Match Cup Australia at Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club - Day 4
by John Roberson 23 Mar 2017 10:11 GMT
20-25 March 2017
Royal Perth Yacht Club skipper Torvar Mirsky kept the spectators on the edge of their seats as he came back from 2 – 1 down to defeat Sweden's Nicklas Dackhammar to become the fourth local skipper into the quarter finals of the Match Cup Australia.
Earlier in the day Steve Thomas, also of Royal Perth, had become a giant killer, eliminating Tour Card holder Nicolai Sehested in three straight races, to join yesterday's local qualifiers David Gilmour and Matt Jerwood.
Thomas has seen his confidence grow since sweeping undefeated through last week's qualifier, then continuing his impressive performances this week. Attributing his teams success to on board communications he said, "for us just making sure we have good communication all the time is critical, and you know that when the communication breaks down that's when things go wrong, and were really disciplined on simple things and it's paying off for us."
Torvar Mirsky showed great composure to turn around a bad situation and come out with the right result, talking about what was going through his mind as he prepared for the deciding heat he said, "We didn't know what to feel, we knew we were sailing well, we know what to do and we just need to put it together.
"Nicklas just took it too us, he schooled us in three starts, and we just fought as hard as we could all the time, I think eventually we broke him and got a couple of good starts, and finally got up on him."
Also going through to the quarter finals today was reigning world champion Phil Robertson of New Zealand, who was pushed all the way by Sweden's Mans Holmberg.
The two northern hemisphere skippers to make it into the next round are Frenchmand Yann Guichard and Taylor Canfield from the US Virgin Islands.
Conditions on the Swan River today provided challenges in the shifty southerly wind, with gusts causing a few anxious moments, and some opportunities.
Quarter-final Results:
Steve Thomas (AUS) 3 – Nicolai Sehested (DEN) 0
Phil Robertson (NZL) 3 - Mans Holmberg (SWE) 1
Torvar Mirsky (AUS) 3 – Nicklas Dackhammar (SWE) 2