Thursday 5 May 2011

Match Race Open de Espana, Calpe: Aon Racing Report on Day One


Pro trimming on day on in Calpe, Spain. Image copyright Aon Racing.

by Aon Racing media

The team has started racing in the Open De Espana in Calpe, Spain. It was a stunning, warm day and a nice change from the biting cold of Korea. In true Spanish style, racing kicked off at about 11:30am, when we faced two time world champion Ian Willams. We led for the first two legs of the race after a good start, but then made a mistake at the top of the second beat which allowed him to catch us at the top and take the win.

Our next two races followed similar patterns with our team being punished for small mistakes, as you would expect at this level. However we managed to pick up and win our last race of the day against world number 9 and tour skipper, Phil Robertson.

This left us with mixed emotions at the end of the day, as we could easily have been on four wins if we had sailed more consistently. However, our boatspeed was good and we are focussed on making the small improvements that will get us up a level, hopefully by tomorrow!

We would like to say thank you to our principal sponsor, Aon Insurance, as well as Club Marine and Allianz. Thanks also to the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, for training and supporting us.

Aon Racing is Reuben Corbett (Skipper), Adrian Short (Main), Tom Blampied (Trim) and Tom Bentham (Bow).

Aon Racing
RCNC