Ian Williams and his GAC Pindar team are the favourites to return the season finale of the 2015 World Match Racing Tour’s Monsoon Cup as ISAF Match Racing World Champions. No one is more aware than the British skipper that this is match racing and it is way too dangerous to make any assumptions this early on.Â
Three-way game at the Monsoon Cup
It is no surprise that Williams is in the strongest position heading into the season finale as the defending ISAF Match Racing World Champion, a title that last year he won for a record fifth time (in doing so he also overtook Peter Gilmourâs previous record of four wins). A World Championship win at this Monsoon Cup would extend this record to six, a feat set to stand for many years â at present the only other skipper on the Tour to have claimed the World Championship title is US Oneâs Taylor Canfield and he only won it once, in 2013.Â
Going to the Monsoon Cup, the GAC Pindar team also tops the World Match Racing Tour leaderboard, but by a slender – in reality, non-existent margin. It is just two points ahead of Swedenâs BjĂśrn Hansen, in turn, a further three in front of Canfield.Â
Williams has previously led into the Monsoon Cup (traditionally the final event of the World Match Racing Tour) but, as he puts it, on this occasion âI donât think those points are really worth anything against BjĂśrn or Taylor, because if either of them beat us in the Monsoon Cup theyâll beat us overall.
And on balance youâd probably rather be in their place – psychologically itâs always a little bit harder to be the leader, but weâve got plenty of experience of these situations and I think we can certainly deal with the psychological element.â he admits.
A significant difference this year is also three teams fighting for the top spot. As the Lymington-based skipper observes: âThe last three years â twice with Taylor and once with BjĂśrn â itâs been a two-horse race. And certainly in the last couple of years with Taylor, the leaderâs always had more than five points advantage [going into Monsoon Cup] which has meant that thereâs been pressure on the person behind to try and win the qualifying round and choose the other person.
I feel that if youâve got more than a five-point advantage over somebody, then it is an advantage. But on this occasion, weâve got exactly five points on Taylor in third and just two on BjĂśrn.â
In recent years, Williams recalls only one previous three-way fight for the top – in 2011 against Torvar Mirsky and Francesco Bruni. This makes for quite a different dynamic. âWhen itâs a two horse race, youâre very focused on that one other boat, youâre trying to beat them in the qualifying round and for the pick, that sort of thing. Â When itâs a three horse race itâs a bit more like a regular regatta – you just go out and try and do as well as you can and see how it shakes out.â
Gearing up for high-octane multihull racing
As to the World Match Racing Tour moving from Malaysian to Swedish ownership last year, Williams is excited. âIt brings new energy to the Tour. Whenever you get a new owner, thereâs a fair amount of upheaval and uncertainty and you never know whatâs going to happen. But I think HĂĽkan [Svensson] Â is bringing in a lot of positive things with his energy. He has a very clear business plan for the Tour, I think everybody understands what his vision is and that gives people confidence that heâs in for the long term.â
Williams also admits that he likes the change to catamarans as it once again makes the World Match Racing Tour a proving ground for the Americaâs Cup. While it is unlikely that any Cup teams will join the Tour before the Americaâs Cup itself in Bermuda in 2017, some will almost certainly sign up afterwards. âRight now the teams are advanced with their own testing, but after July 2017, I think we might well see quite a few come back into the Tour.â
Concerning M32 sailing, GAC Pindar is one of the more advanced teams and competed in the last two events of the M32 Series Scandinavia in 2016.
So what does Williams make of the new one design M32 catamaran? âI think itâs a good boat – itâs very responsive, very light with a high power to weight ratio. Â Itâs nice and simple, very easy to put together and take apart, and itâs quite forgiving on the helm compared to some of the other catamarans, which are much more nosey. Â The M32 is quite simple to sail, but, like any boat, to get the absolute maximum out of it is difficult.â
Williams has previous catamaran experience competing on the Extreme Sailing Series with his GAC Pindar crew. In comparison to the Extreme 40, the M32 is far easier to get around the race course: âThatâs a good thing for a boat thatâs going to be used across the world of match racing by some more experienced and some less experienced teamsâŚâ
When Williams uses the word ânoseyâ, he refers to some catamarans that can be terrifying to bear away around the top mark, when their bows dig in and, unless handled right, for them ultimately to pitchpole (capsize over their leeward bow). Williams says that the M32 has so much buoyancy forward that it is even safe to round the weather mark flying a hull with little fear of flipping.Â
Has he come close to capsizing yet? âOn our first day out, we were pretty close – we found our limits!â
As they have sailed the M32 more, they have also been learning about how to use the boatâs curved daggerboards. The vertical lift on these also generate serves to prevent the bow from burying in bear aways, but unless the crew is prepared, they can also cause the boat to âlaunchâ at 20+ knot speeds if both boards are down (for example during manoeuvres). âThe boatâs not designed to do that, so thereâs no control.  At the time, it feels scary, but the boat tends to then sit down and itâs all okay againâŚâ
Then there are the racks, which have also been something to get used to, compared to the previous cats heâs sailed. âWe have a rule youâre only allowed three people on the rack, out of four, so it remains to be seen what people will do with that.  The regattas I did, I didnât go on the rack, I steered from the hull and thatâs what US One were doing [Taylor Canfield], and they were the scratch boat at those regattas. There are some advantages for the helm going out on the rack, like better vision, but you end up a long way away from the tiller, and thereâs a long way to move in the tacks and gybes. So thereâs pluses and minusesâŚâ
The racks also provide more occasions when the boats might collide â especially during fleet racing pre-starts â however Williams feels that they do serve to keep the hulls of opposing boats apart and they are easier to repair.Â
Planning ahead for the new season
Looking forward to this season, Williams has a Tour card and he also plans to compete in the M32 Series Scandinavia. In the short term, his GAC Pindar M32 is bound for Bermuda where he and his team will compete in the M32 Series Bermuda being held there over the northern hemisphere spring months before the boat returns to Scandinavia.Â
Right after the Bermuda events, is the first World Match Racing Tour event of the 2016 season, in Fremantle, Western Australia starting from 2nd – 7th March. The 2016 season is a âshort-season’ culminating in the World Match Racing Tour Final, held in Marstrand, Sweden from the 4th – 9th July. These Tour events will all be sailed in âsuppliedâ M32s. âThat will be interesting,â says Williams. âInitially, there will be a lot of challenges for the organisers to make sure the boats are all the same while youâre also probably going to need to adjust the rigs for the conditions a little bit.â
But the bulk of the season, Williams and his crew will be focusing on both M32 Series and the World Match Racing Tour. âThatâs going to keep me pretty busy – I donât think thereâs going to be much time for anything else,â he concludes.
Monsoon Cup kicks off next week from the 26-30 January in Johor, Malaysia. Stay up to date with the event as we bring live race action via Twitter on @wmrt_liverace and regular updates on @worldmrt from Malaysia. Follow us onfacebook.com/
