Williams wins opener for 2025 season
Published on January 12th, 2025
Great Britain’s Ian Williams was crowned champions of the inaugural Macao Match Cup, the opening event of the 2025 World Match Racing Tour held in China on January 8-12. Racing Fareast 28Rs, Williams and his crew of Richard Sydenham, Jon Gundersen, and Gerry Mitchell defeated New Zealand’s Nick Egnot-Johnson 3-1 in the final. The Petit final was a USA match with Chris Poole defeating Gavin Brady 2-0.
In the finals, the two match racing world champions came together in a repeat of last month’s tour final in Shenzhen, with Williams getting the first win over Egnot-Johnson, crossing the line with a solid 100m lead.
Things heated up in the second match with a pre-start collision forcing a penalty on Williams. On the final run to the finish, Williams slowed to set a trap for Egnot-Johnson, but the Kiwi skipper was able to gybe and stay clear to even the match at 1-1.
After another tense pre-start in match 3, Williams was able to carve a narrow lead by the final mark and a slow spinnaker hoist from Egnot-Johnson allows Williams to take the score 2-1 in the first-to-three points match.
The final race was an all or nothing chance for Egnot-Johnson who could not afford a mistake. In the pre-start, Egnot-Johnson was in a confident position but Williams used the race committee boat as a cover to position themselves for the start.
On this first upwind leg, Williams gained a lift to the right side of the course, and was able to point higher, rounding the first mark less than a boat length ahead.
Back upwind on leg 3, and Williams stayed to the favored right side of the track putting a loose cover on Egnot-Johnson and rounding the final mark with a solid five boat length lead.
There was no coming back for Egnot-Johnson as the faultless British skipper and team crossed the finish line with a 120m lead to clinch the first Macao Match Cup title and a USD30,000 prize check.
The 25th season of the tour now heads to the USA for the Ficker Cup (April 25-27) and Congressional Cup (April 30-May 4) in Long Beach, CA.
Tour information – Event details – Results – Facebook
Founded in 2000, the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) promotes the sport of match racing around the world and is the longest running global professional series in the sport of sailing. The winner of the WMRT each year is crowned World Sailing Match Racing World Champion.
Previous champions include Sir Ben Ainslie (GBR), Taylor Canfield (USA), Peter Gilmour (AUS), Magnus Holmberg (SWE), Peter Holmberg (ISV), Adam Minoprio (NZL), Torvar Mirsky (AUS), Bertrand Pace (FRA), Jesper Radich (DEN), Phil Robertson (NZL), and Ian Williams (GBR).
Since inception, the World Match Racing Tour and its events have awarded over USD23million in prize money to sailors which has helped to contribute to the career pathway of many of today’s professional sailors.
Source: WMRT