard to close this to just one length at the finish however he wasn't able to find an opportunity to get ahead.

Saturday sees the racing re-convene and with Minoprio and Ainslie both still in contention, the race to challenge Mathieu Richard(FRA) French Match Racing Team overall lead in the World Match Racing Tour is firmly on.

Quarter-Final Pairing Confirmed
After the frustrations, anger and confusion, it was back down to business in Stage 8 of the World Match Racing Tour with the top-placed skippers in each qualifying group chose their opponent for the knockout Quarter-Finals.

Jesper Radich (DEN) Gaastra Racing Team had the privilege of choosing first, picking Reuben Corbett (NZL) Black Sheep Racing. "All the skippers here are very strong, so it was a very tough choice but the rifle ended up pointing at Reuben."

Eric Monnin (SUI) Swiss Match Racing Team was next to choose, plumping for the other young skipper left in the running, Taylor Canfield (USA). This left Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team, winner of the third group in the Qualifiers, facing a giant dilemma to choose between Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing, Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN and Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team: "Johnie won this event two years ago, and Adam and Ben were in the finals last year but after discussing it at length we decided on Johnie."

Minoprio must feel like Ainslie is his arch nemesis this week as he is once again pitched against the British team who have turned them over twice already in Bermuda. Commenting on the challenge ahead, Minoprio said: "We raced Ben in Group 2 of the Qualifiers and again in the Play-Off. Those matches didn't go our way but we've improved as the event has progressed and we're going to give it everything we've got."

Quarter Final pairings:
Jesper Radich (DEN) Gaastra Racing Team vs Reuben Corbett (NZL) Black Sheep Racing
Eric Monnin (SUI) Swiss Match Racing Team vs Taylor Canfield (USA)
Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team vs Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team
Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN vs Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing


Qualifying Session Play-Off Results
Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing 4-1
Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN 4-1
Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar sponsored by Argo Group 4-1
Phil Robertson (NZL) Waka Racing 2-3
Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Hansen Racing Team 1-4
Álvaro Marinho (POR) Seth Sailing Team 0-5

Quarter-Finalists
Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team
Jesper Radich (DEN) Gaastra Racing Team
Taylor Canfield (USA)
Eric Monnin (SUI) Swiss Match Racing Team
Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team
Reuben Corbett (NZL) Black Sheep Racing
Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing
Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN

For more information on WMRT, please visit: www.wmrt.com

ISAF Match Racing World Championship - www.sailing.org/matchworlds