US One wins World Match Racing Tour Newport

Newport, RI (June 4, 2016) – After six days of racing, the field of 20 teams came down to U.S. Virgin Islands’ Taylor Canfield and his US One team matched in the Final against WAKA Racing, skippered by New Zealand’s Phil Robertson, with US One taking the title 3-1. Canfield’s team includes New Zealand sailors Haydon Goodrick and Chris Main and Australian sailor Ricky McGarvie.

Having now won two M32 events in succession on the World Match Racing Tour as well as dominating the M32 Scandinavian Series last season, Canfield’s team surely now represents the benchmark among M32 campaigns.

Canfield explained his team’s success: “We have put the time in; we’ve been pushing hard and making sure that we are learning throughout all of this, including all the qualifying events, to make sure that we continually grow as a team, which is important to us.”

In today’s Final, Robertson claimed the first match, but Canfield then won the next three to clinch first prize. While Canfield ultimately prevailed, there were many occasions when it could have gone the opposite way.

In the last, deciding fourth race, Canfield had aggressively and repeatedly luffed Robertson out of the start. Finally, as both boats ran back downwind, attention focused on Canfield as, incredibly, for a second time in the Finals, he hooked a mooring buoy. What many failed to notice was that while this was happening, Robertson had passed the wrong side of the first reaching mark of the course. The Kiwi skipper led around the course, unaware of this until he was about to head to the finish line.

“We obviously missed the first mark so technically we never sailed the first lap, so they were still waiting for us to do that… which was a little bit interesting,” said Robertson as he explained later once he’d come to terms with it. “In the heat of the moment people were making mistakes like that and the courses are a bit new and different to everyone. But that was a big, costly mistake…”

An equal eye-opener was the second race. This Canfield somehow managed to win, despite picking up two penalties and there being two collisions along the way.

Earlier, both Semi-Final matches had been decided 2-1 with Canfield overcoming Ian Williams’ GAC Pindar team and Robertson beating France’s Yann Guichard and his Spindrift racing crew. Williams subsequently came out on top in the best-of-one race Petit Final, to secure third place overall.

The first-, second- and third-placed finishers today walked away from the World Match Racing Tour Newport with prize money of US $33,000, US $23,000 and US $18,000 respectively.

All eyes are now on the final event of the season, the World Match Racing Tour Finals in Marstrand, the picturesque island on Sweden’s west coast, over July 4th-9th. This event features the incentive of a winner-takes-all first prize of a cool US $1 million as well as the Match Racing World Championship title.

“There will be more on for the finals in Marstrand,” warns favorite Taylor Canfield. “Everyone is going to want it that much more when that much money comes into play, and that is going to change people. But if we can stay just as neutral as we can and do what we’ve done for the last couple of events, then we’ll have a good shot at it.”

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Newport Results Day 6 – Semi Finals & Finals
Semi Finals Pair 1
1. Taylor Canfield (ISV), US One – 2 points
2. Ian Williams (GBR), GAC Pindar – 1 point

Semi Finals Pair 2
1. Phil Robertson (NZL), WAKA Racing – 2 points
2. Yann Guichard (FRA), Spindrift Racing – 1 point

Petit Finals
1. Ian Williams (GBR), GAC Pindar – 1 point
2. Yann Guichard (FRA), Spindrift Racing – 0 points

Finals
1. Taylor Canfield (ISV), US One – 3 points
2. Phil Robertson (NZL), WAKA Racing – 1 point

Overall Results
1. Taylor Canfield (ISV), US One
2. Phil Robertson (NZL), WAKA Racing
3. Ian Williams (GBR), GAC Pindar
4. Yann Guichard (FRA), Spindrift Racing
5. Chris Steele (NZL), 36 Below Racing
6. Nicolai Sehested (DEN), TRE_FOR Match Racing
7. Nicklas Dackhammar (SWE), ESSIQ Racing Team
8. Mattias Rahm (SWE), Rahm Racing
9. Steve Thomas (AUS), RPM Racing
10. David Gilmour (AUS), Team Gilmour
11. Sally Barkow (USA), Team Magenta 32
12. Hans Wallen (SWE), Wallen Racing
13. Johnie Berntsson (SWE), Flux Team
14. Matt Jerwood (AUS), Redline Racing
15. Eric Monnin (SUI), Albert Riele Swiss Team
16. Michael Menninger (USA), 13FIFTY Racing
17. Evan Walker (AUS), KA Match / CYCA
18. Chris Poole (USA), Riptide Racing
19. Iker Martinez (ESP), Team Espāna
20. Keith Swinton (AUS), Team Accure

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Source: WMRT