World Match Racing challenge for Volvo RYA Keelboat sailor
by Karenza Morton, RYA 23 Apr 2008 07:28 BST
Volvo RYA Keelboat Programme member Tudur Owen has enjoyed the perfect preparation for his 2008 World Match Racing Tour campaign by training with reigning World champion Brit Ian Williams.
The prestigious nine-event Tour season got underway with the start of the Brasil Cup in Vitoria, Brazil today (Tuesday 22 April) and will culminate in the crowning of the ISAF World Match Racing Champion at the Monsoon Cup in Malaysia in December.
Owen, from Anglesey, is part of young Australian skipper Torvar Mirsky’s Mirsky Racing Team crew that is one of 12 of the World’s top-ranked teams that will contest the $150,000 Brasil Cup, which runs until Sunday 26 April.
And having sailed to Brasil Cup seventh last year, Owen hopes that training alongside Williams’ 2007 Tour winners Team Pindar in Valencia, Spain will stand Mirsky Racing Team in good stead for what they hope will be a successful season.
A member of the Volvo RYA Keelboat Programme National Squad, 25-year-old Welshman Owen said: “I started sailing with Torvar’s team last August and have been sailing with them ever since, including finishing fifth at last year’s Tour finale the Monsoon Cup and winning the Warren Jones Regatta in Australia earlier this year. We also took second at the RYA Winter Challenge Match Racing Series.
“I feel very privileged to be racing on the Tour and didn’t expect to be competing at this level so soon. With every regatta we seem to be sailing better as a team. I hope that at this regatta we can improve on recent results and really begin to establish ourselves on the World Tour scene.”
Williams made history by becoming Britain’s first World Tour champion last November and he goes to Brazil looking for a flying start in his quest to defend his title. Among the leading challengers to the Brits’ crown are World ranked three and four skippers Paulo Cian (ITA) and Bjorn Hansen (SWE). Mirsky, 21, is currently ranked seventh.
The Volvo RYA Keelboat Programme was launched in 2003 to provide the opportunity for talented young sailors aged between 16 -24 to break into the world of keelboat sailing. The current Programme comprises 47 sailors across three squads.
The second 2008 World Match Racing Tour event takes place in Langenargen, Germany between 7-12 May.