The Alpari World Match Racing Tour boats passing by a local boat
KUALA TERENGGANU: Reigning Alpari World Match Racing Tour champion Ian Williams has conceded that the world title is out of his hands as Tour leader Taylor Canfield of Team USOne tops the Monsoon Cup qualifying round leaderboard.
Williams, the skipper of GAC Pindar, managed an impressive win over Canfield on Thursday but his two losses to Bjorn Hansen’s eWork Sailing Team and Adam Minoprio of Team Alpari FX meant that Canfield’s lead at the top was unassailable.
Canfield has finished all 11 races and recorded nine wins and two losses while Williams, who has one race left against Pierre Antoine Morvan’s Vannes Agglo Sailing Team, won only seven and lost three.
Topping the qualifying leaderboard means Canfield will get to choose his opponent in the quarter-finals and he will want to avoid Williams, who is 10 points behind him in the world Tour leaderboard.
“He will not pick us, that is for sure! We were not able to win the round robins, so the world championship is out of our hands now. The way the points are, if Taylor Canfield makes it to the final, he will win the championship,” said Williams.
Williams, who won the Monsoon Cup in 2007 and 2011, will instead set his sights on winning the Cup.
The third day of qualifying finished with only two flights left, which will be carried forward to Friday.
Hansen’s team and Phil Robertson’s Waka Racing are the other two teams who have booked a spot in the quarter-finals.
The remaining four spots will be battled out among Mathieu Richard of GEFCO Match Racing Team, Minoprio, Keith Swinton of Black Swan Racing, Morvan and Francesco Bruni of Luna Rossa Team.
Johnie Bertnsson’s Stena Sailing Team, David Gilmour of Team Gilmour and Malaysia’s own Jeremy Koo of Koo Racing Team are out of the quarter-finals.
Jeremy finished nine races out of 11 – but with no wins to show for – at the end of Thursday.
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