Ian Williams won a record-equalling fourth ISAF Match Racing World Championship today after beating his arch rival Bjorn Hansen in the Quarter- Final of the Monsoon Cup, the finale of the Alpari World Match Racing Tour.
Williams has equalled the record of Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing, who had earlier this week announced his intention to retire after this event. Reflecting on his feat, Williams, said :
“It’s incredible to match Peter Gilmour on four world titles… it’s indescribable really. The knees were turned to jelly [in the first race] and it showed in our sailing. The guys did a great job of keeping me calm and re-focused. When we relaxed it was very hard for him to beat us. It’s been a great season – we’ve made six of seven semi-finals in the regattas we’ve competed in.”
Gilmour’s decision to retire gives Williams (GBR) GAC Pindar the opportunity to take the record next season with a fifth Tour title :
“He’s [Peter Gilmour] such a legend in the sport and now I really feel we can go on and win some more. We’ll look forward the latter stages here then look at doing it all again in 2013.”
William’s opponent, Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Mekonomen Sailing Team, came through the Qualifying stage in second and chose to face his fierce rival instead of several other, lower ranked options. Hansen held a superior head-to-head record against his British challenger in the knockout stages of the previous seven Tour events in 2012 but may not have accounted for the strength of Williams at the biggest event of the year.
The Defender of the America’s Cup, The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, represented by Team New Zealand, and the Challenger of Record, The Royal Yacht Squadron Ltd, represented by Athena Racing, have signed the Protocol for the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup set to take place in Naples, in the summer of 2027. The Protocol introduces a (…)
Denmark’s Jeppe Borch/ Team Borch Match Race, and France’s Pauline Courtois/ Match in Pink by Normandy have been crowned the new champions of Marstrand in a day of fierce weather for the final of the 2025 GKSS Match Cup Sweden and Nordea Women’s Trophy in Marstrand. It is the first time the Match Cup Sweden title has been won by a Danish (…)
Switzerland’s Eric Monnin and his Capvis Swiss Match Racing Team of Ute Monnin Wagner, Mathieu Renault, Jean-Claude Monnin, Simon Brügger, Julien Falxa, and Maxime Mesnil today clinched a long awaited win of the 60th Anniversary Long Beach Yacht Club Congressional Cup, stage three of the 2025 World Match Racing Tour season. Monnin defeated (…)
The 2024 World Match Racing Tour Shenzhen Bao’an Final concluded, where Britain’s Ian Williams Pindar by Manuport Logistics team of Jon Gundersen, Richard Sydenham, and Gerry Mitchell claimed their record-breaking eighth Match Racing World Championship title after a dramatic showdown against New Zealand’s Nick Egnot-Johnson KNOTS Racing.
France’s Pauline Courtois and her Match in Pink by Normandy Elite team ofLouise Acker, Maëlenn Lemaître, Sophie Faguet and Laurane Mettraux clinched victory at the 2024 Aspen Bermuda Women’s Match Racing Regatta on Sunday, defeating Sweden’s Anna Östling and her WINGS team 2-1 in a tense final in very light airs. Adding to the French team’s (…)
Emirates Team New Zealand have completed one of the most successful America’s Cup campaigns in history. For the Defender, Emirates Team New Zealand having won the America’s Cup three times in a row, it now presents an unprecedented opportunity for the continued growth of the America’s Cup from the strongest foundation of success in recent history.
Le maxi-catamaran Orange a été mis à l’eau lundi veille de Noël et achève en ce moment sa phase de préparation technique au chantier de La Ciotat. Il naviguera pour la première fois demain dans les eaux méditerranéennes afin de réaliser ses premiers essais en mer.
La nouvelle gamme Meridian comprend 4 récepteurs GPS à 12 canaux parallèles mémorisant jusqu’à 500 waypoints et 20 routes réversibles de 30 segments maximum.
Nick Moloney, navigateur australien de 32 ans, vient d’être nommé co-skipper du monocoque Kingfisher. Il prend donc la suite d’Ellen MacArthur à la barre du voilier de 18 mètres que la jeune Anglaise vient de mener à la deuxième place du Vendée Globe.
Petit temps au départ de Sydney. Photo : Oskar Kihlborg Team SEB Electronic Image.
C’est à 3h, heure française, ce matin, (soit 13h heure locale), que les huit bateaux engagés dans la Volvo Ocean Race 2001-2002 se sont élancés pour une troisième étape de 2 050 milles, divisée en deux temps.
VO60 s gather at the start of the Sydney- Hobart race which is part of the third leg in the Volvo Ocean Race from Sydney to Auckland. Photo : Oskar Kihlborg Team SEB Electronic Image.
Today, in the early morning coolness, Darling Harbour, Sydney, was a hive of activity as the crews starting leg three of the Volvo Ocean Race made their final preparations and bade their last farewells.
A presque 24 ans, Ellen MacArthur vient d’inscrire son nom au palmarès prestigieux de la Transat Anglaise. En remportant la course mythique dans la catégorie des monocoques, elle succède à de grands noms de l’histoire de la course au large comme Éric Tabarly et Yves Parlier, ou ses compatriotes Francis Chichester et Geoffrey Williams. Pourtant (…)
Des marins comme Francis Joyon, il n’y en a plus beaucoup. La nouvelle donne de la course au large spectacle favorise l’éclosion de jeunes talents médiatiques, tous aussi à l’aise face à un micro que sur un voilier de course au large ou autour de trois bouées. En remportant la Transat anglaise, au nez et à la barbe des machines les plus (…)
Jean-Marie Liot, vingt-neuf ans, est photographe de mer professionnel depuis cinq ans. Basé à Arradon, dans le Morbihan, il vient de lancer sa galerie virtuelle sur internet.