International Match Racing Challenge 2011

A very experienced International line up led by Individual winner David Chapman retained the title they won last year. While the margin of victory was great, they were strongly pushed by a young Irish team who on paper were ranked far lower in the World Rankings. Special mention must go to George Kingston (world no 877) and Marty O'Leary (world no 395) who finished ahead of some of the International skippers, notably the UK's Robbie Allam (world no 79).

The World team opened up an early lead on Saturday Morning that they never relinquished. The final margin of victory was 29 points to 16. But with the Irish sailors getting an opportunity to sail the World's best on their own doorstep, surely they have learned valuable lessons and will mount a stronger challenge next year..

Pictured (L to R) Pearson GBR, Allam GBR, Sehested DEN, Duncan (Morris) NZL, Chapman AUS.

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Day 1- Photo's Part 1 - Cube Images

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 03:07:24 -0700

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Australia's Chapman wins the final

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 03:07:13 -0700

David Chapman and his 33South Racing team convincingly beat Sam Pearson (GBR) and his Wight Match team in the final. With Light conditions, and a need to finish racing by 15:30 Race Office Brian Reddy and his team managed to complete the knock out program. The final and pettit final were sudden death, i.e. decided by one race.

Final.

Chapman won the start and extended on every leg to cooly take the title. Crucially he won the right hand side of the start line allowing him to sail up the right hand side of the course in the direction of the East Pier. With a strong tide and stronger pressure this gave him a clear lead which we was to hold and extend until the finish.

Petit Final.

Nicolai Sehestad and his TRE-FOR team from Denmark won the Petit Final. Nicolai was the favoured by many to win the event but an immediate penalty given to him by the umpires at mark 2 in the deciding race of the Semi Finals ended his challenge. So to the consolation of the Petit Final. Kinsale man George Kingston himself narrowly defeated in the Semi's was the opponent.

Again like the final, the start was key, with the Danish skipper taking that and holding on to win. George's young team will surely be stronger for next year's event.

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Australia / British final

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 05:57:36 -0700

Chapman beat Kingston in the final race of the semi-finals. This was a very close race. Kingston won the start and then sailed left up the first leg, with Chapman choosing to go out right. Chapman was first to the windward mark and maintained the lead to the finish. Kingston put up an excellent fight and lost out to Chapman, who is currently ranked 43rd in the world, by only a few feet.

Another close race followed with Pearson v Shested. Pearson took the lead at the leeward mark and went on the qualify for the final.

Finals: Chapman (AUS) v Pearson (GBR)

O'Leary v O'Connor
O'Leary wins the second race, of this best of 3 play-off
However, the first win was given to O'Connor since O'Leary did not helm the first race. O'Leary retired from the final race, leaving O'Connor to win overall between them.

Allam v Duncan
Allam wins both races

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Semi-finals, races 2

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 05:22:48 -0700

Chapman v Kingston
Chapman given penalty prestart
Kingston takes the lead
Kingston keeps the lead despite Chapman's best efforts who still hasn't completed his penalty
Kingston wins

Chapman and Kingston are now 1-1, with one final race deciding who goes to the final!

Pearson v Shested
Pearson takes the lead this time, meaning that there will have to be another race in this best of 3 play-off

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Spectators still elated after Hot Seat experience

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 05:19:19 -0700

Hours after their Hot Seat experience on Saturday afternoon, the spectators were still thrilled at their adventure.

Stepping on board a J80, going straight into pre-race manoeuvres and then being on board for the race, is a great experience for both sailors and non-sailors who want to get a piece of the action. Wearing a bright orange bib, the Hot Seat person gets to observe everything that happens on the boat, how the team communicates with each other during stressful parts of the race, and what the skipper's action plan is to beat their match-race rival.

Edel Edwards, who lives in Dublin, has never sailed before but stepped into the Hot Seat on Saturday, not sure what to expect. She sailed with both George Kingston's team (IRL) in Flight 7 and Sam Pearson (GBR) in Flight 8, said that the experience surpassed her expectations.

"Both teams were really welcoming and being so close to the action was fantastic. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life," she said. Edel loved it so much, she has decided to do an adult sailing course in Dun Laoghaire so that she can get out racing again.

Experienced skipper, Jonathan Nicholson, who races his cruiser Red Rhum in Dublin Bay every week, took the Hot Seat with Nicolai Shested's team from Denmark in Flight 7 and with Ben Duncan (NZL) in Flight 8. For him, it was an amazing experience to race with professional racers are at the top of their game (the Danish team are currently ranked 42 in the world for match-racing).

"The Danes were unbelievably good. They were so fast," he said. "The bowman was so agile, and they really know how to hike. The bowman also called every gust perfectly and was accurate within seconds," said Jonathan.

Jonathan said that the Danish team's boat-handling was "super crisp" and that even though the team might not have known all the 'tricks' of sailing a J80, sailed the boat like a dinghy, roll-tacking in perfect harmony and being in tune with each other really paid off. "They were just the pros, and it was obvious by the way they raced that they sail with each other constantly. They knew what each other were thinking," he said.

"I have realised that a lot of racing is about time spent on water, and putting in a huge effort to get really good," he said. "If you don't, you can sail well sporadically but you are not sailing to your potential all the time." Jonathan has decided to put what he saw into practice on his own boat.

The spectators also took to a rib which acted as the windward mark, for the next flight. Being so close to the boats when they were also rounding marks was thrilling, with apparently a lot of screaming on board the boats but some excellent mark-roundings witnessed.

Today the juniors took to the hotseats, and also had a great time, one of them even 'driving' for the Aussie team between races. Meanwhile, the non-sailing adults were back out on the water again today for more spectating and will be arranging to do sailing courses, while the experienced sailors were inspired to get better at racing, having seen the pros in action. With such a huge success, sign up early for next year's Hot Seats!!

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Semi finals race 2

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 05:04:11 -0700

Kingston leading by 10 secs at mark 2

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Semi-finals, race 1

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 04:58:58 -0700

The first race of the semi-finals is Chapman (AUS) v Kingston (IRL)
Chapman is first to the windward mark, with Kingston narrowly behind
Chapman maintains this lead throughout the race
On the final leg, Kingston goes left in an attempt to catch up but Chapman wins

The second semi-final is between Pearson (GBR) and Shested (NED)
Shested wins the start and leads the race from start to finish

The boats placed 5 - 8 are also currently racing

O'Leary (IRL) v O'Connor (IRL)
O'Connor pushes O'Leary to the left prestart and consequently wins the start
He maintains this lead until the leeward mark, where O'Leary manages to give him a penalty
Following this, O'Leary gets a clear lead and goes on to win the racewins the

Allam (GBR) v Duncan (NZL)
Allam wins the start and keeps this lead to win

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Hot seat takes over Aussie challenge

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 04:44:00 -0700

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Results at the end of the round robin

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 03:35:42 -0700

The decision has been made to go straight into semi-finals. With 3 boats on equal points fighting for the final spot in the semi-finals, the umpires were brought in to decide the rankings.

Final rankings are as follows:
1) Chapman (AUS) - 8 points
2) Pearson (GBR) - 6 points
3) Shested (DEN) - 6 points
4) Kingston (IRL) - 5 points
5) O'Leary (IRL) - 5 points
6) Allam (GBR) - 5 points
7) Duncan (NZL) - 4 points
8) O'Connor (IRL) - 3 points
9) Downey (IRL) - 1.5 points
10) Scallan (IRL) - 1 point

This means that Kingston is the only Irish sailor through to the semi-finals.

In The World vs Ireland, The World are the clear winners with 29 wins to Ireland's 15.5 wins

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Final races of the round robin

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 03:05:42 -0700

Shested (DEN) v Chapman (AUS)
Chapman leads the way around the course
Chapman wins

Scallan (IRL) v O'Leary (IRL)
Scallan given penalty prestart
O'Leary wins the start
O'Leary wins

O'Connor (IRL) v Duncan (NZL)
Duncan leads throughout the race
Duncan wins

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Flight 11

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 02:31:33 -0700

O’Leary (IRL) v O’Connor (IRL)

O’Leary won the start and lead throughout the race

Kingston (IRL) v Chapman (AUS)

Chapman wins

Duncan (NZL) v Allam (GBR)

Allam wins the start and keeps his lead to win the race

Scallan (IRL) v Downey (IRL)

The 2 boats split at the start, with Scallan going left up the windward leg and Downey going right

Right pays off and Downey leads for most of the race until the finish line where Scallan takes the win

The wind has now dropped down to 10knots

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Commentator calls it

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 02:03:11 -0700

p145.mov Watch on Posterous

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Day 2 gets underway

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 01:48:14 -0700

Welcome back to the second day of the Ireland vs the World Sailing Challenge.

The plan for today is to finish the remaining 7 races of the round robin and then go into quarter-finals (time permitting), semi-finals and finals.

The course is currently being set and all the competitors have launched. Despite the lack of promised sun there's a nice breeze, currently 15 knots on the committee boat The Spirit.

International Match Racing Challenge 2011

Who will be the 2012 Challengers!! Video by Cube Images | Brian Carlin & Jason Town

Day 1 Video Highlights shot & edited by Brian Carlin | Cube Images

Day 2 Photo's - Cube Images

Ireland v The World - Teaser video

Day 1 - Photo's Part 2 - Cube Images

The World win the International Match Racing Challenge

Day 1- Photo's Part 1 - Cube Images

Australia's Chapman wins the final

Australia / British final

Semi-finals, races 2

Spectators still elated after Hot Seat experience

Semi finals race 2

Semi-finals, race 1

Hot seat takes over Aussie challenge

Results at the end of the round robin

Final races of the round robin

Flight 11

Commentator calls it

Day 2 gets underway

Kingston top Irish skipper so far