Over the past weekend, the leading two double-handed boats in the 2008-09 Portimão Global Ocean Race completed their circumnavigation crossing the Leg 5 finish line in Portimão, Portugal. Having led the fleet since the start of the final leg in Charleston, South Carolina, Felipe Cubillos and José Muñoz finished racing shortly before midday on Saturday (11:37:05 UTC 20/06) on the Chilean Class 40, Desafio Cabo de Hornos, and a little over 21 hours later, the German duo of Boris Herrmann and Felix Oehme on Beluga Racer crossed the Leg 5 finish line in second place early on Sunday morning (08:04:42 UTC 21/06), taking first place overall in the double-handed fleet, 4.5 points ahead of Cubillos and Muñoz and separated by under two and-a-half hours of elapsed time after 33,000 miles and just under 147 days of racing: an astonishing achievement for both teams and a testament to the exceptionally close racing the inaugural Portimão Global Ocean Race has delivered.
First World Tour victory for young team from Australia
Troia, Portugal (21 June 2009) – In only their second full season on the World Match Racing Tour, Torvar Mirsky (AUS) and his Mirsky Racing Team of Kinley Fowler, Kyle Langford, Tudur Owen, and Graeme Spence have claimed their first win at the Troia Portugal Match Cup. Victory here for the 24-year old skipper puts him in company with other world-famous match racing legends who have been champions at this event, including Peter Gilmour, Chris Dickson, Peter Holmberg, and Ed Baird. And for their efforts, Mirsky and team have won 10,000 Euros of the 50,000 Euro prize money purse.
“It’s been six years in the making, but we’re finally here,” said an exuberant Mirsky. “So many times we’ve been so close, but just unable to get through, and today everything just came together for us. I’m still a bit stunned we’re here!”
Mirsky took his fellow antipodean Adam Minoprio (NZL) and his Emirates Team New Zealand/BlackMatch team in just two matches of the first-to-two point Final, displaying a smooth sailing style and impeccable sense of timing both in the pre-starts and around the track. It is this same style that also in only two matches got him past Mathieu Richard (FRA) and his French Match Racing Team in the first-to-two point Semi-Final.
It was not only a promise from the day before that there would not be much wind on the second day of the 127th Kieler Woche. Only the third group of the 21 teams of the women’s match racing sailed today, completing their first round robin in very light winds. For all other Olympic Classes in the ISAF Sailing World Cup the races were postponed until Monday. Rain and light winds kept all the sailors of the Olympic classes ashore today except for the women’s match racers.Near to the shore Group C began their round robin to decide which two teams would qualify automatically for the Quarter Finals and join the four teams who qualified yesterday.
It was a long day on the water for the seven teams in Group C and with three German teams in action there was plenty to interest the local fans.The first match of the day saw Olympian Ulrike Schuemann (GER) take on Amanda Schrivenor from Australia.Schuemann has only recently begun match racing and her win against the Australian team was exactly the start she was looking for.
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