Minoprio on fire

Kiwi match racer unbeaten in Knickbocker Cup round robins

By the end of the Full Round Robin on Day 2 of the Knickerbocker Cup, Adam Minoprio, NZ, with BlackMatch crew David Swete, Josh Puckey, and Nick Blackman, are the clear winners thus far with a 10-10 record.

By the end of the day it was a team who understood the challenging wind conditions on Manhasset Bay that catapulted this talented team into a solid first place, with a good chance of becoming the ultimate winner of the Cup. According to Minoprio, “The wind conditions are real similar to what we have in Auckland.The land is so close to where we are sailing that the wind shifts the whole time. Playing the wind shifts was key.”

Minoprio did not just nip his competitors at the finish line. The closest race was with Scott Dickson, USA, with a delta of about 10 seconds; all others were 45 seconds or more.

Minoprio and his team were especially happy with their win over Pierre-Antoine Morvan, FRA, who has an ISAF ranking of 18. And New Zealanders are always happy when they come out ahead of an Australian team, this time Tovar Mirsky.

Mirsky is in good position to challenge the leaders with second place record of 8-2, with Pierre-Antoine Morvan close behind. Really close finishes in the middle of the pack attest to the fierce competition. Martin Angsell, SWE and Dave Perry, USA, are tied at 6-4 each, followed by a three-way tie between Jesper Feldt, DEN, Brian Angel, USA, and Scott Dickson, USA.

There is enough racing left before we can give BlackMatch a landslide victory, and with Mirsky, Morvan, Angsell, and Perry eager to topple Minoprio, racing is going to get pretty heated before this Cup series is over.

Tropical Depression Ernesto plans to pay an uninvited visit to the Knickerbocker Cup early tomorrow morning, and with winds about 20 and predicted gusts to 45-50 knots, it looks like racing will be cancelled in the morning. If the weather predictions are accurate, the Race Committee may be able to get in a few races by late afternoon when the winds should subside somewhat.

Results after Day 2 (Full Round Robin Completed )

Adam Minoprio (NZ) 10-0
Torvar Mirsky (AUS) 8-2
Pierre-Antoine Morvan (FRA) 7-3
Martin Angsell (SWE) 6-4
Dave Perry (USA) 6-4
Jesper Feldt (DEN) 5-5
Brian Angel (USA) 5-5
Scott Dickson (USA) 5-5
Johnny Isdahl (SWE) 2-8
Chris Van Tol (USA) 1-9
Doug Shannon (USA) 0-10